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

In response to questions about the two-stage immersion coolant products from WIRED, including whether or not the company plans to submit chemicals for expedited consideration under the administration’s new data center exemption, Chemours spokesperson Cassie Olszewski said the company is “in the process of commercializing the two-stage immersion coolant, which will require the relevant regulatory approvals.”

“Our work in this area has focused on developing more sustainable and efficient cooling solutions that will 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,” Olszewski said.

These flakes can also be an important source of new chemicals. The semiconductor industry, which produces the chips that provide computing power in data centers, would benefit greatly from the expedited review process, say Scheuer and Jonathan Kalmus Katz, an attorney with the environmental nonprofit Earthjustice. The semiconductor manufacturing process uses forever chemicals at multiple different production points, including the crucial photolithography process, which uses light to transfer patterns to the surface of silicon wafers.

Scheuer says that during his last few years at the EPA, the industry submitted a large number of applications for new chemicals. Semiconductor manufacturers “are the main drivers of new chemicals,” Kalmus-Katz says.

“The administration has this kind of AI-at-all-costs mentality, where it is rushing to build more and more data centers and chip factories without any meaningful plan for dealing with their climate impacts, their impacts on natural resources, and the toxic materials that are being used and released from these new facilities,” he says.

Lobbying documents show that the semiconductor industry has been demanding changes this year to the EPA’s New Chemicals Program. In March, Nancy Becka 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 from SEMI, a global industry advocacy organization. The meeting was initially organized to discuss “EPA’s approach to regulations regarding PFAS and other chemicals necessary for semiconductor manufacturing,” according to emails obtained by WIRED via a Freedom of Information Act request. Emails show that Beck suggested during the meeting that the lobbying group pursue public comment in support of changes to the new chemicals program, which the group sent out over the next month in a letter. (“The Trump EPA encourages stakeholders to submit and document their comments on the proposed rules so we can get a diverse range of viewpoints,” says Hersh, the EPA spokesman.)