This represents the MAHA movement's first significant pushback against fossil fuels
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Almost 200 supporters of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s "Make America Healthy Again" initiative have voiced opposition to President Donald Trump’s push to use coal energy for artificial intelligence data centers, a Friday letter reveals.
Signed by at least two former campaign aides from Kennedy’s 2024 run, the document represents the MAHA movement's first significant pushback against fossil fuels, highlighting growing friction between the broad coalition of campaigners and the Trump administration regarding environmental policy.
The correspondence addressed to Trump, Kennedy, and additional Cabinet officials, initially reported by The Associated Press, raises alarm over a 2025 executive directive supporting coal-powered data expansion due to pollution risks, urging officials to adopt clean alternatives such as geothermal and solar power instead.
“We understand the importance of American leadership in artificial intelligence, national security, innovation, and economic growth,” the letter reads. “But American AI leadership should not come at the cost of a more toxic burden for American children.”
The White House and the agencies receiving the letter didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Prominent MAHA figures behind the letter include Zen Honeycutt, a former Kennedy campaign staffer and founder of the advocacy group Moms Across America, and Charles Eisenstein, a former speechwriter on Kennedy's campaign. Honeycutt said she asked the Kennedy-aligned political action committee MAHA Action to sign onto the letter but did not receive a reply.
Although it may not reflect the views of all MAHA activists, the new line of criticism against one of the administration’s signature policies less than three months before November’s midterm elections could present another challenge for Republicans as they seek to win over the voting bloc in key races.
As health secretary, Kennedy has carried out several policy changes that cater to the MAHA movement, including attempting to scale back childhood vaccine recommendations, a central priority for some activists. He also has sought to remove artificial dyes from food and encouraged Americans to have healthy diets free of ultraprocessed foods.
But many in the MAHA movement, which Trump credits with helping him win back the White House two years ago, say they have grown frustrated with the administration over its embrace of pesticides such as glyphosate and its deregulatory environmental agenda. Some have said they plan to vote on issues over party this fall, raising the political stakes of their increasingly public tensions with the Republican administration.
As president, Trump has enthusiastically embraced what he calls “big, beautiful coal” despite outcry from environmentalists about planet-warming greenhouse gases and toxic chemicals released by coal-fired power plants.
He has also been a vocal advocate for data centers, which power artificial intelligence and cloud computing, framing them as a necessary component of winning the AI race against China.
“If I were the mayor of a town or the governor of a state, and I had a chance to get a big plant in, an AI plant or a data center,” Trump said this week, “I would absolutely want it because the jobs are enormous and the money paid, the taxes paid, are just enormous.”
Data centers have become a political flashpoint in this year's elections. Voters across the political spectrum have criticized them for jacking up electricity bills, draining water supplies, and creating unhealthy amounts of air and noise pollution.
Friday's letter asks the administration to require transparent review of data center location and power sourcing decisions, and respect existing environmental review requirements in the permitting process.
Honeycutt said that after Trump's executive order last year, she researched the impact of coal ash on communities and was disturbed by what she found. She said she was also concerned about other aspects of data centers, including their land use and their effects on the people living near them.
“The data center push has been an overwhelmingly negative impact on our communities, and there are many in the MAHA movement that are extremely disappointed about that,” she said. “We vote for those who put health and safety first.”
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