Data center guidelines were released this week from Gov. Josh Shapiro\u2019s office. Critics and supporters have responded.<\/p>\n
The Governor\u2019s Responsible Infrastructure Development policy- GRID for short- lists priorities for data center projects. If a project meets standards around things like energy production or community transparency, they get put in a permit fast track program.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve heard directly from Pennsylvanians who are concerned about the impact data center development could have on their communities, the environment, and their utility bills,\u201d said Shapiro in a press release quote. \u201cThat\u2019s why I am putting clear guardrails in place to hold developers accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is unclear how timelines compare for projects in the permit fast track versus those who process permits traditionally.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think that all four of his initiatives or parts of his initiative are weak,\u201d said Karen Feridun, co founder of the environmental advocacy group No False Climate Solutions PA.<\/p>\n
The organization, and other data center critics, say the policy lacks teeth. Many want all large projects to be paused for the foreseeable future. GOP gubernatorial candidate Stacy Garrity giving a campaign promise to that end-<\/p>\n
\u201cAs governor, I will pause data center development in Pennsylvania. We should not be rushing into massive projects before local communities have the opportunity to protect themselves,\u201d Garrity said in a campaign video.<\/p>\n
In the GRID policy, companies building large data centers need to do four things to qualify for the fast track:<\/p>\n
Provide their own energy.Be transparent with communities.Create jobs for Pennsylvanians.Have plans for environmental protection.<\/p>\n
Shapiro promised to lay out accountability measures for data centers in his February budget address. The governor has championed the commonwealth as a place open for business.<\/p>\n
\u201cBring your own energy means more power plants. It means more infrastructure,\u201d Feridun said.<\/p>\n
Some environmentalists worry about a return to carbon emitting energy sources with the data center expansions. Noise and water concerns are immediate environmental and quality of life impacts from the projects.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t just give over everything to business. We have to rein everything in. That\u2019s why we have a government,\u201d Feridun said.<\/p>\n
Cautionaries say waiting on development could let the actual need for artificial intelligence be determined. It could also give tech a chance to get smaller before massive, permanent projects are launched.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cell phone that we had years ago looked like a suitcase compared to what a cell phone looks like now,\u201d Feridun said. \u201cThe thing that we\u2019re developing today could be done much more efficiently.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Data center guidelines were released this week from Gov. Josh Shapiro\u2019s office. Critics and supporters have responded. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":206143,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[2288,136,138,137,37,5929],"class_list":["post-206142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-bureau","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news","tag-harrisburg","tag-pennsylvania-capitol"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}