They mirror suggestions made to regulators earlier this year by both a major data center lobbying group and Meta. In the comment, the DCC suggested smoothing the permitting process for data centers under a specific section of the Clean Water Act. It’s this type of nationwide permit that the new Trump AI agenda seeks to gain for data centers. Environmental lawyers who spoke with WIRED stressed that direct impacts from data centers depend entirely on the specifics of each individual project. Many data centers have relatively low environmental profiles for the buildings themselves.