Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro plans to sign an executive order on data centers, a source confirmed with NBC10.
Shapiro will deliver remarks and sign the order during a press conference in Harrisburg on Tuesday, Aug. 18, at 1 p.m. ET. The source did not reveal additional details on the executive order. You can watch the presser in the video embedded on top of this article.
Data centers are facilities used to house computer systems and serve as infrastructure for storing and processing information. They also support the global financial system, cloud services, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI).
Rising electricity costs and a strain on electric grids fueled by the growth of the AI industry have led to significant backlash to proposed data centers from communities across the country, including towns and neighborhoods in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Other critics of data centers have expressed concerns about their environmental impact as well as AI’s potential threat to millions of jobs.
In May of this year, Shapiro released the Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development (GRID) Standards, which officials said established clear guardrails and accountability measures for data center development in Pennsylvania.
The guardrails focused on protecting energy affordability, promoting transparency and community engagement, supporting workforce and economic development and strengthening environmental protection, officials said.
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill also unveiled a four-part plan in May to place guardrails on data centers after declaring a state of emergency on utility costs during her inauguration in January.
Sherrill’s plan included establishing a set of rules that data centers “pay their own way,” remain transparent with the public, invest back into the communities where they were built and create jobs in both initial construction and long-term operations that workers can “raise a family on.”