Opinion: Not In My Backyard! America’s Data Center Dilemma

Newly appointed Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin dropped a bombshell in The Wall Street Journal on March 12. In the opinion piece, he shared plans to repeal key environmental laws so “businesses can thrive and infrastructure can be built.”

“Our actions will also reignite American manufacturing, spreading economic benefits to communities,” Zeldin wrote. “Energy dominance stands at the center of America’s resurgence.”

Under Zeldin’s direction, the EPA will revisit more than a dozen core regulations — including limits on power plant emissions, greenhouse gas reporting, chemical reviews, and water and air quality standards.

In other words, the very rules designed to keep us safe are now being framed as bureaucratic red tape. It feels like removing guardrails from a mountain road and calling it highway optimization.

As Jackie Wong from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) pointed out, repealing these safeguards “would mean higher energy bills, more asthma and heart attacks, more toxins in drinking water, and more extreme weather.”

Pollution from data centers has already taken a deadly toll. Between 2019 and 2023, an estimated 1,100 to 2,500 premature deaths in the U.S. were linked to their emissions. Thousands more Americans have reported symptoms like migraines, hypertension, and tinnitus.

At first glance, these numbers may seem small, but they become a lot more real when you realize people you know could be one of them.

Zeldin’s proposed rollbacks come at a time when the U.S. is racing to dominate the AI landscape. And data centers are booming as a result.

Here in Connecticut, there are 25 data centers within a 30-minute drive from my home. One occupies a former apartment building. Another sits above a shuttered store on a main avenue. They’re everywhere, hiding in plain sight.

And the boom is just beginning. Every day, new data center construction plans are announced. Some notable projects include:

• Stargate Project is rolling out multiple AI-focused data centers across the Sunbelt region.
• Apple is investing $500 billion in new data centers in the Southern U.S.
• Northern Virginia — nicknamed “Data Center Alley” — is packed with facilities receiving generous tax incentives.

Over the past few years, hundreds of data centers have been built in the United States. Within the next five years, hundreds more will come. Soon, driving by a data center on our way to work will become commonplace.

In fact, the data center market is expected to grow from 20.39 thousand MW in 2025 to 26.12 thousand MW by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of more than 5%.

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I’ve written about data centers for years and know they’re important. A recent HostingAdvice survey found that 93% of my fellow Americans agree that data centers are vital.

And yet, most of us don’t want them in our backyard because we know they come with costs.

Hyperscalers like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google account for nearly 60% of data center growth from 2023 to 2028. With that growth comes serious environmental considerations:

• Massive energy consumption: U.S. data centers used 176 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2023 — about 4.4% of total national consumption. By 2028, that number could climb to as high as 12%.
• Water usage: The average data center consumes between 3 to 5 million gallons of water per day for cooling, which is roughly equivalent to the daily usage of a small city. Iowa’s data center facilities consume anywhere from 300,000 to 1.25 million gallons daily.
• Noise and air pollution: Diesel generators, used for backup power, release nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, and particulate matter — all of which pose health risks to nearby residents.

And now, as data centers keep expanding, Zeldin wants to gut the few rules barely holding them in check.

I think Jason Rylander, legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, put it perfectly: “The Trump administration’s ignorance is trumped only by its malice toward the planet. Come hell and high water, raging fires and deadly heatwaves, Trump and his allies remain hell-bent on undoing decades of environmental progress.”

Other countries are proving that tech growth and environmental responsibility can go hand in hand.

For example, in Geneva, Switzerland, Infomaniak built a fully underground data center that recycles 100% of its waste heat to warm 6,000 nearby homes. The company even published its designs so others could copy them.

This isn’t some outlier, either:

Nordic Countries

• Sweden: Reuses waste heat through Stockholm’s Open District Heating program
• Norway: Powers data centers almost entirely with hydropower (98.9% renewable)
• Finland: Takes advantage of cold weather for natural cooling; offers incentives for efficient operations
• Denmark: Integrates data centers into district heating systems, similar to Infomaniak’s data center in Switzerland

European Union

• EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres: Encourages best practices for sustainability
• Energy Efficiency Directive: Requires reporting on energy use, renewable integration, and waste heat reuse
• Climate Goals: Aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 55% (compared to 1990) by 2030

There seems to be this notion that we face an either/or choice: Win the AI race or protect our environment.

This is a false dichotomy that limits our thinking. Regulations don’t stifle progress; they protect people. We don’t call child labor laws “anti-business,” do we?

(Well, someone probably did once. But there’s a reason that’s an unethical opinion now.)

Fortunately, Zeldin’s announcement isn’t the final word, according to Wong: “Before finalizing any of these actions, the law says EPA must propose its changes, justify them with science and the law, and listen to the public and respond to its concerns.”

And that public scrutiny matters. “In the face of overwhelming science,” added NRDC climate expert David Doniger. “It’s impossible to think that the EPA could develop a contradictory finding that would stand up in court.”

That gives us a window and a question: What would smart regulation for the digital age actually look like?

Here are some of my ideas:

I want the U.S. to lead the world in AI and technology. I really do. But not if it means dirty air, toxic water, and a climate future my kids can’t survive. Winning the AI race while destroying the world we live in is not winning — it’s just a different kind of losing.

As a final note, I’ll implore anyone reading this to consider that there doesn’t have to be an “either/or” situation; we don’t have to choose between innovation and environmental protection. We already have some of the smartest minds at our disposal. I know the U.S. can lead with solutions that push technology forward without sacrificing anything to do it.