EPA chief says Trump administration will not issue nationwide environmental requirements for AI data centers

EPA administrator nominee or acting EPA administrator Lee Zeldin told reporters the Trump administration will not set nationwide environmental requirements for artificial intelligence data centers, according to a report published Friday by The Washington Times.

Zeldin’s statement frames the policy decision as a refusal to impose a broad, countrywide standard that would apply to AI data center projects wherever they are built, instead leaving the question of environmental conditions to other authorities or existing permitting structures, the report said.

The statement comes as environmental regulators have faced increasing pressure to address the water, energy, and emissions implications of growing data center construction tied to the expansion of artificial intelligence systems. In the absence of a single nationwide requirement, compliance obligations could vary depending on state rules and the conditions attached to permits issued by federal and state agencies, the practical outcome of which is that projects may face different baseline requirements by location.

The EPA’s role in setting nationwide standards typically involves rulemaking or guidance that can establish uniform expectations. Zeldin’s position, as described by The Washington Times, indicates the administration is not pursuing that type of nationwide approach for AI data center environmental requirements at this time.

The report does not identify a specific timeline for how environmental oversight will be handled instead, nor does it specify whether the administration will rely primarily on existing permitting, enforcement, or other agency processes. It also does not describe whether any narrower category of requirements, such as facility-level permitting conditions or sector-specific guidance, is being considered.

Zeldin’s comments also do not address whether the administration will still require environmental review under existing federal statutes for individual projects, or how any state-level standards would interact with federal permitting. Those details will determine the concrete regulatory burden on developers and the consistency of environmental enforcement across jurisdictions.

Because the central claim rests on the reported statement by Zeldin and the report does not provide additional official documentation, the scope and legal mechanism of the administration’s approach remain unclear pending further releases from the EPA or other federal agencies.