PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Just over one year after he celebrated Amazon investment in a data center in Bucks County, Gov. Josh Shapiro has signed an executive order restricting what he calls development by bad actors.
Shapiro said there has been a flood of proposed data center projects across Pennsylvania, many of them questionable at best.
“They lack detailed plans, have insufficient financing, don’t have access to the electricity they actually need to build these centers, and have no agreement with a tech company to use the space once it's built,” he said.
Shapiro used a controversial King of Prussia proposal as an example of what he called developers steamrolling communities. “[The developer] is creating this chaos and stoking fear in the community, even though he has no realistic path to getting power at the sites any time soon,” he said.
The executive order requires developers to get local approval before any consideration for state permits, ends fast track approval, forbids nondisclosure agreements, and requires that developers bring their own power and pay all costs associated with that electricity.
“No one’s utility bill should go up because these wealthy companies don’t pay their fair share,” said Shapiro. “They should pay for every penny of electricity they need.”
Shapiro said any company that doesn’t comply with those requirements will have no pathway to state approval and will be disqualified from getting the sales tax exemption on equipment.
“AI data center developers who want to do business in our commonwealth must respect our communities and abide by these stringent requirements,” he said, “and if they can’t agree to that, they should stop considering Pennsylvania.”
The order also requires developers to get a significant portion of power from clean energy, such as solar, advanced nuclear, and battery storage.
