Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed an executive order Tuesday imposing new restrictions on large AI data centers, including rules aimed at making developers pay for their impact on the state's electrical grid.
Myriad: When will OpenAI release GPT-6? Click to make your prediction. The order also removes data centers from Pennsylvania's Permit Fast Track Program and prohibits state agencies from signing non-disclosure agreements related to data center projects.
Pennsylvania will also create a public map of proposed facilities and require operating data centers to report their energy and water consumption annually beginning in July 2027.
The executive order also directs the state’s Special Counsel for Energy Affordability to seek utility rules making data centers cover certain grid costs and face curtailment first during some emergencies unless they secure enough power to meet their demand.
In the executive order, Shapiro noted that more than 100 data centers have reportedly been proposed in Pennsylvania, though only 20 have submitted permit applications to the state’s Department of Environmental Protection.
“From Archbald to Montgomery County to all across Pennsylvania, to your comments, texts, calls, and letters to my office, I’ve heard you loud and clear,” Shapiro wrote. “Pennsylvanians do not want AI data centers in their communities that would raise their utility costs and pollute their resources.”
Data center backlashOpposition to AI data centers has spread across the U.S. as communities push back over electricity and the environmental impacts as more sites come online.
