Login
Children may face some of the greatest health risks from the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, as soaring electricity demand drives increased reliance on polluting power plants, diesel generators and gas turbines, according to a new report from the Environmental Protection Network (EPN).
Pollutants associated with the exploding data center industry are linked to asthma and other respiratory illnesses and neurological and developmental damage in children. People living near — and sometimes far — from the centers are also at higher risk of cancer, heart and lung disease.
Information on health impacts is coming to light as the Trump administration, largely through regulatory changes at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), moves to weaken pollution and permitting safeguards meant to protect public health.
EPN documented “at least 30” federal actions at the EPA and in other governmental organizations since January 2025 that could increase pollution-related health risks and shift the health costs of data centers onto communities and families.
“EPA should be the public-health watchdog, not part of the industry’s development team,” EPN argued.
Children’s developing lungs and brains face the greatest risk
Children are particularly vulnerable to data center pollution because their lungs, brains and other organs are still developing. They also take in more pollution relative to their body weight, the report said.
Air pollution can exacerbate asthma, which affects approximately 4.8 million U.S. children. Exposure to mercury and other toxic metals can damage developing brains and nervous systems. Arsenic, which can be present in coal ash and wastewater, is a known carcinogen.
The potential exposure extends well beyond communities immediately surrounding data centers.
At least 188 schools are located within three miles of proposed gas-fired power plants being developed to supply data centers, according to the report.
EPN could identify no federal accounting of the number of schools, daycare centers, playgrounds or athletic fields located near the centers themselves.
The new gas-fired plants would add new sources of pollution at a time when 33.5 million children already face pollution-related health issues — because they live in counties with a failing grade for at least one measure of ozone or particle pollution, according to the American Lung Association’s most recent “State of the Air” report.
Data center air pollution could lead to big increases in asthma, premature deaths
The U.S. has more than 3,000 operational data centers, with more than 1,500 in development. The centers use about 4.7% of the electricity generated in the U.S. and are projected to use roughly 11.8% by 2030.
Many facilities also have their own large fleets of diesel backup generators. Others have dedicated natural-gas turbines. Those sources can emit nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds, which form smog and fine-particle pollution.
Coal- or gas-fired power plants supplying electricity can release mercury and other toxic metals, and their coal ash and wastewater can contaminate surface water or groundwater, according to the report.
A 2026 study by researchers from the University of California, Riverside, Caltech and Rochester Institute of Technology estimated that air pollution from U.S. data centers could generate $11.7 billion to $20.9 billion in annual public-health costs by 2028.
The researchers used predictive modeling to test different scenarios. Under their high-growth scenario, the pollution could contribute to roughly 600,000 asthma symptom cases and 1,262 premature deaths.
Much of the damage came from pollution generated by the energy needed to power the centers.
In the EPN study‘s high-growth scenario, electricity generation accounted for about $19.3 billion of the estimated $20.9 billion in annual health costs and 1,165 of 1,262 estimated premature deaths. That means communities located far from a data center — including in other states — could bear some of its pollution burden.
On-site generators are also a significant source of pollution.
The researchers modeled Virginia data center generators operating at emissions equal to just 10% of their permitted levels and estimated that the resulting pollution could contribute to approximately 14,000 asthma symptom cases, 13 to 19 premature deaths and $220 million to $300 million in annual health costs.
This article was funded by critical thinkers like you.
The Defender is 100% reader-supported. No corporate sponsors. No paywalls. Our writers and editors rely on you to fund stories like this that mainstream media won’t write.
Speedier permitting comes with fewer safeguards
The EPA’s mission is to “protect human health and the environment.”
“Yet Administrator Lee Zeldin has made turning the United States into the ‘AI capital of the world’ a pillar of EPA’s work, and the agency’s FY 2027 plans count making Clean Air Act requirements more flexible for AI data centers as progress,” the report said.
Of the federal actions cited by the report, most explicitly target or cite AI or data centers. The remainder affect the energy sources that supply them or the environmental rules governing their development.
Among these are policies that encourage greater use of coal and other fossil fuels to meet rising electricity demand, keeping some fossil-fuel power plants operating longer, and restricting or slowing federal support for wind and solar power.
At the same time, the EPA has moved to eliminate or weaken rules limiting carbon emissions, mercury and other toxic air pollution, interstate smog, oil-and-gas pollution, coal-plant wastewater and coal ash. The agency has also proposed ending greenhouse-gas reporting requirements for most large facilities and suppliers.
Several actions directly make it easier or faster to build and power data centers. The administration has ordered agencies to speed permitting and environmental reviews for AI infrastructure.
The EPA has eased some requirements for temporary gas turbines and backup generators and proposed allowing portions of data centers and power plants to begin construction before major air permits are issued, according to the report.
Other changes could reduce opportunities for the public to learn about or comment on some air permits. The Army Corps of Engineers has also made data centers eligible for a streamlined wetlands permit that does not require project-specific public notice and comment, the report said.
Actions by EPA and the Army Corps, along with a U.S. Supreme Court decision, have rolled back water protection under the Clean Water Act.
The EPA is also prioritizing the review of new chemicals, including PFAS, needed for data center construction, some of which are known to be harmful to human health.
The federal government has also scaled back National Environmental Policy Act procedures, and EPA has directed enforcement staff to exercise greater restraint in cases involving energy production and power generation.
“The problem is not faster permitting by itself, but faster permitting with fewer safeguards. Once permits are issued, construction begins and money is committed, changing course becomes much harder,” according to EPN.
The report was published amid widespread controversy over data centers. Opposition to data centers has been building nationwide as communities criticize higher electricity bills, stress on existing power grids and heavy water use.
Opposition is particularly strong in the rural areas where most data center construction is slated to take place.
President Donald Trump took to Truth Social this week to defend data centers. He said that AI and the data centers that power it “will be the Greatest Economic Development Engine in History — Bigger than Oil, Gold, Diamonds, or even the Internet.”
Most responders to his post disagreed.
Related articles in The Defender
- AI Data Center Boom Fueling ‘Tidal Wave’ of New PFAS Production
- Watch: AI Data Centers ‘Spreading Like an Aggressive Cancer’
- Cheating the System: How AI Data Centers Bypass Water and Air Pollution Laws and Permits
- Trump Calls for Rapid Expansion of AI Data Centers, Including on Federal Lands
