Two Georgia Democrats in Congress, a senator and a representative, have asked the US Environmental Protection Agency to start regulating the diesel generators that data centers use for backup power and at times of peak demand. Their letter is dated 22 October, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on it.
What the letter argues
The two say hundreds of such generators are in use at data center sites in Georgia. Their main point is about the total, not the single machine: even if every set meets state emission standards, the combined nitrogen oxide emissions would be more than double those of Georgia Power's two large coal-fired plants. They accuse the agency of speeding up approvals for data centers and loosening operating limits on generators, instead of using the Clean Air Act to protect nearby residents.
The newspaper reports that the letter asks for a written and an oral reply from the agency by 19 November. It had no response from the agency when it went to print.
Georgia as the setting
CBRE ranks Georgia first among US states for data center construction, and Georgia Power is roughly doubling its grid, mostly with gas-fired plants, largely to serve that load. QTS plans more than 200 diesel generators at its Fayetteville site and 236 at a site in Augusta; the company says they run only for limited testing, maintenance and emergencies, and that it operates within its air permits. In Covington, VoltaGrid and Serverfarm can continue building a data center powered by gas generators after paying a fine and accepting stricter emission limits.
The health costs of data center air pollution are put at about $6.7 billion for 2023 and $20 billion by 2028, figures the article attributes to a report released by a US senator from Massachusetts.
A question that follows the fleet
Standby sets are normally permitted one site at a time, each with its own testing hours. The Georgia letter asks what happens when the same type of plant is added up across a state. Whatever the agency answers, the argument is likely to keep returning to the same few items: exhaust treatment, how often the sets are run, and whether a fleet is counted as one source or many. The Virginia rule shows where one state has already landed. If you are quoting a fleet for a Georgia site, find out now how the permit counts it.
Sources: Atlanta Journal-Constitution