For decades, communities suffering from PFAS pollution have sounded the alarm on the harms of these “forever chemicals.” Powerful organizing and research have pushed some industries to phase out PFAS and state leaders to start passing policy to address the crisis, even as the Trump administration falls behind. But this progress is in jeopardy thanks to one of the greatest environmental and economic threats of our time: data centers. 

A trove of research links per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to harm throughout the human body. The more than 12,000 PFAS chemicals are everywhere, from plastic packaging to cosmetics to carpets. And once they’re made, they don’t easily degrade, potentially persisting in our bodies for years and the environment for decades or centuries.

Now, the same companies that have inundated our lives with PFAS and even fracking corporations are creating PFAS for AI data centers. The Trump administration is holding open the doors for more PFAS pollution via data centers. Without action, chemical, fracking, and tech giants will continue to win big while our health and environment suffer. 

Tech’s “Green Solution” Relies on Toxic PFAS

One of data centers’ major environmental threats is their water consumption. By 2028, U.S. data centers could use as much water as 2.5 million households. In response, the data center industry has turned to greenwashing. 

Many data center proposals now include “new” ways to cool the super-hot computers inside these facilities that use significantly less water and energy. But these newer “liquid cooling”-based systems commonly use PFAS. 

For example, data center developer Data Volt recently announced plans to invest $20 billion in data centers in the United States. It also announced a partnership with Chemours, a U.S. chemical company known for manufacturing the notorious PFAS, Teflon™. With this partnership, Data Volt will use Chemours’ new cooling fluid, a type of hydrofluorolefins (HFOs), which degrade into a type of PFAS.

More PFAS in data centers means more pollution in our environment. Small leaks in these cooling systems are common, according to the industry itself. And the prolonged exposure to these PFAS fluids leads to the degradation of the computer system’s parts, which contaminates the fluid, and then necessitates disposal.

These fluids are likely incinerated, meaning the PFAS are released into the air or remain in the ash that is then sent to landfills.

Data Centers Drive More PFAS Pollution

A large body of research shows that even the tiniest bit of PFAS is problematic, given their potent health harms and persistence in our bodies and nature. It’s incredibly urgent that we ban all non-essential uses of PFAS and work on getting them out of our environment. 

But the AI data center boom promises a new flood of these chemicals. Coolants are a major source of PFAS in data centers, but they’re not the only ones. Data centers also coat pipes, cables, and other equipment with PFAS, which, due to the high equipment turnover rate at data centers, ultimately ends up in landfills.

Additionally, making the microchips that power data center computers is impossible without PFAS. Chemours has proposed scaling up PFAS production at factories in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and Parkersburg, West Virginia, to meet demand for producing data center chips.

These facilities have a long history of major environmental contamination. Neighboring communities have reported cancers and other devastating illnesses. Even industry research finds that these plants emit PFAS in their wastewater.

And as Chemours moves forward with expansion, its own air permit application highlights the possibility of even greater PFAS air emissions. While Big Tech profits from the data center boom, communities on the fenceline of PFAS factories will pay the price.

Chemical and Fracking Corporations Rejoice at Data Center Boom

As the tide turns against the fracking industry and PFAS makers, these corporations are getting creative. In 2025, the infamous oilfield supplier Halliburton announced a pivot to serving data centers. Other oilfield corporations, including Baker Hughes and Liberty Energy, have made similar moves. And major oil corporations themselves are getting involved; ExxonMobil and Shell have both released several new chemicals for use as data center cooling liquids.

The fossil fuel industry is no stranger to PFAS. They were early adopters and have long used PFAS in drilling. Major chemical manufacturers like Chemours and 3M already supply both the oil and gas industry and data centers. These same chemical producers are now rushing to repurpose lubricants and transformer oils for the data center liquid market.

At the same time, chemical corporations are pursuing the same policy playbook with cooling chemicals as they did with fracking chemicals. Since 2005, the “Halliburton Loophole” has exempted fracking fluids from regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act. This, along with claims of fracking chemicals being “trade secrets,” has shrouded fracking chemicals in secrecy and hindered efforts to quantify fracking’s environmental impact. 

Now, data centers often use non-disclosure agreements and trade secret protections to avoid publishing information about their cooling systems.

The data center boom is the latest golden goose for the fossil fuel and chemical industries that have long polluted our environment for profit.

Stop PFAS Pollution, Stop Data Centers!

Trump’s policies are holding open the gates for data center PFAS. In July 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to reduce environmental regulations on data centers and use federal resources to fast-track their permits. 

Later that fall, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced plans to “get out of the way” of data centers, in part by expediting review of new chemicals used in data center projects. The EPA has even announced plans that would allow oil and gas wastewater to be used for cooling data centers.

Even though Trump’s EPA has claimed to take PFAS seriously in the past, his recent actions, including his limitless support for Big Tech’s data centers, are dragging us into a new era of even greater toxic pollution.

While Big Tech, oil and gas corporations, and chemical giants profit from this boom, our health will pay the price. Stemming the tide of poison PFAS now means slamming the brakes on data center construction.