Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin warned that statewide moratoriums on data centers could undermine the United States’ effort to outpace China in artificial intelligence (AI), while acknowledging residents’ concerns about energy costs, water use and environmental impacts. A Fox News poll released in late July found that 70% of voters opposed building an AI data center in their area, and 78% supported slowing construction to address environmental and community concerns. The issue has become prominent for midterm candidates as President Trump encourages data-center development and asks companies to offset higher electricity costs through his ratepayer protection pledge. Meta, Amazon, Google and 100 others have agreed to do so under the administration’s voluntary pledge. Zeldin said projects should be net providers to the power grid and responsible users of water, while arguing that the country must continue building data centers to compete with China.