{"id":312380,"date":"2026-10-23T02:10:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T02:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/312380\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T02:10:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T02:10:12","slug":"with-a-trifecta-pennsylvania-democrats-would-pass-energy-reforms-and-rein-in-data-centers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/312380\/","title":{"rendered":"With a trifecta, Pennsylvania Democrats would pass energy reforms and rein in data centers"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ben Seal<\/a> | Inside Climate News<\/p>\n

This story originally appeared on Inside Climate News<\/a> and is republished with permission. Sign up for their newsletters here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been more than three decades since Democrats held a trifecta in Pennsylvania, but the prospect of a\u00a0blue wave<\/a>\u00a0in next month\u2019s elections has Gov. Josh Shapiro and party leadership optimistic that their time could come in Harrisburg.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After flipping the state House of Representatives in 2022, Democrats now have a chance to take advantage of flagging support for President Donald Trump and\u00a0Shapiro\u2019s positive favorability<\/a>\u00a0to gain control of the state Senate for the first time since 1993. If the gridlock breaks, legislators and environmental advocates see an opportunity to advance long-stalled proposals on renewable energy, data centers and greenhouse gas reductions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think of it as a tectonic shift in Pennsylvania environmental politics,\u201d PennEnvironment executive director David Masur said about a potential trifecta. \u201cIt\u2019s a generational shift, and it really changes the playing field with the opportunity to move toward a green majority in the legislature.\u201d<\/p>\n

For years, Democratic legislators have operated with an \u201cimaginative constraint\u201d because of their inability to move bills through both chambers, said Sen. Nikil Saval, a Democrat from Philadelphia who is a member of the environmental resources and energy committee. If they secure the trifecta, quick action is possible on several House bills that have been blocked by a Republican-controlled Senate for the past four years, addressing solar power, siting reform for energy projects and guard rails for data center development.<\/p>\n

Given the recent price hikes ratepayers have seen in their energy bills, offering relief would likely be among Democrats\u2019 first priorities if they control the state government. One in four Pennsylvania families are\u00a0struggling to pay<\/a>\u00a0their energy bills, and one in 20 carries significant utility debt.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEnergy has become a kitchen-table issue,\u201d said Elowyn Corby, senior regional director for the Mid-Atlantic at nonprofit Vote Solar.<\/p>\n

In this environment, community solar<\/a> is the type of \u201clow-hanging fruit\u201d that should quickly move through the legislature, Saval said. Legislation that\u00a0passed the House<\/a>\u00a0with support from more than a dozen Republicans would allow Pennsylvanians to subscribe to a local array and cut costs on their electricity bills. Several neighboring states have already opened the door to the practice.<\/p>\n

Similarly, Democrats and advocates point to battery storage as a sensible solution with a clear path to law. Earlier this month the House passed a bill with bipartisan support that would require electric utilities to\u00a0store energy<\/a>\u00a0for use during peak periods to lower overall costs and improve reliability. A proposal to\u00a0make warehouses solar-ready<\/a>\u00a0has also sat in the Senate after clearing the House and could complement other actions on energy policy.<\/p>\n

Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler, a Democrat from Philadelphia and chair of the House energy committee and co-sponsor of the battery storage bill, highlighted another idea to lower ratepayers\u2019 bills: her proposal to\u00a0rein in utilities\u2019 profits<\/a>\u00a0by ensuring that their rates of return equal their demonstrated capital costs. That bill passed the House unanimously in June and has been stuck in the Senate since.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegardless of the election\u2019s outcome, I believe our mission remains to do everything we can on the energy committee to lower peoples\u2019 utility bills, generate more energy to meet demand, and hold big corporations accountable,\u201d Fiedler said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

In the interest of energy generation, Rep. Mandy Steele, a Democrat from Allegheny County, has proposed a bill that would prevent municipalities from passing\u00a0blanket prohibitions<\/a>\u00a0against renewable energy projects. This bill could be a \u201cstarting point,\u201d Saval said. Pennsylvania is among a small number of states that lack a\u00a0statewide energy siting policy<\/a>, making it a target for reform.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would lower our energy bills in noticeable ways,\u201d said Alex Bomstein, executive director of nonprofit Clean Air Council. \u201cIt would make our air cleaner. It would be a huge deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Democrats could also approach renewable energy by updating the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard, which sets requirements for the portion of the energy grid composed of renewable energy. Pennsylvania ranks 47th nationally in\u00a0renewable energy growth<\/a>, in large part because the standard has \u201cflatlined,\u201d allowing utilities to maintain the status quo, Masur said.<\/p>\n

