The US Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to remove a federal requirement for public notice and comment when certain industrial facilities seek air-pollution permits. Critics say this could allow data centres and other developments to proceed with little warning for nearby communities, limiting residents’ ability to raise concerns about local and cumulative pollution impacts.

The change would affect “minor” pollution sources under the long-standing New Source Review process, with states and local agencies deciding whether to involve the public. EPA administrator Lee Zeldin says the proposal would reduce unnecessary federal red tape, while environmental groups argue that supposedly minor permits can cover consequential projects; xAI’s Colossus 1 data centre in Tennessee, for example, used such a permit process and drew thousands of public comments. Nearly 200 health and environmental groups have urged the EPA to withdraw the proposal, whose comment period received more than 4,900 submissions.