A coalition of 17 environmental groups is calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to reject a new Pfas chemical giant Chemours is rushing to approve for data center cooling applications. This Pfas will almost certainly contaminate the area surrounding the facility.
In formal comments submitted to authorities, the group accuses Chemours of using bad science to downplay the toxicity of the chemical and climate risks. The nonprofit organization Earthjustice, the lead author of the comments, wrote that approving Chemours’ application as is would violate the law.
Big technology companies face fierce opposition across political lines in the communities where they plan to build data centers, in part because some facilities require large amounts of water to cool.
Data center developers like Google tout two-phase cooling systems as an alternative that uses far less water, but few people know that these systems typically use Pfas “permanent chemical” gas instead of water.
The new chemical, Opteon 2P50, is likely more toxic and poses a greater risk to the climate than Chemours claims for its use, public advocates have warned. Opteon 2P50 is also the first chemical the industry has requested expedited approval from the Trump EPA under the president’s legally dubious executive order calling for expedited review of data center chemicals.
“The data center industry knows they’re under fire for their massive water usage, so they’re trying to make themselves look like the good guys by using alternative cooling, but they’re not telling[the public]that they’re using dangerous chemicals,” said Renee Siegel, director of Chips Communities United, a nonprofit that works to curb Pfas waste. “Some are toxic, some are greenhouse gases, and some are both.”
PFA is one of about 16,000 compounds called “forever chemicals” because they do not break down naturally and accumulate in the human body and the environment. These chemicals have been linked to a variety of serious health problems, including cancer, liver disease, kidney problems, high cholesterol, birth defects, and weakened immunity.
“Two-phase” data center systems use Pfas gas (f-gas) as the refrigerant through copper tubing.
The chemists said in a statement that the comments fail to acknowledge that two-phase systems are “closed loop,” meaning there are no stack emissions and less gas escapes.
Although F-gas is not intentionally released during use, it does leak, known as a “fugitive release,” and must be disposed of at the end of its life.
The data center industry maintains that F-gas is not a threat because it often transforms into a compound called TFA when released into the air. TFA is considered a Pfa in most parts of the world, but not by the U.S. EPA. Recent studies have found it to be more toxic than previously thought, and the European Chemical Agency this month classified it as a hazardous chemical, finding it may have health effects, including possibly inhibiting thyroid function, reducing sperm quality and being toxic to the liver.
Chemours did not respond to the Guardian’s request for comment.
In comments submitted to the EPA, Earthjustice noted that despite President Donald Trump’s executive order prioritizing chemicals in data centers, the agency still needs to consider health risks as required by law.
“We are concerned that EPA will interpret ‘priority review’ to mean ‘priority approval,'” said Adriana Antezana, a scientist at Earthjustice. “We need to remind EPA that the executive order has nothing to do with assessing health risks.”
The comment alleges a number of flaws in the science submitted by Chemours that claims Opteon 2P50 poses a low health risk, including relying on a type of lab rat that is less susceptible to the toxic effects of Pfas than humans. Comments also asserted that a range of toxicological data were missing or limited.
Chemours refers to occupational inhalation limits aimed at keeping workers safe, which were developed by Tera, a scientific group partially funded by industry. Tera has a long history of attacking chemical regulations and producing industry-friendly science. Earthjustice wrote that the committee formed by Tera did not follow EPA best practices and did not include important data in its analysis. Comments assert that the level of exposure to Opteon 2P50 that workers would face if the Tera Board’s levels were adopted is likely not safe.
Environmental groups also argue that Chemours has a history of releasing dangerous levels of contaminants into communities around its plants, and that U.S. drinking water is already widely contaminated with Pfas. The comments said that approval for widespread use of this new compound could pose an unreasonable risk to the public under the nation’s Toxic Chemicals Act because some compounds already face high exposures.
In a statement, Chemours accused environmental groups of making “blanket generalizations” about Pfa, each of which has a slightly different chemical structure. “EPA’s new chemical substance review is a rigorous evaluation process,” the statement said.
Antezana said if the EPA approves Opteon 2P50 for manufacturing, it could make it easier to approve it for other uses in industry and consumer products such as refrigerators, but that’s hypothetical, Antezana said.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s actions regarding the chemical could also test President Trump’s executive order powers. If chemicals are tumbled in without following the law, Earthjustice could sue.
“We don’t want the government to just approve a chemical just because a company says it will help the industry, because that could apply to any chemical,” Antezana said.
