In the battleground state of Pennsylvania, data centers have become a kitchen-table issue.<\/p>\n
This September, nearly two-thirds of likely Pennsylvania voters told<\/a> The New York Times they either strongly or somewhat oppose the construction of data centers to support artificial intelligence. For Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is seeking reelection in November, the subject has become unavoidable.\u00a0<\/p>\n After proudly announcing<\/a> Amazon\u2019s $20 billion data center investment in the Commonwealth in June 2025, the governor signed an executive order in August restricting<\/a> further data center development across the state and requiring local approval for new installations. The reversal, according to his press release, was informed by \u201cmany residents who have expressed their concerns to him directly, and to many more who have shared feedback.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Neither political party has \u201creally figured out how to respond to the challenge\u201d of rising voter discontent over the issue, according to Matthew Levendusky, a professor of political science and communications. Levendusky expects the pressure to keep building into the 2028 presidential race.<\/p>\n \u201cData center construction has become a bipartisan issue,\u201d Parrish Bergquist, an assistant professor of political science, said. Any electoral effect, she added, might be \u201can anti-incumbent effect rather than a partisan effect.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Get the DP delivered straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n Sign Up<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThis is why you see Shapiro coming out against them, because if people are mad about these things, they will vote against whatever incumbent they view as being responsible for building them,\u201d Bergquist added. \u201cAt the city council, town council level, I think that could have implications on both parties.\u201d<\/p>\n Bergquist thinks the debate over data center construction is largely driven by concerns from residents.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople don\u2019t like the disruption associated with construction, or they don\u2019t like noise or disruption to their sense of place,\u201d she said in an interview. \u201cPeople are like, \u2018this isn\u2019t a thing that’s going to benefit us,\u2019\u201d Bergquist said. \u201cWhy does it need to be built here?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Levendusky \u2014 who is also the Stephen and Mary Baran Chair of the Institutions of Democracy division \u2014 said that media coverage of data centers and AI as a whole has generally \u201cbeen framed in a way that generates a sense of grievance.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n On one hand, he explained, voters are told the rise of AI will reduce the value of higher education, eliminate white-collar jobs, and might even wipe out<\/a> humanity. The data centers that power that very technology, he continued, \u201craise utility bills, pollute, and reduce the quality of life for neighbors.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWho benefits?\u201d Levendusky continued. \u201cMostly a few large companies and their billionaire founders. So, you have highly concentrated benefits and much more broadly dispersed costs \u2014 a recipe for people to feel aggrieved.\u201d<\/p>\n John Quigley, a senior fellow at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, said that while corporations have made \u201cpromises about the economic benefits of data centers,\u201d those claims \u201cdon\u2019t withstand scrutiny.\u201d While data centers create temporary jobs during construction, he said they \u201chardly employ anybody\u201d once fully operational.<\/p>\n According to Levendusky, companies need to \u201cfigure out how to structure the benefits of these centers\u201d so that they \u201coutweigh the costs for communities.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n State Sen. Anthony Williams (D-8), whose district includes parts of Penn, said he has heard pronounced concerns from constituents regarding larger data centers. Despite that public opposition, he said the facilities did \u201cmeet a need that the public may have.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of ads and literature that\u2019s been generated about who supports a data center, who does not, what data centers would do to a community,\u201d Williams explained. \u201cThe actual substantive portion related to policy and bills \u2013 I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve spent much time on that at all.\u201d<\/p>\n Instead, Williams said that on a statewide level, discussions of data centers and AI were more \u201cpolitical fodder\u201d than substantive policymaking conversations.\u00a0<\/p>\n These concerns could be amplified by a lack of regulation, according to Quigley, who explained that, so far, the data centers proposed in Pennsylvania largely rely on diesel backup generation.<\/p>\n \u201cA data center could be running several hundred generators, which, even with the best available technology, are going to be releasing significant amounts of NOx and particulate matter pollution, to say nothing of carbon dioxide pollution,\u201d Quigley said.\u00a0<\/p>\n If inhaled, NOx, or nitrogen oxides, can cause<\/a> respiratory harm \u2014 and even lead to the development of asthma.\u00a0<\/p>\n Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences Michael Mann wrote in a statement that data centers are \u201cmassive sinks of energy and water\u201d that \u201cproduce substantial waste and pollution.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0Mann, who is also the director of the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability, and the Media, said the environmental impact of data centers had previously been mitigated by using renewable energy. The Trump administration, though, has moved<\/a> to have data centers run on natural gas, which Mann argued adds to \u201ccarbon emissions when we need to be rapidly decreasing them.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Bergquist, there has not been a concurrent push for the development of renewable energy sources to support the centers.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to figure out how to be able to build clean and renewable energy capacity and distribution in ways that are just and fair and not environmentally detrimental, but that don\u2019t delay things for longer than they need to be delayed,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n Despite rising calls<\/a> for a pause on construction, Pennsylvania does not currently have a data center moratorium. Philadelphia already houses<\/a> eight data centers, though none are the hyperscale developments needed for AI.\u00a0<\/p>\n A Planning Commission meeting in July raised the possibility of constructing such data centers on two sites \u2014 the Bellwether District<\/a> in South Philadelphia and a city-owned plot near the Northeast Philadelphia Airport \u2014 but no specific proposals have been made. New York has had a moratorium in place since July, and several other states have proposed similar legislation.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a transformational technology, and no one knows how to respond to it,\u201d Levendusky concluded. \u201cThis will continue to unsettle politics.\u201d<\/p>\n Una Cutrone, Aadit Garg, and Cynthia Nga contributed reporting.<\/p>\n Senior reporter Lavanya Mani covers legal affairs and can be reached at mani@thedp.com<\/a>. At Penn, she studies comparative literature. Follow her on X @LavanyaMani_<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the battleground state of Pennsylvania, data centers have become a kitchen-table issue. 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