How a Democratic legislature could regulate data centers<\/p>\n

Of course, skyrocketing utility bills are inextricable from the proliferation of power-hungry data centers. There are already 70 in the state, and 93 more projects are proposed, according to the\u00a0Data Center Tracker<\/a>, heaping unprecedented demand on a grid already forecast by the Public Utility Commission to face\u00a013 annual outages<\/a> by 2030. Legislators and advocates said a House-approved proposal to\u00a0regulate data centers<\/a>\u00a0and limit their impact on electricity bills could pass in a Democratic trifecta.\u00a0<\/p>\n


\n\"AThe construction site of an Amazon Web Services data center is seen in front of a nuclear power plant on July 3 in Berwick, Pa. Credit: Paul Weaver\/SOPA Images\/LightRocket via Getty Images via Inside Climate News <\/p>\n

The environmental concerns around data centers go well beyond electricity. Rep. Danielle Friel Otten, Democrat from Chester County, said the\u00a0Pennsylvania Water Resource Act<\/a>, which she introduced in May, would be an important companion to any legislation, imposing a fee on users withdrawing more than 10,000 gallons per day.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an opportunity there to hold these large water users accountable and make it more expensive to do consumptive use in Pennsylvania,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

Data centers are a key issue for Pennsylvania voters. Nearly three-quarters said they would\u00a0oppose having one built<\/a>\u00a0in their community, according to a recent Quinnipiac poll. The stiff public opposition has given rise to calls for a moratorium on new data center construction.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should push pause until and unless the industry can show that their negative effects on the environment and public health and our pocketbooks can get resolved,\u201d Masur said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And yet legislators and advocates said a moratorium is unlikely, given Shapiro\u2019s\u00a0extensive courtship of the industry<\/a>\u2014even despite his recent executive order that\u00a0requires local approval<\/a>\u00a0for projects to receive state permits.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is the limiting factor,\u201d said Sen. Katie Muth, a Democrat who represents parts of Berks, Montgomery and Chester counties.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A governor-approved moratorium of any kind is hard to envision, Masur said: \u201cHow much pivoting can you do in six months?\u201d<\/p>\n

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Ahead of a potential presidential run, a trifecta would hand Shapiro a golden opportunity to make good on his \u201cget shit done<\/a>\u201d slogan with action on climate and environmental issues, Masur said. Shapiro\u2019s proposed energy reforms include the Pennsylvania Reliable Energy Sustainability Standard (PRESS), which would add nuclear power, fusion and \u201cclean forms of natural gas\u201d to the state\u2019s alternative energy portfolio, and the Pennsylvania Climate Emissions Reduction Act (PACER), a state-specific cap-and-trade program.<\/p>\n

But assuming Democrats hold narrow margins in the House and Senate, getting much done without upsetting key factions\u2014from labor unions to fossil fuel-friendly legislators\u2014won\u2019t be easy. If the moment suggests the prospect of transformational progress, Pennsylvanians may have to settle for incremental gains instead.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like the next day solar farms spring up everywhere and wind and battery storage as far as the eye can see,\u201d Saval said.<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania\u2019s environmentalists also have good reason to question whether Shapiro has their interests in mind after his \u201cbait and switch\u201d on the\u00a0Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative<\/a>\u00a0last year, Vote Solar\u2019s Corby said. He backed out of the agreement to cut carbon emissions from power plants in a budget deal that critics said sacrificed climate action to restore normal state funding.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPennsylvanians are not just eager for progress but also rightfully demanding it,\u201d Corby said.<\/p>\n

Although legislation has consistently stalled in the Senate in recent sessions, the House has developed \u201ca very compelling narrative of preparation,\u201d Corby said, paving the way for a trifecta to move bills with far-reaching potential on energy, climate and the environment. The question remains whether they would have the right leaders in place\u2014whether in the governor\u2019s office or in key House and Senate positions\u2014to deliver.<\/p>\n

Muth, an outspoken critic of her colleagues on both sides of the aisle, said the public should expect bills framed around environmental protections that are nonetheless industry-approved.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople feel they have a right to live in a safe and healthy place and, unfortunately, the legislature is not making that very easy,\u201d she said. \u201cThe heat is still going to have to be applied to the people holding power, regardless of party.\u201d<\/p>\n

For his part, Saval said he wants the legislature to take seriously the opportunity \u201cto render life for Pennsylvanians healthier, more sustainable, safer and cleaner.\u201d Flipping the Senate and securing the trifecta would be a significant step in that direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been strong efforts to get the legislature to serve that responsibility,\u201d Saval said, \u201cand we are in the process of removing one, if not all of the obstacles.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Ben Seal | Inside Climate News This story originally appeared on Inside Climate News and is republished…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312381,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2116,22847,28,30,29,4372],"class_list":["post-312380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-data-centers","tag-inside-climate-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-solar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312380","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=312380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}