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The Honorable Susan Collins The Honorable Tom Cole |
The Honorable Patty Murray The Honorable Rosa DeLauro |
Re: Trump EPA and DOI FY27 Budget Prioritizes AI Data Centers Over Clean Air, Clean Water, and Community Health
Dear Chair Collins, Vice Chair Murray, Chair Cole, and Ranking Member DeLauro,
On behalf of our 50 groups and the millions of members and supporters we represent nationwide, we strongly oppose the inclusion of provisions in the Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) and Department of Interior’s (“DOI”) FY27 budget proposals that prioritize artificial intelligence (“AI”) reviews and infrastructure, and data center construction over environmental protection, public health, and the well-being of American communities. The FY27 proposals continue a pattern of weakening environmental protections, gutting the federal workforce, and increasing costs for families, all in an effort to expedite the build out of AI infrastructure and shortchange environmental reviews with AI. These priorities are designed to advance the interests of the technology industry over the public interest and fundamentally contradict EPA’s mission to protect human health and the environment and DOI’s mission to conserve public lands, waters, and natural and cultural resources. We urge Congress to reject the inclusion of such provisions in any appropriations package.
Since January 2025, the EPA and DOI have lost over 25% and 17% of staff respectively, a staggering loss of capacity leaving the agencies unable to enforce clean air and water standards, manage public lands, or protect wildlife and ecosystems. Rather than addressing these capacity gaps, the FY27 Budget proposes spending $202.2 million at EPA to incorporate AI into permitting decisions, rulemaking, and public comment analysis. DOI seeks similar AI-driven cutbacks for reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act. These measures are explicitly designed to accelerate approvals for a “rapid and efficient buildout of AI data centers,” not to strengthen environmental protection.
The consequences for communities are concrete and serious. Large data centers consume enormous amounts of electricity, sometimes more than 20,000 homes combined, driving up energy costs for local residents and straining power grids. They require vast quantities of water for cooling, depleting local supplies and creating significant environmental stress, particularly in arid regions. Expedited permitting and reduced oversight compound these harms, leaving adjacent communities especially vulnerable to increased pollution and higher costs without meaningful ability to intervene.
Moreover, widespread adoption of AI in environmental reviews will lead to substantial and cumulative errors that reduce environmental and public health protections at the expense of expediency. Already, AI usage in agency process has led to hallucinated studies and substantial errors, underscoring the importance of human review. Instead of investing in core staff to fulfill mission objections, EPA’s overall budget will be slashed by more than over 50% while DOI faces a 13% reduction, eroding oversight capacity even as AI-driven data center development accelerates under weakened oversight.
We strongly urge Congress to use appropriations language to establish and maintain minimum FTE levels at both agencies to prevent staffing losses to AI-related initiatives and to preserve the integrity of environmental reviews and core federal functions. Cuts to the EPA and DOI, and the redirection of their resources toward the development and operation of AI systems, undermine their statutory obligations. These agencies exist to serve communities, not to be repurposed to prioritize industry interests over the people they are charged to protect. We therefore urge rejection of any funding proposals that weaken environmental review, disproportionately favor AI infrastructure, or erode the capacity of agencies on which millions of Americans rely.
Sincerely,
350 Triangle
Alabama Rivers Alliance
Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments
Appalachian Leaders Network
Center for Biological Diversity
Center for Coalfield Justice
Center for Oil & Gas Organizing
Center for Progressive Reform
Change the Chamber
Chatham. Research Group
Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) Action Fund
Clean Air Council
Clean Water Action
Climate and Community Institute
Climate Justice Alliance
Coalition for Responsible Data Center Development
Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks
Creation Justice Ministries
Endangered Species Coalition
Food & Water Watch
Friends of the Earth US
Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility
Kettle Range Conservation Group
Kids for Saving Earth
Labor Network for Sustainability
Mountain Mamas
National Association of Voice Actors
National Coalition Against Cryptomining
Nature for All
NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice
Next 100 Coalition
Partnership for Policy Integrity
Protect PT
Scenic America Self
Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance
Stand.earth
Team Wolf
The Last Plastic Straw
The United People Project
Triangle- Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom
Tualatin Riverkeepers
Tucker United Waterkeeper Alliance
West Virginia Highlands Conservancy
Western Leaders Network
Wild Virginia
Wyoming Wildlife Advocates
Young, Gifted & Green