The Trump administration is not going to set nationwide environmental requirements or recommendations for the rapidly growing data center industry, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said Wednesday. While there are technologies and practices that reduce air pollution and water usage, states and communities know what works best for them, Zeldin said at the POLITICO Energy Summit in Washington. … Just 37 percent of Americans would support a data center being built in their area, according to a POLITICO poll earlier this year. There are myriad reasons cited by opponents, but water usage and air pollution are common complaints. Zeldin on Wednesday cited closed-loop data center designs that don’t have to regularly tap into local water supplies.

Other data center water use news:

• Source New Mexico: Small northern New Mexico city postpones decision on data center moratorium
• New Lines Magazine: The AI boom sparks a rural rebellion in Utah
• Bloomberg: Amazon says its data centers use 2.5 billion gallons of water
• Food & Wine: AI could consume enough water to meet the needs of 1.3 billion people annually, UN warns
• Axios: Blog: Amazon touts water savings amid data center pushback