The Trump administration is “keenly aware” of Americans’ concerns about water and artificial intelligence data centers and wants the industry to embrace technologies like reusing treated wastewater, according to a senior EPA official.
But Jess Kramer, who leads EPA’s water office, also defended the administration’s pledge to help make the U.S. “the AI capital of the world,” arguing that the technology is already driving conversations at the agency.
“Being the AI capital of the world, utilizing that as a tool, and utilizing [it] to the best of its ability, I think that’s a great goal,” Kramer said in an interview last week. “I don’t think there’s anything short-sighted about that. I think it has driven a lot of conversations.”
Under the Trump administration, EPA is pulling back major regulations for coal, oil, gas and chemical plants and has pledged to advance AI as one of five agency “pillars.” AI data centers are voracious consumers of electric power, and some require a lot of water to keep computer servers cool.
