MAHA warns Trump against coal-powered AI data centers

The Make America Healthy Again movement just picked a fight with one of Trump’s pet priorities. Nearly 200 MAHA activists sent a letter to President Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on August 21, arguing that the administration’s push to keep coal plants running to power AI data centers will poison American communities, particularly children. Coal meets compute The backdrop here is a July 23, 2025 executive order that fast-tracked permitting for new data center infrastructure. That directive also designated coal power equipment as eligible resources for meeting surging electricity demand driven by AI buildouts. The result: at least five to eight coal plants have been kept operational specifically to feed data center energy appetites. MAHA’s letter makes the counterargument in health terms rather than climate terms. Coal ash, particulate emissions, respiratory illness in children living near these facilities. The letter puts it bluntly: “data centers should not become the justification for burning more coal.” A strategic reframing MAHA isn’t arguing that AI is bad or that data centers shouldn’t exist. The activists explicitly acknowledge the importance of US leadersh...