The Trump administration’s data center push could open the door to new Forever chemicals
In response to questions about its two-phase coolant products from WIRED, including whether the company plans to submit chemicals for expedited review under the government’s new data center exemption, Chemours spokeswoman Cassie Olszewski said the company is “in the process of commercializing our two-phase immersion coolant, which requires the relevant regulatory approvals.”
“Our work in this area is focused on developing more sustainable and efficient cooling solutions that allow data centers to consume less energy, water and footprint while effectively managing the increased amount of heat generated by the next generation of chips with higher processing power,” said Olszewski.
These chips can also be an important source of new chemicals. Both Scheuer and Jonathan Kalmus Katz, an attorney with the environmental nonprofit Earthjustice, said the semiconductor industry, which makes the chips that power the computing power in data centers, would benefit significantly from the fast-track process. In the semiconductor manufacturing process, chemicals are permanently used at various points in production, including in the important photolithography process, which uses light to transfer patterns to the surface of silicon wafers.
Scheuer says that in the last few years of his tenure at the EPA, the industry has submitted a large number of requests for new chemicals. Semiconductor manufacturers are “the main driver of new chemicals,” Kalmus-Katz says.
“The government has this kind of AI-at-cost mentality, where you’re rushing to build more data centers and chip factories, without any meaningful plan to deal with the climate impacts, the natural resource impacts, and the toxics that are used and released from these new facilities,” he says.
The semiconductor industry has requested changes to the EPA’s new chemicals program this year, lobbying documents show. In March, Nancy Beck, a former policy director for an industry lobby group who now leads the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, the office that oversees new chemical reviews, met with representatives of SEMI, a global industry advocacy organization. According to emails obtained by WIRED through a Freedom of Information Act request, the meeting was originally convened to discuss “the EPA’s approach to regulations related to PFAS and other chemicals essential to semiconductor manufacturing.” Beck suggested during the meeting that the lobbying group follow up with a public comment in support of changes to the new chemicals program that the group sent out in a letter within the next month, the emails show. (EPA spokeswoman Hirsch says, “Trump’s EPA encourages stakeholders to submit and document their comments on the proposed rulemaking so that we receive a range of views.”)
