Harrisburg, PA — Today, the House voted to pass HB2151, a Shapiro-backed bill that would provide a model data center ordinance intended to speed controversial data center development. This comes as developers have proposed over 20 new hyper-scale data centers in Pennsylvania, and many more are held up by zoning constraints. The bill now heads to the Senate committee for a vote.

Communities across Pennsylvania have been stopping data center projects at the municipal level before development begins, citing concerns with electricity costs, water and energy use, land use changes, community impact, job loss, and more. Earlier last month, Food & Water Watch released a first-of-its-kind report detailing the harms of the AI and data center boom infiltrating communities around the country, making the urgent case for a moratorium on the construction of new AI-driven data centers.

Food & Water Watch Eastern Pennsylvania Senior Organizer Ginny Marcille-Kerslake issued the following statement:

“Even though municipalities would not be forced to adopt the model ordinance, it may be cited in zoning disputes as evidence of what is considered reasonable — and Harrisburg should not be deciding what’s reasonable. Shapiro’s mad dash to bring Big Tech data centers to the Commonwealth will only hurt the communities looking for good-faith guidance.

“The Senate must side with families over Big Tech and stop HB2151. Instead, we need a data center moratorium  to protect Pennsylvanians and the environment by pausing development so local government and state agencies can evaluate the impacts and update their regulations. Until then, any development of these energy-hungry, water-guzzling facilities is  irresponsible.”

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.

Last month, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders introduced a national data center moratorium, and one from Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is impending. Pennsylvania Senator Katie Muth has announced plans to introduce a state moratorium later this year.