Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro signed an executive order which he says will place the strictest guardrails in the nation on data centers and developers.

“We will not be bullied by these developers,” Gov. Shapiro said before signing the order during a press conference in Harrisburg on Tuesday, Aug. 18. “We will not be bulldozed by the lawyers for these big tech companies. That will not happen here in the commonwealth.”

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.

On Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026, Gov. Josh Shapiro signed an executive order which he said places the “nation’s strictest guardrails on AI data centers.”

During Tuesday’s signing, Shapiro said Pennsylvania has been seeing an unacceptable amount of what he described as “speculative” data center proposals.

“This executive order represents the most stringent requirements in the entire country,” Shapiro said. “And my word to developers is you better follow these requirements. Otherwise you shouldn’t plan to do business here.”

Earlier in the 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.

Data center developers will now be required to sign a legally binding consent order to comply with the GRID standards and will face strict penalties if they fail to comply, according to Shapiro.

“If a developer refuses to comply with those requirements, they will have no pathway of getting the necessary approvals to build a data center in Pennsylvania,” Shapiro said. “And they will be disqualified from receiving the existing exemption on sales tax on data center equipment that was put in place two years prior to me being elected as your governor.”

The guardrails include the following requirements for data center developers, which Shapiro explained in further detail during Tuesday’s press conference:

Protecting energy affordability

“First, developers must bring their own power and pay for all of the costs associated with that electricity,” Shapiro said on Tuesday. “They will not be permitted to saddle homeowners and businesses with the added costs of their development. And they must get an increasingly significant portion of that power from clean energy sources like solar, advanced nuclear and battery storage.”

Transparency, community, workforce and economic development

“Second, they must respect our local communities by being transparent with the community. By hiring locally and by hiring a robust community benefits agreement,” Shapiro said. “And, importantly, they must earn local legal approval before they work with us. Let me put that succinctly, If the local community doesn’t approve a project, the state won’t approve it either.”

Strengthening environmental protection

“And third, developers must meet the constitutional obligation under Article 1, Section 27, which guarantees each and every Pennsylvanian the right to clean air and to pure water,” Shapiro said. “That is fundamental to our commonwealth, and they must commit to the highest standards of environmental protection.”

Other requirements

Under the order, data center developers must also present their plans to Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary Jessica Shirley.

Shapiro also said he is immediately removing all AI data center projects from Pennsylvania’s Permit Fast Track Program and will not consider data center projects for the program moving forward.

Stacy Garrity responds

State Treasurer and Republican nominee for Governor Stacy Garrity – who will face off against Shapiro in the upcoming Pennsylvania election – released a statement responding to Shapiro’s executive order.

“Josh Shapiro is trying to gaslight the people of Pennsylvania into not believing what they’ve seen with their own eyes for the past 13 months. Last summer, Josh Shapiro was the biggest data center cheerleader in the nation, and he reaped in more than $5 million in campaign donations from out-of-state data center interests in the process,” she wrote. “Now that public opinion has turned against him and his donors, Josh Shapiro is playing CYA, and Pennsylvania voters aren’t buying it. Josh Shapiro lit the fuse on the chaos we are seeing in community-after-community across the Commonwealth because he was more concerned with his political ambitions than fighting for Pennsylvania communities. As Governor, I will never abandon the hardworking Pennsylvania families who rightly expect their Governor to fight for them, not out of state donors to a political campaign.”

During the press conference, NBC10’s Lauren Mayk asked Shapiro if he regretted Pennsylvania’s approach to data centers up until now. She also asked if he believes the previous approach contributed to the current concerns from communities across the state.

“Again, there are only about five projects that have even received permits to go forward,” Shapiro said. “The problem is there is a hundred projects or so that are wreaking havoc on our communities that are never going to be built. What we’re doing today is taking concrete action to listen to the voices of the people. To put local leaders back in charge of their communities and to make very, very clear what the rules of the road are to be able to do business here in Pennsylvania.”

On Tuesday, Aug. 18, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed an executive order placing guardrails on data centers. NBC10’s Lauren Mayk has the details.

New Jersey’s plan for data centers

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill also unveiled a four-part plan in May of 2026 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.”