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The US EPA has received fewer than ten requests to fast-track TSCA reviews of new chemicals intended for data centre projects since launching a prioritisation scheme nearly a year ago, the agency has told Chemical Watch News & Insight.
The EPA announced the expedited review initiative on 18 September last year, as part of a broader government effort to streamline permitting for data centre infrastructure.
Under the scheme, the agency said it would move qualifying new chemical notices to the front of its TSCA section 5 new chemical review queue.
The agency framed the data centre announcement as part of EPA administrator Lee Zeldin's Powering the Great American Comeback initiative, one pillar of which aims to make the US "the artificial intelligence capital of the world". Zeldin said at the time that a backlog of TSCA new chemical reviews was "getting in the way of projects as it pertains to data centres and artificial intelligence".
An EPA spokesperson said that, due to confidential business information (CBI) concerns, they could not provide exact figures but confirmed that fewer than ten notices have been submitted requesting priority review.
No particular chemical category or use type has dominated the queue, the agency said, adding that all of the prioritised cases remain under review.
With respect to how quickly those expedited reviews are moving, the agency said it is "difficult to quantify the pace due to the vast differences in chemistries".
Prioritisation means a case is moved to the front of the queue so that review may begin more quickly, but "the risk assessment and risk management processes remain unchanged regardless of prioritisation status", the EPA said.
The data centre prioritisation programme is separate from the EPA's existing fast-track scheme for semiconductor chemicals, including photoacid generators used in chip manufacturing. So far, the two programmes have had no operational interaction, the spokesperson said.