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Nearly 200 activists affiliated with Make America Healthy Again sent a letter to President Donald Trump on Friday opposing the expansion of coal-fueled data centers, signaling growing grassroots concern about the industry’s environmental footprint. The activists contended that the United States could lead globally in artificial intelligence development without imposing additional health burdens on Americans through mercury exposure, air pollution, heavy metal contamination, and water degradation.
The coalition of MAHA activists requested that Trump mandate “transparent review of data-center siting and power sourcing” and directed copies of their correspondence to Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin. The letter represents one of the earliest significant challenges to Trump’s favorable stance toward data center projects.
Data centers have begun affecting electoral dynamics, with Democratic candidates and Republican officials increasingly adopting restrictive positions. Texas is suspending approvals for new facilities, New York implemented a one-year moratorium, and former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers called for similar restrictions in Michigan. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat with presidential ambitions, signed an executive order granting local communities veto power over data center projects.
Trump has promoted data center expansion as economically beneficial, saying communities that reject such projects risk being “left behind.” Last year he signed an executive order supporting “America’s beautiful clean coal industry,” and in January declared a national energy emergency. His administration asked electricity providers to pledge consumer protection from data center cost-shifting, reporting that 55 utilities and 27 data center developers joined the initiative.
Florida addressed utility cost concerns in May when Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation prohibiting public utilities from transferring data center expenses to residential and small business customers, with the law taking effect in July.
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