In the near future, I will introduce a package of bills to ensure data center development in Pennsylvania is done responsibly and transparently with strong protections for consumers, local communities, our electric grid, and our water resources, while respecting the voices of our residents.

Data centers are becoming an increasingly integral part of our modern economy. Nearly every digital service we rely on today, from smartphones and social media to telehealth, cloud computing and artificial intelligence, depends on this infrastructure.

However, data centers also present serious and significant challenges for our state and the residents of local communities. Hyper-scale facilities can require enormous amounts of electricity and water, place strain on local infrastructure, and raise legitimate concerns for residents, municipalities, public water systems and ratepayers.

While Pennsylvania must remain open to innovation and investment, we cannot ask communities, families and small businesses to shoulder the costs of these projects, particularly when residents have made clear that such facilities are not right for their community.

This legislative package will include bills to:

• Empower the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to develop and implement a Large Load Data Center Tariff to ensure data centers pay their fair share and are not shifting electric and grid infrastructure costs onto residential consumers and local businesses.

 

• Establish a "bring-your-own-generation model" for hyperscale projects to reduce strain on the electric grid and protect ratepayers.

 

• Address water-use concerns by requiring hyperscale projects using more than 100,000 gallons of water to utilize closed-loop cooling, reclaimed water, recycled water or another DEP-approved conservation technology. Facilities unable to do so would be required to pay a large data center water-user mitigation charge to ensure water, wastewater, infrastructure, and conservation costs are not shifted onto existing ratepayers.

 

• Prohibit foreign entity control of sensitive data center infrastructure.

 

• Preserve local control by requiring at least two publicly advertised public meetings for residents before a zoning decision may be made on a proposed hyperscale data center.

 

• Establish a Pennsylvania Data Center Advisory Committee for the next 10 years to monitor development and recommend legislative or regulatory changes to protect residents, energy resources, water resources and the environment.

This package will also complement legislation I have already announced to prohibit the use of non-disclosure agreements in connection with data center development. Residents deserve transparency, and communities deserve a meaningful voice in decisions that directly affect them.

Pennsylvania can support innovation and economic growth while still protecting ratepayers, natural resources and local decision-making. Data centers should be developed responsibly, openly and in the public interest.

Please join me in co-sponsoring this important legislative package.