Harrisburg, PA — Today, Governor Josh Shapiro unveiled his 2026 budget pitch to lawmakers, highlighting data centers as one of his administration’s priorities, citing industry talking points on the sector’s unproven economic benefits. The governor only made brief mention of the well-established concerns regarding data centers’ impact on communities, utility bills, the climate and environment.

This comes amidst widespread community opposition to data center proposals. According to FracTracker Alliance, developers have submitted proposals for 23 hyper-scale data centers in Pennsylvania. In October, Food & Water Watch became the first national group to call for a data center moratorium. Over 250 organizations have since joined the call — including 17 from Pennsylvania. 

In response, Food & Water Watch Pennsylvania State Director Megan McDonough released the following statement: 

“Naming affordability and data centers as priorities in the same breath is outlandishly paradoxical. The two cannot exist together, no matter how hard Shapiro tries to spin the benefits of Big Tech’s power grab.

“Make no mistake: the governor’s data center embrace will not help Pennsylvanians as Shapiro claims. If affordability is truly a priority for the governor and the legislature, data centers cannot be a part of the conversation.” 

As the second largest fracked gas producing state and fourth largest greenhouse gas emitter in the nation, Pennsylvania’s fossil fuel industry has an outsized role in driving the worsening climate crisis — data centers are projected to make things worse.  

On Wednesday, the House Energy Committee will vote on HB2151 — a bill backed by Shapiro and Amazon — that would provide a model data center ordinance intended to speed controversial data center development.