The EPA wants to let data centers get air permits without telling you they exist

Key points

• The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed in July 2025 to eliminate the federal public notice requirement for so-called "minor source" air permits, which cover a wide range of industrial sites including data centers.
• Under the proposal, states and local agencies would decide for themselves whether to notify the public, raising concern that many will skip the step entirely.
• xAI's Colossus 1 data center in Tennessee applied for a minor source permit in 2025 and drew thousands of public comments before the permit was granted.
• Nearly 200 health and environmental groups filed formal objections last week, before the public comment period closed.
• More than 4,900 comments now sit with the EPA, which must review them all before making the rule final.

When a new factory or power plant wants to release pollution into the air, it needs government permission first. That permission is called an air permit, and since the 1970s a federal programme called New Source Review has required officials to tell nearby residents and give them a chance to respond before any permit is approved.

The EPA now wants to end that federal notice requirement for a large class of facilities it calls "minor sources," leaving each state to decide on its own whether the public gets a say. Critics say that, in practice, many states will quietly skip the process.

What does this mean for people who live near a data center?

For communities already dealing with noise, water use and heat from nearby server farms, the proposed change could cut off their only early warning system.

"Nobody knows what's happening until the bulldozers are out there," Keri Powell, senior attorney and air programme leader at the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), told The Verge. Her concern is specific: the current US push to build AI infrastructure at speed gives the administration a clear incentive to clear permit applications quickly and quietly.

Data centers are categorised as "minor" polluters under the existing rules, meaning they qualify for the lighter-touch permit process the EPA now wants to deregulate. But Powell's group argues the "minor" label understates the real-world impact. A large server campus draws enormous amounts of electricity, often from nearby gas generators, and can sit in a neighbourhood for decades.

Why xAI's Tennessee data center matters here

The stakes are not abstract. xAI, the artificial intelligence company founded by Elon Musk, opened Colossus 1, a massive data center in Memphis, Tennessee, billed as the world's most powerful AI training facility. It applied for a minor source air permit in 2025. That application triggered a public hearing and thousands of written comments to the local health department. The SELC and the civil rights organisation NAACP also threatened to sue xAI after the company installed gas turbines at the site without the required permits.

Under the EPA's proposed rules, none of that public involvement would have been guaranteed.

What happens next?

The public comment window closed last week. The EPA says it received more than 4,900 comments and must work through all of them before the rule can be made final. An EPA spokesperson confirmed to The Verge that the review is ongoing.

Nearly 200 health and environmental groups, including SELC, filed a joint objection urging the agency to withdraw the proposal entirely. Byron Gary, senior attorney at the Kentucky Resources Council, put the core argument plainly: without local residents' input, permitting agencies lose the lived experience that helps them judge a project's real cumulative harm.

EPA administrator Lee Zeldin framed the change differently, saying decisions should rest with state and local authorities rather than Washington, and calling the existing requirement "unnecessary and burdensome red tape."

Both claims can be partly true. The honest takeaway: if you live near land zoned for industrial use, now is the time to find your state's air quality agency and sign up for any permit notification alerts it offers. That channel may soon be the only one left.