The AI race has a pollution problem

The rush to power new AI data centers is driving up pollution from the power plants that supply them, and federal rollbacks are making it worse. A report from the Environmental Protection Network, a group of former EPA staffers, points to a study estimating that air pollution linked to data centers could cost $11.7 billion to $20.9 billion a year in public health impacts by 2028, mostly from the power plants feeding these facilities. That estimate doesn't even account for a wave of recent policy changes that could push those numbers higher.

The report counts more than 30 recent federal actions that weaken pollution rules or speed up data center approval, including a move announced this week to repeal 2024 limits on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. The EPA itself says that change could increase coal production for the power sector more than tenfold. Coal is especially dirty, producing sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and soot that harm people living near plants. Coal use already rose 13% in 2025 as AI demand grew, and other changes have delayed plant retirements, loosened mercury and coal-ash disposal rules, and stretched out deadlines for reducing haze-causing pollution.

None of this points to a specific action for your own house, but it's a reminder that where your electricity comes from, and how clean it is, is shifting as utilities race to meet AI power demand. If you live near a coal or gas plant that supplies a growing data center, this is the kind of policy shift worth watching in your area.