Sen. Markey, Rep. McClellan Lead Colleagues in Condemning EPA’s Attempt to Let Data Centers, Fossil Fuel Plants, and Other Major Facilities Evade Core Clean Air Act Protections

Letter Text (PDF)

Boston (June 30, 2026) - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), co-chair of the bicameral Environmental Justice Caucus and member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, along with Representative Jennifer McClellan (VA-04), led a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin urging the agency to withdraw a proposed rulemaking that would allow major polluting facilities-including data centers and fossil fuel plants-to begin construction activities without securing air quality permits required under federal law.

The New Source Review (NSR) program, established by Congress as part of the Clean Air Act in 1977, requires that polluting facilities obtain permits before any construction or expansion takes place. This allows EPA to assess and minimize the harm that these facilities could pose to the health and well-being of the environment and surrounding communities. In a major shift from prior interpretation of the law, the EPA released a proposed rule in May that would allow polluting facilities to start construction without a permit, including on piping, wiring, cement pads, and support structures. This proposed rule will expose communities to more direct harm and places substantial pressure on permitting decisions before EPA review is complete.

The lawmakers wrote, "Congress created the NSR program to stop dangerous polluting projects before irreversible commitments are made, not after construction is already underway and permit approval has become politically difficult to deny. EPA's proposal turns that system on its head. Communities should not be forced to bear additional pollution because EPA chose to prioritize the financial interests of developers and fossil fuel companies over the Clean Air Act's public-health protections. We urge you to withdraw this proposed rule and preserve the Clean Air Act's preconstruction permitting safeguards."

The letter was signed by Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Representatives Donald Beyer (VA-08), Sean Casten (IL-06), Steve Cohen (TN-09), Adelita Grijalva (AZ-07), Betty McCollum (MN-04), Gwen Moore (WI-04), Andrea Salinas (OR-06), Shri Thanedar (MI-13), Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14).

Senator Markey is an outspoken critic of the Trump administration's "race to the bottom" regulatory approach for AI data centers and a leader in advocating for stronger monitoring and mitigation of environmental and health impacts associated with irresponsible data center buildout.

• In June, Senator Markey reintroduced his Artificial Intelligence (AI) Environmental Impacts Act, legislation that would require data center operators to report the full range of their facilities' environmental impacts.
• In September 2025, Senator Markey wrote to the EPA in opposition to the agency's initial announcement of plans to roll back the NSR program for data center buildout.
• In July 2025, Senator Markey hosted a roundtable discussion titled The Data Center Next Door: Hidden Costs and Harms of Artificial Intelligence and Cryptomining to highlight the adverse environmental, health, climate, and energy cost impacts of data center proliferation in communities across the United States, and to condemn the deregulatory actions set forth in President Trump's AI Action Plan.
• On the day of his roundtable in July, Senator Markey also released a storybook to spotlight the experiences of American families living with data centers in their backyard.

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