Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signs an executive order imposing new requirements on data center projects, including getting approval from local officials
NBC NewsAllan Smith
Context & Ripple Effects
Pennsylvania's order arrives as state and local governments are tightening control over large data-center siting. New York has already paused environmental permits for larger facilities, while more than 500 U.S. towns and counties have adopted data-center bans or pauses after statewide restrictions in New York and Texas.
Data-center developers seeking to build in Pennsylvania must secure approval from local officials, adding a formal local decision point to project planning.
Pennsylvania local officials gain direct leverage over whether proposed data-center projects proceed under the new requirements.
Second-order effects
Developers will have to treat local approval as a core siting constraint in Pennsylvania, rather than relying solely on state-level project processes.
Data-center policy is broadening from state moratoriums to durable local-control mechanisms, making community consent a recurring condition of infrastructure build-out.
If other states adopt Pennsylvania's procedural model, data-center development will be shaped increasingly by fragmented local approval regimes rather than uniform statewide rules.
The trend:AI infrastructure is encountering a widening social-license framework in which local approval, transparency, and permitting constraints determine where compute capacity can be built.
every blue state governor will instantly roll over to the conspiracy/degrowth crowd. too easy. as I keep saying, data centers on a go-forward basis will just be a red state thing. red state politicians shouldn't let insane degrowth leftists poison the well.
what is this nonsense on data centers from Gov. Josh Shapiro about being “bullied by greedy developers”? Nobody is being bullied into building data centers in their states or communities. They decide willingly if they are going to bring those investments and economic and job
EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY: I'm putting AI data center developers on notice. If they want to even think about doing business in Pennsylvania, they must adhere to the strictest standards in the nation — AND get approval from the local community. Pennsylvanians deserve the right to
This is the moderate position in the Democratic Party now. I think what's going to happen is that data center are going to go to less populist, wealthier areas. Poor regions continue shooting themselves in the foot.
Pay attention, big tech. This guy was supposed to be one of the sane, technocratic democrats. And now he's caving to data center hysteria while Trump supports them. The individual characteristics of dem politicians don't matter. They're all mouthpieces for the leftist borg.
Does he think Pennsylvanians are dumb? As if there aren't articles all over the internet from when he was in love with Data Centers about 15 minutes ago? He is an empty suit. He has no policy positions. He will say whatever he has to say to get elected. Shady Josh Shapiro is a
BREAKING: I just signed an Executive Order implementing the strictest standards in the nation for AI data centers — because I will not allow Pennsylvanians to be bullied by greedy developers and bulldozed by the lawyers working for these big tech companies. Effective
For a moderate Democrat and a top presidential candidate to go this hard against AI data centers IS NOT A GREAT SIGN for the political backdrop. Very disappointing. Josh knows better. Washington Post: “Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) announced new stringent regulations on
Data centers have a big PR problem. Shapiro was one of the most pro-data-center governors until recently. They poll poorly locally, and his opponent called for a pause. His EO is milder than other states' moratoriums, but still its a huge pivot.
this comes after @DeSmog published this story on shapiro admin talks with the developer he is now calling out i have seen these emails myself and uh, folks, this is what we call a 180°