The Trump administration’s data center crackdown could open the door to new chemicals forever

In response to questions from WIRED about its two-phase cooling products, including whether the company plans to submit the chemicals for expedited consideration under the agency’s new data center exemption, Chemors spokeswoman Cassie Olszewski said the company is “in the process of commercializing our two-phase immersion cooling liquid, which will require related approvals.”

“Our work in this area is focused on developing more sustainable and efficient cooling solutions that will enable data centers to consume less energy, water and footprint, while effectively managing the heat generated by next-generation chips with higher processing power.” Olszewski said.

These chips can also be an important source of new chemicals. Both Schweer and Jonathan Kalmus-Katz, a lawyer for the environmental nonprofit Earthjustice, say the semiconductor industry, which makes the chips that power computing power in data centers, could benefit significantly from a faster review process. The semiconductor manufacturing process invariably uses chemicals at many different production points, including the critical photolithography process, which uses light to transfer patterns to the surface of silicon wafers.

Scheuer says the industry has submitted a large number of applications for new chemicals to the EPA over the past few years. Semiconductor manufacturers are “the main drivers of new chemicals,” says Kalmus-Katz.

“The administration has this AI-at-any-cost mentality, where you rush to build more data centers and chip fabs without any meaningful plan to deal with the climate impacts, their natural resource impacts, and the toxic substances that are used and released from these new facilities.” He says.

Lobbying documents show that the semiconductor industry has requested changes to the EPA’s new chemicals program this year. In March, Nancy Beck, a former policy director for the industry lobbying group who now heads the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, the office that oversees the new chemical review, met with representatives of SEMI, an international industry advocacy organization. The meeting was originally scheduled to discuss “the EPA’s approach to regulation of PFAS and other chemicals necessary for semiconductor manufacturing,” according to emails obtained by WIRED through a Freedom of Information Act request. Emails show that Beck suggested during the meeting that the lobby group follow up with public comment in support of changes to the new chemical program, which the group sent out in a letter the following month. (“Trump’s EPA encourages stakeholders to submit and document their comments on proposed regulations so we get a diverse range of perspectives,” said EPA spokesman Hirsch.)