Overview
- Gov. Josh Shapiro this week signed an executive order that immediately bars data‑center projects from Pennsylvania’s Permit Fast Track Program and turns previously voluntary GRID commitments into enforceable conditions for future permits.
- The order requires developers to cover the full costs of new generation, transmission and distribution needs, report energy and water use to the state, and secure local approvals before the Department of Environmental Protection begins permit review.
- A new Inquirer/New York Times/Siena poll found roughly six in ten likely Pennsylvania voters oppose building AI data centers in the U.S., a shift that has heightened the issue’s prominence in the gubernatorial campaign.
- Both major candidates have been accused of reversing earlier positions on data centers as they trade attack ads, and industry groups warn that changing rules midstream could affect planned investments and jobs.
- At the federal level the EPA has proposed letting states drop public notice and comment for some air permits, a move opposed by attorneys general from 14 states and three cities who say it would curb community scrutiny of data centers and related power projects.