The EPA is done treating data centers like a monolith. Administrator Lee Zeldin announced on September 18, 2025, that his agency will evaluate data center projects individually rather than applying blanket regulatory frameworks, a move designed to fast-track the permitting pipeline for AI infrastructure across the US.
Starting September 29, 2025, the EPA will prioritize reviews of new chemical submissions under the Toxic Substances Control Act for qualifying data center projects. The decision aligns with the Trump administration’s broader push to remove friction from AI development, though it has already attracted pointed criticism from at least one Democratic senator.
What the new approach actually looks like
Zeldin has been personally visiting data center sites to understand the differences firsthand. On August 29, 2025, he toured Microsoft’s data center in Wyoming and met with representatives from Crusoe and Tall Grass, two companies developing an AI data center campus with a planned capacity of 1.8 gigawatts. For context, that’s enough power to supply roughly 1.4 million homes.
He’s also shown up at a $4 billion Google data center project in Arkansas, where he emphasized that power agreements need to be structured on a project-specific basis.
