AI Data Centers Are Causing Unfathomable Amounts of Air Pollution, and It Gets Worse With Each New One They Build

AI data centers are driving staggering levels of air pollution in the United States, with the problem only set to worsen as more such facilities are built. According to the New York Times, at least 82 gigawatt-hour gas generators, primarily owned by tech giants like Meta and xAI, are either under development or proposed. These private generators, far larger than government-run power plants, are designed exclusively for data center operations, which demand ever-increasing amounts of electricity.

Assuming all 82 facilities come online, they could release emissions equal to those of half of the country's passenger cars, according to the NYT. This pollution is made possible because of lax regulations in states like Texas and Ohio, where permits for new fossil fuel generators can be granted in just 18 days, often without public disclosure.

While moratoriums on new data centers could help, the situation is likely to worsen unless states take decisive action to ban new gas generators for existing facilities.