Environmental Protection Network

Thank you, Chitra, for sharing this important conversation at Justice by Design. As data center growth accelerates, communities need a real voice in decisions about energy, pollution, and health from the start.

As leaders in Washington focus on who pays for the electricity needed to power AI data centers, another question belongs in the conversation: who bears the health costs when that growth adds pollution? Families can face medical bills, missed work and missed school. Those costs deserve attention alongside electric bills when leaders decide where data centers go, how they’re powered and how pollution is managed. That’s why our joint statement with national health, consumer and environmental organizations calls on the Administration to develop a Data Center Health Protection Pledge. If families shouldn’t have to bear the electricity costs of data center expansion, they shouldn’t have to bear avoidable health costs either. Read the full joint statement at the link in the comments. -------- Organizations that have signed on: Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments  American Lung Association  American Public Health Association  Children's Environmental Health Network  Consumer Federation of America  National Consumer Law Center  National Consumers League (NCL)  Physicians for Social Responsibility

Join our partners at the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments on October 13 from 1:00–4:30 PM ET for Toxics 101, a workshop for nurses and healthcare professionals on PFAS and other toxic chemicals, their health impacts, and how to communicate effectively with patients and communities. Provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider Number 17198, for 3 contact hours. Register Today: https://lnkd.in/gUSSCtAC

Nobody spreads chemicals from factory waste on a vegetable garden on purpose. Swipe through the pathway to see how it can happen anyway. Not every biosolids product is high in PFAS, but there is no national testing requirement, enforceable federal PFAS limit for biosolids or required PFAS disclosure on product labels. Through Safer Not Sicker, EPN is helping families understand how EPA and other federal actions can affect their health. EPA is accepting public comments through October 5 on its draft guidance for reducing risks from PFOA and PFOS in biosolids. This is an important opportunity to call for enforceable protections and stronger controls that stop PFAS pollution at its source. Add your voice at the link in the comments.

Polluters save billions. Families pay the price. Sound fair? Joseph Goffman, former Assistant Administrator in the EPA Office of Air and Radiation explains why repealing carbon pollution limits for power plants could shift the costs of pollution onto families through greater health risks  – especially with surging electricity demand. As these risks grow, so does the question of what the EPA is responsible for protecting: our health, or industry’s bottom line? What do you think the EPA’s priorities should be? 👇

Here's what our network of EPN volunteers want you to know this week: EPA’s power-plant rollback could have policy consequences far into the future. Janet McCabe explains how they are making an effort to legally undermine EPA’s ability to ever use the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gas pollution. Newly released records detail health-risk information Syngenta did not provide to EPA. Tracey Woodruff explains why regulators need the full evidence to protect workers and the public. Harmful pollution from powering AI can reach Americans far from the data center itself. Lynn Goldman explains to a Spanish language media outlet how rising electricity demand and weaker safeguards can shift greater health risks onto families. Head to the “In The News” link in the comments to read more about what these former EPA experts have been saying, and follow us to stay informed each week. ------- “They’re trying to give people a guarantee that energy prices won’t rise because of data centers. And I agree. But we shouldn’t have to pay for it with our health either. It’s expensive to go to the doctor, to get sick, to die prematurely.” – Dr. Lynn Goldman

This Week's Job Openings Roles in environment, climate, and clean energy at organizations doing work that matters. Compiled weekly from EPN's network, this is a resource for emerging to experienced professionals working to protect environmental progress. A few we’re highlighting this week: Climate Justice Specialist — Sauk-Suiattle Indian Tribe Full-time | In-Person | Darrington, WA Planner, Climate Data Science  — Metropolitan Transportation Authority Full-time | In-Person | New York, NY 2027 Spring Law Clerk — Environmental Integrity Project Part-time | Hybrid | Washington, DC Plus more new opportunities across nonprofits, government, academia, and the private sector. Know someone who'd be a great fit for one of these? Tag them below. See the full job board: https://lnkd.in/eQhfQktd

The work of advancing credible science can be demanding and, in times of uncertainty, a source of significant stress. MindLab offers a free 30-minute space each week to pause, practice resilience, and reflect on ways to improve mind, body, health, and performance. We invite scientists, science leaders, and science supporters to join guided mindfulness sessions informed by ecopsychology and neuroscience, led by founder and CEO of the Art of Happiness and Mindfulness / Academy of the Heart and Mind, Knellee B. EPN and the Union of Concerned Scientists partner to offer MindLab, with facilitation from AHAM Education. Join us Wednesdays from 11:30 AM – noon ET. Register to join an upcoming session: https://lnkd.in/gPXMfBSR Know someone who could use this weekly pause? Share this post with them.

What if the biggest cost of AI isn’t on your electric bill? Powering data centers with coal, gas, and diesel releases pollution linked to asthma, heart and lung disease, and early death. One study projects up to $20.9 billion in annual health costs by 2028, before recent federal rollbacks are factored in. Our new report, The Hidden Health Costs of AI Data Centers, draws on EPN volunteers’ decades of experience inside EPA to examine how federal decisions about pollution safeguards, permitting, monitoring, and enforcement can shift illness and costs onto families, including people living far from the data centers themselves. The report is part of Safer Not Sicker, EPN’s campaign helping families understand how federal environmental decisions affect their health. As electricity demand rises, strong pollution safeguards matter more, not less. Read the report: https://lnkd.in/eU9fuEQt