Groups Sue EPA Over Fast-Tracked Datacenter Chemicals
Earthjustice says the EPA approved two chemicals for immediate use despite admitting it doesn't know the level at which they could be lethal.
Environmental groups have sued the Environmental Protection Agency over its approval of two new chemicals used in data centers, arguing regulators authorized substances they admitted could cause "sudden death" and other severe harm without understanding the level of exposure that would be dangerous.
The lawsuit, filed by Earthjustice, targets two photoacid generator chemicals approved by the EPA for import and immediate use at facilities across the country. The compounds also appear to be PFAS, or "forever chemicals," though redactions in EPA documents make that unclear, according to the suit.
In consent orders reviewed by the Guardian, the EPA acknowledged the chemicals may pose an "unreasonable risk" to workers and the public, including acute toxicity, genetic toxicity, eye corrosion, and reproductive and developmental harm. The agency also said it lacked sufficient data to quantify those risks, or to determine the concentration at which the chemicals become "acutely lethal."
"EPA found that both chemicals pose potentially severe risks to public health, admitted that it lacked the information needed to calculate those risks, and still approved both chemicals for immediate use," said Jonathan Kalmuss-Katz, an Earthjustice attorney who filed the suit.
Kalmuss-Katz argues the approvals violate the Toxic Substances Control Act, which requires the EPA to limit or prohibit chemicals found to present an unreasonable risk. He said the restrictions the agency imposed — including a cap on the size of containers used to import the chemicals, but not the total volume — are "minimal and non-protective."
The EPA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It remains unclear whether the approvals were expedited under a late-2025 Trump executive order intended to speed up approval of data center chemicals, which public health advocates said at the time appeared to sidestep chemical safety review laws. The name of the manufacturer is also redacted from the documents.
PFAS chemicals are used throughout semiconductor manufacturing, including in photolithography, and are considered essential by industry, which says finding safer alternatives is "impossible in some instances." Testing from one production plant previously reviewed by the Guardian found PFAS levels in wastewater far above the EPA's drinking water limit for common compounds.
Lenny Siegel of the Center for Public Environmental Oversight said the EPA should not be approving new photoacid generators at all given the uncertainty over their risks.
This article was produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI), in accordance with our editorial policy.
