Harrisburg, PA — The Pennsylvania House and Senate returned to Harrisburg today and are back in session until November 30. Data center bills are expected to be considered, including SB1345, which, instead of enacting a statewide moratorium on industry development, would give municipalities the ability to enact an optional, weak, temporary moratorium. The bill limits that local pause to 18 months, exempts certain projects with power generation agreements, and allows for developers to apply for a waiver. 

Polling from Quinnipiac University found that 74 percent of Pennsylvania voters oppose AI data center construction in their community; dozens of municipalities have passed ordinances and moratoriums to restrict data center development and Allegheny County Council banned data center development on county property last week. 

While the legislature has thus far remained stagnant on moving a mandatory statewide data center pause, Food & Water Watch’s analysis of Shapiro’s campaign finance records covering June 9-September 14, released last week, finds hundreds of thousands of dollars from investors and donors with ties to the AI, data center, and fossil fuel industries. 

Ginny Marcille-Kerslake, Senior Pennsylvania Organizer for Food & Water Watch, issued the following statement in response: 

“While Shapiro is busy lining his campaign’s pockets with data center industry dollars, residents are working tirelessly to shut down AI data center projects in backyards  and farm fields across PA and are winning. Pennsylvanians want to see real action but bills like Senator Jarrett Coleman toe Shapiro’s do-nothing industry-friendly line. 

“Pennsylvanians cannot afford the legislature wasting time on optional data center moratoriums that prioritize developer carveouts and exemptions for fossil fuel infrastructure. Doing something is NOT better than doing nothing when the legislature has what they need to protect Pennsylvanians. We need a mandatory statewide moratorium that protects people in every corner of the Commonwealth so it’s not solely up to our local governments to respond to a mercurial data center landscape they’re underprepared to handle.” 

Background

Pennsylvania State Senator Jarrett Coleman has proposed SB1345, up for third consideration in the Senate when the legislature returns for session today. The bill claims to allow municipalities to enact an optional 18-month moratorium on new hyperscale data center applications. 

The bill includes a carveout for developers to request a municipality waive its moratorium if said moratorium would create undue hardship for the developer. Additionally, the bill would not apply to data centers that previously entered into an agreement and would be co-located on a power generation site. 

Senator Katie Muth filed Senate Bill 1359 in June — Pennsylvania’s first and only comprehensive moratorium bill to establish a three-year pause on siting and permitting of hyperscale data centers. The bipartisan bill is endorsed by Food & Water Watch, which was the first organization to call for a nationwide data center moratorium last October.