Republican governor candidate Stacy Garrity renewed her call for a pause on data center development during a roundtable Monday to Luzerne County.
“As I'm traveling around on the campaign trail, all I hear about is frustration, and that's to put it mildly, with the rapid growth of data centers,” she said. “We were even in a rodeo in Franklin County Saturday night, and you would think that would be the … last place people wanted to talk about data centers, and that's what everybody brought up.”
Her visit to the Wilkes-Barre Twp. Fire Department came less than a week after Gov. Josh Shapiro visited Archbald, the epicenter of data center development in Pennsylvania, after announcing new industry standards for developers to gain state support.
Garrity, who first called for the pause Thursday, questioned and listened to local officials about how the industry could affect their communities. Wilkes-Barre Twp. has not received a proposal for a data center campus, Mayor Carl Kuren said.
Developers have propopsed about 30 data center campuses in Northeast and Northcentral Pennsylvania communities. Residents opposing the plans have called on the governor and state legislators to help since last year.
"I know that we need jobs and investment in Pennsylvania, but we have to do it the right way. We have to balance the needs of the 20-first century with the needs of our communities,” Garrity said.
Garrity questions Shapiro’s timing
Shapiro released his final standards for data center developments Wednesday, the same day of his impromptu visit to Archbald.
The refined Governor's Responsible Infrastructure Development (GRID) standards push developers toward transparency, especially who's actually proposing the centers; to create their own power; to provide millions of dollars for communities and the state; and to agree to environmental sustainability standards. The governor also wants to require data centers owners and operators to adhere to the standards before qualifying for an existing tax exemption program.
After the standards were released, Garrity said Shapiro had “flip flopped.” She pointed out that last June he celebrated Amazon’s $20 billion investment into the state to build the infrastructure.
"At the time the governor said that he was proud of the project, that he worked very closely to seal the deal,” she said. “Now, the problem is they didn't bring everybody to the table, right, and so didn't bring all the key stakeholders, so local governments and, you know, communities.”
The Shapiro campaign pointed out that Garrity herself had celebrated Amazon's investment on X.
Shapiro campaign spokesperson Manuel Bonder said the governor worked directly with community, labor and environmental leaders to develop and propose "some of the strongest data center regulations and standards of accountability in the entire country."
“The governor has made it clear that while we compete for major projects and lead on innovation, we must set strict standards and ensure these projects benefit our communities and don't impose costs on Pennsylvanians — and that’s what he is focused on getting done,” Bonder said.
The pause
Garrity does not favor a moratorium on data center development but said a pause would allow local governments time to regulate data centers through zoning laws.
"So, moratorium is full stop for a defined period of time, and I'm saying a pause ... could be very simple. You get everybody together, all of the leaders, and you figure out what we need to do to make sure that there's model zoning," she said.
Tom Zedolick, the township's zoning officer, said the township is working to zone for data centers in case a developer wants to build there.
"I think a pause gives the towns time to understand what they're dealing with, and update their zoning ordinances, and maybe have some public discussions about what a data center is ... just so people understand more," he said. "Right now, there's a lot of uncertainty about it.”
Garrity said a pause would also help communities ensure data centers developers and owners provide community development agreements, add power to the electrical grid, and pay utility rate increases instead of other rate payers.
With similar stipulations, Shapiro's GRID standards say developers must provide a community benefit plan detailing anticipated contributions to the state and local community beyond existing legal obligations.
To get state support, data center developers and owner must also agree to build, bring online or buy incremental power capacity needed to meet new energy demand while paying the full cost of the capacity, according to GRID.
Communities want more
Luzerne County Councilman John Lombardo told Garrity the governor’s office should have better communicated with communities about data centers.
"It is a difficult issue, and it's something that we need to, we really need to address, and I think we really need to help on the state level,” he said.
Lombardo, a state representative candidate, called Shapiro’s visit to Archbald "disingenuous."
Wilkes-Barre Twp. Solicitor John Rodgers said companies take advantage of municipalities' lack of data center zoning.
"And that's the real problem, and that's where the state could get involved," he said. "It's a typical issue in Harrisburg, it could be fixed right away, but it seems like Harrisburg doesn't fix anything, they just throw it back on the municipalities and give it to us to fix."
A federal push
Garrity was endorsed for governor by President Donald Trump. She attended a March fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump is a fierce advocate for the national data center buildout. In July, he signed an executive order titled “Accelerating Federal Permitting of Data Center Infrastructure.”
When asked about her stance versus Trump’s, Garrity said Pennsylvania needs jobs and investment and reiterated what many center advocates say when asked why the U.S. needs the industry.
“We all know it's a race between China and America, right? And obviously, we want to be the winners,” she said. "But we have to make sure that we balance the needs of the 21st century with the needs of communities, and we can do that, and we should have already done it.”
Bipartisan issue
Garrity said data centers have become a bipartisan issue across the country.
A poll done by Muhlenberg University political science professor Chris Borick backs that up.
"It really does break down the deep divisions, and it complicates elections, it complicates how individuals navigate this, and I think you're seeing this play out in congressional races, playing (out in) governor's races, obviously at the local race level,” he said.
Borick said Shapiro and other elected officials’ stances on data centers have grown more nuanced in the past year.
Most polls show Garrity badly trailing Shapiro, who has raised vastly more money in their race for governor.
Borick said calling for the pause could boost Garrity's campaign.
"And so I'm not surprised at all that she's trying to tie into this issue, given its potential importance in the race," he said. "She may be courting voters in the state that are not at all enamored with the development of of data centers throughout the commonwealth, and this could allow her a chance maybe to get a little bit of an advance in terms of her standing in the race."
