Some of the most exclusive seats at President Donald Trump's inauguration in January were reserved for leaders of major tech companies such as Meta, Amazon and Google.
Megarich has long played a major role in the US national politics, but many viewed it as a clever sign of the impact the tech industry has had in Trump's second term after Silicon Valley pledged new support for his administration.
On Wednesday, that support paid off. The administration has announced plans to speed up the development of artificial intelligence in the United States by allowing businesses to build technology and associated infrastructure with minimal federal surveillance. Among the actions outlined, we will abandon environmental regulations for data centers and work with the industry to decide on other rules that “unnecessarily interfere with the development and deployment of AI.”
“Simply put, we need to 'Build, Baby, Build!”,” the 23-page plan introduction states.
In fact, it's a kind of free path to AI regulation that was overwhelmingly opposed to Congress when such measures slipped into the late draft of Trump's one big beautiful bill act earlier this month. The US Senate voted 99-1 to strip the 10-year suspension of AI's state and local regulations from the law.
The Trump administration's series of moves, including weakening the environmental protection array and the AI Action Plan announced Wednesday, have little federal surveillance of environmental imprinting in the data center industry.
The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) said the action plan paves the way for not only data center development but also increased dependence on fossil fuel infrastructure.
The AI plan announcement follows residents and activists in South Memphis, a region that has long been plagued by air pollution, claiming that Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company has been operating gas turbines without proper permission for more than a year.
Amanda Garcia, senior SELC attorney, said Musk's Memphis experience with AI companies exemplifies AI at risk when it comes to growth in unchecked infrastructure.
“These turbines are located near the largely black communities that emit smog-forming pollution and harmful chemicals like formaldehyde and are already overburdened by a long history of environmental injustice,” Garcia said. “Families in Southern Memphis deserve transparency and clean air.”
SELC's climate initiative breeder Alys Capeance is looking for more information as more data centers and power plants are open to provide a predicted increase in energy demand from artificial intelligence, states and communities about the impact of AI infrastructure on grids, public health and the environment.
“The Trump administration has produced barriers and false sense of urgency to roll back public safeguards that support the world's wealthiest businesses at the expense of southern communities,” the campaign said.
The administration's AI Action Plan also recommends that agencies modify guidelines on AI development to remove false information, climate change, diversity, equity and inclusion references. This suggests that policy measures exist under the subsection. “Make sure Frontier AI protects freedom of speech and American values.”
This is a plan stems from an executive order signed by Trump, who directed the federal government to create a proposal to ensure America's global domination in the AI race.
For environmentalists, the most concerning factors outlined in the plan include enacting a national Clean Water Act permit that allows data centers to be built without informing the public prior to construction of impacts on local water systems. It also recommends that federal land be made available to businesses considering building data centers or power plants that serve these data centers.
Trump's AI plan also aims to establish new exclusions for data centers from the National Environmental Policy Act. Earlier this month, the administration had already undermined what is called the “magnacarta” of US environmental law, and is asking agencies to assess the environmental impact of actions during the decision-making process.
Change has continued for years of bipartisan calls for federal permit reform, particularly for energy projects. However, legal experts say the change will limit public participation, transparency and accountability for new developments on both public and private land.
The administration's plans were celebrated by the US Department of Labor. Assistant Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling said the plan would create a new era of economic prosperity for American workers. It was also celebrated by the Data Centers Union (DCC), an industry lobbying group that includes members, including Amazon, Google and Meta. Many of the lobbying group policy recommendations submitted on March 15 were included in the administration's plans or previous policy decisions.
The DCC recommended that the federal government advance cogen on-site or burn fossil fuels to power or offset electricity demand, primarily in data centers. The lobbying group also recommended that federal land be made available to members to develop into those sites through the arrangement of utility and the construction of their own power plants there.
The DCC also recommended that the National Environmental Policy Act be overhauled, the water allowed to be expanded quickly, and the deadline for limit deadlines to sue permitting authorities for energy projects be reduced from six years to five months.
The growing loyalty between the tech industry and the Trump administration has become apparent throughout the first six months of his second term. By day two, Trump, along with Openai CEO Sam Altman, Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison and Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son, announced a Stargate project that aims to develop billions of dollars worth of AI infrastructure, starting at the Abilene, Texas site.
Earlier this month, the Pentagon announced that humanity, an artificial intelligence company, had been awarded contracts by the Ministry of Defense to address national security challenges. Each company can receive up to $200 million.
No other tech players have had an impact on Trump as much as Musk. Their relationship became sour and before Musk left DC in May, Trump tapped him as an administration adviser through government efficiency to destroy the government, but Musk's company continued to secure federal contracts.
Marianne Lavelle, director of Washington, Inside Climate News, contributed to this report.
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Arcelia Martin
Texas Renewable Energy Reporter
Arcelia Martin is an award-winning journalist for Inside Climate News. She covers Texas renewables from her Dallas base. Before joining ICN in 2025, Arcelia was a staff writer for Dallas Morning News and Tennessee. She is a native of San Diego, California, and is a graduate of Gonzaga University and Columbia University School of Journalism.
