"In recent months, the Trump administration has opened a deregulatory floodgate in the name of building more data centers. Among other things, this has involved ordering rollbacks of clean water regulations and opening up public lands to coal mining. Now, it's turning its eye to chemical regulation with a new policy that could, experts say, potentially fast-track the approval of new chemicals for use in the US-including new types of forever chemicals-with limited oversight."
"In September, the EPA announced it would be prioritizing the regulatory review of new chemicals used in data centers or related projects. The announcement is part of a sweeping set of overhauls pushed by the Trump administration following several executive orders related to AI and a White House AI Action Plan, both rolled out in July. The Action Plan was formed after soliciting more than 10,000 public comments, which included hundreds from industry interests. These actions, the White House has said, will usher in a "golden age for American manufacturing and technological dominance.""
""I think they want to impose as few restrictions as possible on chemicals," says Greg Schweer, who served as the EPA chief of the new chemicals management branch between 2008 and 2020. "In previous administrations, political people stayed out of [chemical regulation]-they tried to let science win. Here, the industry has a willing set of ears that wants to listen to their opinions.""
The Trump administration has pursued broad deregulatory actions to accelerate data center development, including rolling back clean water rules and expanding coal mining on public lands. The EPA will prioritize regulatory review of new chemicals intended for data centers and related projects, aligning with executive orders and a White House AI Action Plan that solicited over 10,000 comments including industry input. Prioritizing such reviews could fast-track approval of persistent "forever" chemicals with limited oversight. The new-chemical review process was reformed in 2016, and a decade-long backlog has prompted industry complaints and bipartisan criticism. Concerns exist about reduced scientific independence and political influence favoring industry interests.
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