Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Representative Hank Johnson (D-GA) are calling on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to better monitor and regulate diesel-powered generators used to provide emergency backup power for data centers.
Where is this concern coming from? As data centers continue to expand across the country, the EPA is being urged to fulfill its statutory obligation to protect communities against harmful pollution from this new class of potentially significant polluters.
How does this concern Georgia? Data centers housing hundreds of diesel generators have proliferated across Georgia and the rest of the country. Georgia is the nation’s fourth-largest hub, with over 270 facilities across the state.
In Fayetteville, Georgia, a single site plans to install nearly 230 diesel-powered generators, each able to power approximately 2,000 homes and capable of producing approximately 50 pounds of harmful pollutants per hour. At a similar facility in Covington, Georgia, developers plan to install 321 diesel generators with similar specifications.
What Sen. Raphael Warnock and Rep. Hank Johnson had to say in their letter:
- “Dear Administrator Zeldin: We write to express our concern with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) failure to regulate the installation of thousands of high-emissions diesel generators on data center campuses across the country.
- “The EPA is the nation’s chief environmental regulator, responsible for protecting the American public’s health and welfare from harmful air pollutants.
- “However, under your leadership, massive data centers housing hundreds of diesel generators have embedded in communities across the country and concentrated in major population centers with virtually no federal oversight or monitoring.
- “This inaction threatens to expose countless Americans to potentially harmful levels of air pollution. Therefore, we urge you to immediately begin monitoring and regulating this developing class of potential polluters to safeguard every American’s right to clean air.”
Further Context: A single data center’s diesel generators can spread pollution to communities over six miles away.
In hubs like metro Atlanta, a hurricane or widespread power outage could cause data centers to operate hundreds or thousands of diesel generators indefinitely and could be catastrophic for community health.
