Pittsburgh, PA — Today and tomorrow, Governor Josh Shapiro and Senator Dave McCormick will join fossil fuel and tech company executives in headlining the AI Horizons 2025 summit in Pittsburgh. Western Pennsylvania has been identified as a potential epicenter for AI development and new data center buildout due to the region’s vast shale gas reserves. 32% of Pittsburgh’s Allegheny County is already fracked, endangering 1.25 million people with impacts ranging from contaminated drinking water, increased cancer risk, birth defects, respiratory issues, and more.

Food & Water Watch research sounds the alarm on the substantial environmental impacts stemming from fossil-fueled data centers and generative AI, finding that by 2028, AI in the United States could:  

• Consume enough electricity to power over 28 million households;  
• Require as much water to meet the indoor needs of 18.5 million households.

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

“At a time when multiple Pennsylvania towns are without reliable access to drinking water thanks to gas contamination, Governor Shapiro should be ensuring every person’s right to clean air, fresh water, and a healthy environment. Instead, his focus is on the rapid development of fossil-fueled AI and data centers. 

“Make no mistake — this AI summit is a trojan horse for more fracking. As Big Oil and Gas positions themselves to fuel the AI boom, Shapiro has a choice to make: side with Pennsylvanians or continue allowing corporations to determine our futures.”

Earlier this week, parts of Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Greene, Indiana and Washington counties were listed as being in “Moderate Drought”. All counties lie in Southwest Pennsylvania and are some of the most fracked counties in all of Pennsylvania and the Appalachian region. Fracking and data centers both use massive amounts of water to operate, and are a substantial threat to reliable drinking water access. Experts have warned that even in non-water stressed areas, data center expansion threatens access to fresh water.