A group of more than 800 former Environmental Protection Agency employees says the rapid buildout of artificial intelligence data centers could measurably worsen air pollution and public health at the same time federal regulators are loosening the rules meant to limit it. The warning came in a report released on September 10 by the Environmental Protection Network, a nonpartisan organization of former EPA scientists, toxicologists, engineers and policy analysts, many of whom spent decades inside the agency.
Who is speaking matters here. These are former career regulators, including people who wrote and enforced the pollution rules now under review. The report identifies at least 30 federal actions taken since January 2025 that the group argues raise pollution-related health risk, weaken safeguards or make enforcement harder. Seventeen of the 30 explicitly cite or target AI or data centers.
For most households, the exposure pathway is not the building down the road. It is the power plant that runs it, often many miles away. That is why a family with an asthmatic child can be affected by a facility they will never see.
Where the Pollution Actually Comes From
Data centers themselves emit relatively little. Their health footprint comes from the electricity they consume and the equipment backing them up: gas-fired and coal-fired plants meeting surging demand, on-site gas turbines, and banks of diesel generators that run during outages and routine testing. Those sources release fine particulate matter and nitrogen oxides, pollutants linked to asthma attacks, heart and lung disease, and premature death.
The split between local and regional sources is the report's most useful technical point. In the modeling the report relies on, more than 90 percent of the estimated health impact came from power plants supplying electricity to data centers rather than from emissions at the sites themselves. That makes this a regional air quality question as much as a local siting fight.
The report also notes that rising demand is reshaping the power system. Plans to retire or convert nearly 10 gigawatts of coal capacity were delayed as load grew, and an Environmental Integrity Project analysis counted at least 74 proposed gas plants dedicated to data centers.
Modeled Projections, Not Counted Cases
The health figures in the report come from a 2026 academic analysis by researchers at the University of California, Riverside, the California Institute of Technology and the Rochester Institute of Technology, who used EPA air quality modeling tools. That work estimates that data center-related air pollution could impose roughly $11.7 billion to $20.9 billion in annual public health costs by 2028. Under the study's high-growth scenario, the researchers estimate roughly 600,000 asthma symptom cases and 1,300 premature deaths a year.
Those numbers deserve a clear label. They are modeled projections built on growth and emissions assumptions, not observed cases or death certificates, which is one reason the cost estimate spans a range rather than landing on a single figure. The date attached to them also matters, because the estimates describe a future year rather than current conditions.
The former officials argue the projections may understate the problem, because the modeling does not account for the 30 federal actions the report documents. The report concedes the gap runs the other way too: EPN says it found no public analysis quantifying how those actions will change the burden. Larry Starfield, former principal deputy assistant administrator in EPA's enforcement office, put the enforcement point plainly, saying that "passing a law is not effective unless you enforce it."
The buildout driving the estimates is well documented. Pew Research Center, drawing on Data Center Map, counted more than 3,000 operating data centers in the United States and more than 1,500 more in various stages of development. Pew also found that 38 percent of Americans live within five miles of at least one operating facility.
The Burden Falls Unevenly
National averages hide what matters most to readers. The underlying academic work found that the per-household health burden in the most affected communities could be about 200 times that of less affected ones, and that economically disadvantaged areas absorb a disproportionate share, partly because of their proximity to power plants and generator banks. The UC Riverside authors also found the pollution crosses county and state lines, so communities that receive no tax revenue from a facility can still carry its health costs.
Separate Virginia Commonwealth University research mapped emissions from 138 Northern Virginia data centers across Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties. Between 2015 and 2023, carbon monoxide emissions from their backup generators rose 196 percent, and particulate matter emissions rose 139 percent. The researchers found that if those facilities emitted at the maximum their state permits allow, they would account for a large share of the region's point source pollution. They also found exposure correlated with income and education.
That concentrates risk on people who already carry more of it: children and older adults, pregnant people, and anyone with asthma, COPD, or heart disease.
What Households Near Power Plants Can Do Now
The report asks EPA to restore and enforce pollution safeguards, require proper permitting and monitoring of data centers and their on-site power, and rebuild the science and enforcement capacity needed to measure what facilities emit. It also proposes a voluntary Data Center Health Protection Pledge, modeled on the White House Ratepayer Protection Pledge. No agency has adopted it. At a media briefing on the report, Dr. Lynn Goldman, a pediatrician and former EPA assistant administrator, said that "this massive AI buildout can have enormous consequences for America's health."
Households can take smaller steps in the meantime. Anyone with asthma or COPD can check local air quality on AirNow before outdoor activity and keep an asthma action plan and rescue inhaler current. Families can ask their state environmental agency whether a nearby facility has applied for an air permit and whether a comment period is open, since permit notice is where community input normally enters the process. Worsening breathing symptoms warrant a call to a clinician, and sudden severe breathlessness or chest pain requires emergency care.
State utility commissions are reviewing generation plans tied to data center demand, and federal proposals affecting public notice for air permits remain pending.
Key Questions Answered
Who issued this warning? The Environmental Protection Network, a nonpartisan nonprofit of more than 800 former EPA scientists, engineers, and policy analysts, founded in 2017.
Are the health figures actual cases? No. The 600,000 asthma symptom cases, 1,300 premature deaths, and $11.7 billion to $20.9 billion in annual costs are modeled projections for 2028, produced by researchers at UC Riverside, Caltech, and the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Where does the pollution mostly come from? Power plants generating electricity for the facilities. In the modeling, more than 90 percent of the estimated health impact came from generation rather than from emissions at data center sites.
Who faces the greatest risk? People with asthma, COPD, or heart disease, children, older adults and pregnant people, and residents of communities near heavy generation. The per-household burden in the hardest hit areas could be about 200 times that of the least affected.
What can a household do now? Check local air quality before outdoor activity, keep an asthma action plan current, and ask the state environmental agency whether a nearby facility's air permit is open for public comment.
