New EPA Rule Would Allow Data Centers to Evade Public Scrutiny

By Maurice Carter, Sustainable Newton Co-founder & President

I testified Wednesday, on behalf of Sustainable Newton, in a virtual public hearing hosted by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where I opposed rules changes EPA is considering that would effectively eliminate public notice and comment requirements in most air pollution permit proceedings.

The regulations EPA seeks to revise have been in effect under the federal Clean Air Act since 1973.  They require states to provide public notice and at least a 30-day comment period on pre-construction permits for new and modified stationary air pollution sources.  In Georgia, that process is managed by the state Environmental Protection Division (EPD).  Federally mandated  notifications from EPD are why Sustainable Newton and our partners at the Southern Environmental Law Center (SECL) and Altamaha Riverkeeper were made aware last November of applications for air permits filed by a Houston-based energy company, VoltaGrid, seeking to construct a methane-fired pop-up power plant to serve electricity for a data center on Hazelbrand Road being built by Serverfarm.  As allowed by law, we commented on the application in December and submitted comments again in March, raising issues with the draft permit EPD published for comment.

In June, Sustainable Newton, SELC, and Altamaha Riverkeeper sent aerial photographs and other evidence to EPD, alerting them to unpermitted emissions sources being constructed by VoltaGrid and Serverfarm -- in direct violation of state and federal law. EPD agreed, sending notices of violation to both companies and ordering VoltaGrid to stop work on "air pollution emissions sources and/or control equipment."  We've also since petitioned the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) to determine if VoltaGrid's electricity sales to Serverfarm are even legal in Georgia.

As I stressed in my testimony on Wednesday:

"None of this would have happened had Sustainable Newton and our partners not been notified through the New Source Review process presently required for minor sources. Nonprofits like ours rely on a transparent review process giving local communities an opportunity to hold polluters accountable.  Without that, people suffer."

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Don't Let Polluters like Data Centers Build in Secrecy

I'm sharing my recorded testimony below, along with this text transcript, in hopes you will join us in urging EPA not to enact this proposed rule change.   See links and instructions below for submitting your own written comments before the August 21 deadline.

Let your voice be heard

The Trump administration has not hidden their desire to make it easier for AI data centers to be constructed quickly -- regardless of the concerns and pushback from local residents. Eliminating public participation in the permitting process seems part of that push.

In justifying the proposed rule change, EPA claims the public doesn't participate in most air permit proceedings and that such participation has no effect on whether a permit is sufficient to protect ambient air quality. Sustainable Newton and our partners at SELC and Altamaha Riverkeeper have proven those assertions false. We have participated fully, from the beginning, in the VoltaGrid/Serverfarm permitting process and have raised serious fact-based legal questions that remain under deliberation by both EPD and the PSC. Without mandated public participation, that would not be so.

For information about the proposed rule changes and how they would impact permitting of pollution sources in Georgia and elsewhere, we recommend this fact sheet from SELC.

To submit written comments to EPA online, use this link.  Again, the deadline to comment is August 21, 2026.