Shapiro signs data center order barring fast-track permitting, NDAs

Sluggish Senate

The order comes after the state's GOP-controlled Senate declined to act on GRID legislation that passed the House earlier this year. Shapiro said the Senate majority leader had indicated no intention of bringing data center regulation to a vote, leaving executive action as his only option.

"The absence of legislative approval has left me with no other option but to protect the people of Pennsylvania," Shapiro said during remarks in Harrisburg.

Local approval above all

Under the order, developers must first submit a notice of intent to comply with GRID requirements, then present detailed plans to the state Department of Environmental Protection for review, and finally sign a legally binding consent order with the state that sets penalties for noncompliance.

The requirements call for developers to fund all costs associated with their own electricity use, including infrastructure upgrades, rather than passing those costs to ratepayers. Developers must also source increasing shares of power from clean energy sources such as solar, advanced nuclear power, and battery storage.

Shapiro said developers must also secure local approval before the state will grant its own sign-off. "If the local community doesn't approve a project, the state won't approve it either," he said.

No Fast Track or NDAs

The order removes all data center projects, current and future, from the state's Fast Track permitting program, which had been available to major economic development projects.

It also bars developers from using nondisclosure agreements to withhold basic project details — including which company will occupy a facility and where its power will come from — from surrounding communities.

Developers who don't comply will be ineligible for the state's existing sales tax exemption on data center equipment and will have no path to state approval, according to the order.

Boom prompts executive action

Shapiro said more than 100 data center proposals are currently under discussion across Pennsylvania, though he characterized most as speculative, lacking financing, power access or signed tenant agreements. Only five data centers currently hold the permits needed to operate in the state, and none are yet running, he said.

The governor cited Archbald, a Lackawanna County borough of about 7,500 residents, where six data center campuses comprising 51 warehouses have been proposed, as an example of the kind of development the order is meant to address.

Shapiro also referenced an unnamed developer in Montgomery County who he said is pursuing litigation against community and local-official opposition to a proposed project.

Patrick Cicero, Shapiro's newly appointed special counsel on energy affordability, and Pennsylvania Utility Commission Chairman Steve DeFrank, also spoke in support of the order, which directs the PUC to establish procedures ensuring data centers — not residential or business customers — bear the cost of grid infrastructure needed to meet their demand.

State dems respond immediately

Pennsylvania House Democratic Leaders issued the following statement on Shapiro’s executive order:

“Governor Shapiro’s executive order puts strong, commonsense requirements in place that will hold data center developers accountable and protect our communities, utility costs and environment. 

“This executive action is necessary, given the Senate Republicans’ inability to advance any legislation to rein in this growing industry. It also builds on the work House Democrats have already advanced through the passage of multiple bipartisan bills to give communities more control, prevent electricity rate hikes, protect clean water, and much more. While these measures to hold big tech accountable sit languishing in the Senate, Governor Shapiro is taking strong, meaningful and comprehensive action. We commend him on his leadership and for putting Pennsylvanians first.” 

Additionally, Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis drew on personal experience and his hope for his children to have a clean world to grow up in. 

"I grew up in southwestern Pennsylvania and remember when our air was thick with smoke and our rivers were dying, but we've seen so much improvement over the past three decades," said Davis. "As a parent, I think every single day about the kind of world I want to leave to my daughter, and that world has clean air for everyone to breathe and plentiful clean water for everyone to drink. Why would we go backward now? Governor Shapiro and I will stop the bad actors who are trying to come into Pennsylvania and build dangerous projects that ignore the will of the people."