Data centres are getting a bad reputation for how much energy and water they use (something particularly problematic for AI data centres). The reputation these data centres have will likely only get worse too, because Trump is seemingly giving them permission to create acid rain:
The Trump administration has exempted data centers from acid rain regulations, removing caps on sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. pic.twitter.com/2rPzFptVwy
— FactPost (@factpostnews) July 29, 2026
When it rains
Acid rain was a commonly discussed problem in the late 20th century. It’s spoken about less now because scientists were successful at identifying the problem and formulating a solution. As the BBC reported in 2019:
At its worst, acid rain stripped forests bare in Europe, wiped lakes clear of life in parts of Canada and the US, and harmed human health and crops in China where the problem persists. Looking back today, there is little argument that the cause was sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emitted by fossil fuel combustion by cars and industrial facilities like smelters and coal-burning utilities. When combined with water and oxygen in the atmosphere, these air pollutants chemically transform into sulphuric and nitric acid. Acidic droplets in clouds then fall as rain, snow or hail.
The BBC concluded:
In the fight Hurley helped to lead against acid rain, this meant talking to coal workers at sportsmen’s shows, engaging them in conversations about clean water for fishing salmon, and going for walks in war cemeteries where acidity was ruining the limestone of gravestones.
Though aspects of its legacy remain, solutions to the acid rain problem moved forward, in North America at least, because it became a non-partisan issue. Hurley reflects that “a broad spectrum of people came to believe that it was important to protect natural resources – our forests, our northern lakes and the fish they contain – resources that belong to everyone”.
The problem is that it’s pretty much impossible to have a ‘non-partisan’ issue today. If rich people can profit, legions of right-wing lobbyists and political operators will find a way of making it partisan. And this is why countries are now backsliding on issues we’d previously solved.
Trump loosens restrictions
In an announcement posted on 27 July, the United States Environmental Protection Agency said:
This month, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued guidance clarifying that the Clean Air Act (CAA) Acid Rain Program (ARP) does not apply to power generation facilities that are not connected to a public electricity grid, commonly referred to as “islanded” power generation facilities. The guidance expands opportunities for companies to develop and operate islanded power generation facilities for data centers.
For clarity, some of these data centres use so much electricity that they require their own power generation facilities. Now, said facilities will be able to get away with producing the sort of pollution that leads to acid rain — no thanks to Trump.
The move from the Trump regime will be challenged, as environmental attorney Mike Levin has said:
EPA is trying to create this exemption while avoiding Congress. But agencies cannot rewrite statutes by memo. If Congress intended to exempt privately dedicated power plants from the Acid Rain Program, we would have written legislation to do so. We most certainly have not.
EPA is attempting to narrow a law Congress enacted without Congress’s approval. Courts should reject it, and Congress should make clear that clean air protections apply based on pollution, not on who buys the electricity.
Our kids deserve clean air more than data centers deserve a special loophole.
Getting worse
It’s important to note that there’s already a considerable backlash to data centres, with backlash in communities all over the country:
Despite the efforts of Trump and others, the reaction to data centres is actually non-partisan too — or it is right now, anyway.
Over time, lobbyists may convince people that these dirty, water-draining abominations are actually good for them. Alternatively, the AI industry could completely collapse in on itself, leaving many of these tech warehouses as empty blights on the land.
Featured image via the Canary
By Willem Moore
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