BLAIR COUNTY, Pa (WJAC) — Data centers, and the questions surrounding their impact on energy costs and local communities, are becoming a key issue in Pennsylvania’s race for governor.
Current state treasurer and Republican candidate Stacy Garrity is calling for a pause on new development while the Shapiro Administration says it has put strict new guardrails in place.
On Thursday, 6 News spoke to both Garrity and Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis about data center development across the Commonwealth and their plans to protect Pennsylvania communities from unwanted projects.
Pennsylvania recently imposed what Governor Shapiro has called the strictest guardrails in the nation on data center development.
This marks a notable shift from his earlier stance on data centers which welcomed new projects to the state.
Lt. Gov. Davis says that this change is due to the fact that we are still deep in the process of learning more about the benefits and drawbacks of data centers and listening to local communities about their questions and concerns.
“I would say two years ago, we weren’t even having a conversation about data centers; I would say that this technology has changed rapidly, and I think the mark of a great elected official is an elected official who listens, who shows up to communities, who listens and responds to the people that they were elected to represent.”
Garrity’s campaign, however, has criticized the Shapiro Administrations changing stance, highlighting the fact that he initially signed two contracts with Amazon for data center projects and gave them tax deals, with no requirements for these centers to bring their own energy, address water concerns, or have community agreements.
A real leader would have gotten stakeholders around the table. Township supervisors, local solicitors, our first responders — what do you need from us to make sure that your rate payers are protected and your communities are protected? So that is why I called for a pause; I did five listening sessions around the state. And what I heard from everybody, and this is mainly township supervisors, but also local solicitors, also fire first responders, they said, we just need some time to get it right.
Garrity says that at the end of the day, these projects should be a net benefit for the community, and if a community wants them, great. But if they don’t, that’s fine as well.