State Senator Joe Pittman is saying that Governor Josh Shapiro’s executive order concerning AI Data centers is backtracking on comments made last year that embraced their development.
The Governor’s executive order would require developers in Pennsylvania to follow the Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development, or GRID standards. This would require developers to supply their own power have a “significant portion” of that power come from clean energy sources and pay electricity costs for development out of their own pocket. It also removes data centers from the state’s Fast Track permitting process and make any future projects ineligible. It would also prohibit the use of non-disclosure agreements for data center projects.
In his own statement, Senate Republican Leader Joe Pittman said that Shapiro is now afraid of his previous record of embracing data centers, and said he was not seriously engaged in the issue apart from what has been seen on his social media feeds. Pittman said that while the state senate had passed legislation to revoke the data center sales tax exemption, the House amended the bill to the point that it was “unrecognizable.” Pittman also said that a slate of legislation concerning data centers is being lined up for further action in the Fall. He added that they believe communities need to have the ability to weigh in on these matters.
Senator Pittman will join Todd Marino at 9:45 this morning to talk on the matter further on Indiana in the Morning on WCCS.
