Gov. Josh Shapiro signed an executive order Tuesday to, in his words, make Pennsylvania have the “strictest guardrails in the nation” on the development of data centers that are fueling the growth of artificial intelligence.
State environmental regulators will not issue any permits to data center developers until and unless municipalities grant the projects the necessary zoning approvals, according to the Shapiro administration.
Towns across Pennsylvania, including in the Philadelphia suburbs, have been grappling with the specter of massive data centers in recent months, leading to sometimes heated local government meetings.
“We will not be bullied by these developers,” Shapiro said in remarks Tuesday in Harrisburg. “We will not be bulldozed by the lawyers for these big tech companies.
“If the local community doesn’t approve a project, the state won’t approve it either.”
Shapiro directed the state’s Department of Environmental Protection to incorporate a set of protocols he unveiled in May into the permitting process. Known as the Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development, or GRID, standards, the requirements focus on energy affordability, public transparency, workforce and economic development and pollution controls.
“These are not voluntary standards,” the governor said. “They are legally-binding requirements in order to operate here in the commonwealth.”
Developers, under GRID, must pay for any additional electrical capacity required to operate the center, an attempt to shield residents and other customers from bearing the cost. They must also commit to using a certain percentage of clean energy, a rate that rises to 32% in 2025.
“No one’s utility bill should go up because these wealthy companies don’t pay their fair share,” Shapiro said. “They should pay for every penny of electricity that they need.”
His administration is planning to work with the state’s utility commission to develop rules mandating that energy providers shut off power to data centers first in the event of an emergency, officials said.
As part of the development process, firms will be prompted to sign a consent order that legally binds them to abide by the GRID standards, Shapiro said. Any developer who refuses will not be eligible to access a data center-specific tax exemption, according to the Governor’s Office.
Data centers are being removed from an expedited state permitting initiative and will no longer be able to fast-track approvals, the governor added. All state agencies are also barred from signing nondisclosure agreements, or NDAs, related to data centers, the executive order states.
Shapiro said he decided to act unilaterally due to rampant speculation around such projects. More than 100 AI data centers have been floated in Pennsylvania, but none are currently operating and only five have the necessary permits to begin initial construction, administration officials added.
He also faulted the GOP majority in the state Senate for not enshrining the GRID standards into state law or taking any other action to rein in data center development.
Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman noted that Shapiro, in June 2025, heralded an announcement that Amazon was investing $20 billion in a pair of AI data center campuses — one of which is set to be located in Falls Township, Bucks County.
“His comments today seem aimed at erasing his remarks from last year and underscore how afraid he’s become over his previous record of embracing data centers, only to find out how politically intense the proposals have become,” Pittman said in a statement.
Pittman went on to say that legislation around data centers is expected to be considered this fall in Harrisburg.
“We strongly believe communities need to have the ability to weigh in on what is best for their residents and are open to further discussions, including considering measures to allow for moratorium decisions to be made at the local level,” he added.
Shapiro painted the Amazon project as more serious than some of the data center proposals that have been making headlines. He said his outlook has been shaped by recent feedback he has received from Pennsylvania residents.
Though he did not name developer Brian O’Neill, Shapiro clearly lampooned his firm’s controversial effort to build a series of data centers in the Conshohocken and King of Prussia areas. He said O’Neill has “no realistic path” of moving forward with the proposal to build the facilities in Montgomery County.
“I’m a ‘hell no’ on that project,” Shapiro said. “I’m a ‘hell no’ on many other projects across Pennsylvania, and they will not happen on my watch.”
MORE: Pennsylvania communities are pushing back on data center proposals
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Josh Shapiro,
Pennsylvania,
data centers,
artificial intelligence,
AI,
Philadelphia suburbs,
Montgomery County,
Bucks County,
energy