In response to the rapidly growing demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and data processing, data center developers across the United States are increasingly building on-site gas-burning power plants to supply electricity, a trend particularly pronounced in Texas. These plants, designed to provide reliable power directly to data centers, have raised environmental and public health concerns due to their emissions and the expedited permitting processes that accelerate their construction.
Since early 2023, at least 82 gas-burning power plants intended to serve data centers have been proposed or are under construction nationwide, with Texas alone accounting for 39. These facilities, some large enough to power tens or hundreds of thousands of homes, are being approved through fast-tracked permitting systems that often bypass comprehensive environmental reviews and public notification or comment periods. For example, a gas-fired power plant planned to serve a Meta data center near El Paso was approved in just 20 days, while others in the state have received permits in as little as two or three days.
Texas environmental regulators defend the expedited approvals, stating that permitted plants are found to be protective of human health and the environment. However, critics, including environmental advocacy organizations and academic experts, argue that such rapid permit issuance prevents meaningful public input and thorough examination of environmental impacts, particularly concerning air pollution. The practice of dividing large projects into smaller phases allows developers to avoid stricter pollution controls and monitoring requirements, which has drawn legal challenges from environmental groups alleging efforts to circumvent air quality regulations.
The power plants emit significant quantities of pollutants, including carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides, contributing to climate change and health risks such as asthma, heart disease, and lung cancer in nearby communities. According to estimates based on permit data, an individual data center power plant can produce as much greenhouse gas emissions annually as hundreds of thousands of gasoline-powered vehicles. Additionally, some plants use diesel generators, which emit higher levels of harmful pollutants compared to natural gas.
Industry representatives emphasize challenges connecting data centers to the existing electric grid, which can take years to complete and drive up local electricity prices. Building on-site power plants offers data center operators greater control over their energy supply and supports the fast-paced growth of AI technologies. The Trump administration has actively supported this approach, with President Trump publicly encouraging companies to construct their own power plants to meet surging demand. Policies have been implemented to relax environmental regulations, including exempting certain data center-related plants from acid rain pollution limits and easing restrictions on emergency diesel generators.
While some developers express commitments toward offsetting carbon emissions with renewable energy sources—for example, Meta has stated plans to fully offset its electricity use in El Paso with clean energy—questions remain about the long-term environmental consequences of the overall expansion of fossil fuel-powered data centers. Experts note that the rapid proliferation of these plants could lead to tens of millions of tons of emissions that otherwise would not exist, marking an unprecedented scale of fossil fuel infrastructure built primarily to support AI operations.
The debate highlights tensions between the push for technological advancement and energy security on one side and environmental protection and public health concerns on the other. As data centers proliferate and continue to strain electric grids, the balance between these competing priorities remains a subject of ongoing scrutiny and legal challenges.