riverreporter.com · PATRICK KELLY · September 8, 2026
Lawmakers call for stronger data center regulations | The River Reporter
# Lawmakers call for stronger data center regulations
By PATRICK KELLY
Posted 9/8/26
NEW YORK STATE and PENNSYLVANIA — Within the past few months, the governors of both New York and Pennsylvania have both signed executive orders regulating the development of data centers. While …
# Lawmakers call for stronger data center regulations
Governor Josh Shapiro signing Executive Order 2026-05, directing Commonwealth agencies to require all data center proposals applying for permits with the Commonwealth to comply with the Governor's Responsible Infrastructure Development (GRID) Requirements.
Posted Tuesday, September 8, 2026 2:13 pm
“Yesterday, the Governor announced what our community has known all along: we need stronger standards to control data center development and protect our communities...But his announcement begs the question—if the Governor apparently has the authority to implement stronger statewide standards, why did it take this long to act?””
Sen. Rosemary Brown (R-40)
By PATRICK KELLY
NEW YORK STATE and PENNSYLVANIA — Within the past few months, the governors of both New York and Pennsylvania have both signed executive orders regulating the development of data centers. While these executive orders are being heralded from some quarters as important first steps in regulating data center development, some lawmakers and advocates believe they don’t go far enough.
On Tuesday, August 18, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro signed an executive order instituting the Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development (GRID) requirements. While Shapiro had previously outlined the GRID requirements as incentives, promising data center projects support from the commonwealth if they followed them, the new executive order goes a step further, requiring all data center projects applying for permits to comply with the GRID requirements.
A month prior to Shapiro’s executive order, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order instituting a statewide moratorium on large-scale data centers of 50 megawatts of energy or more on July 14. Hochul’s order also institutes other regulations on the development of data centers.
The executive orders
Shapiro’s executive order instituted his GRID requirements as mandatory, requiring that the PA Department of Environmental Protections (DEP) only evaluate permits from data centers that have made a legally binding agreement to obey the GRID requirements.
The requirements focus on four main topic areas: energy affordability, transparency and community engagement, workforce and economic development, and environmental protection. Some highlights require data centers use renewable energy sources, use water recycling, report annual water and energy usage, and require that developers pay 100 percent of the costs caused in whole or in part by their project.
These requirements are designed to offset the impact of data centers in local communities, both environmental and financial. The requirements have strict penalties for non-compliance, including the revocation of permits leading to the eventual shutdown of non-compliant facilities.
“Starting today, AI data center developers who want to do business in our commonwealth must respect our communities and abide by these stringent requirements,” Shapiro said. “And if they can’t agree to that, they should stop considering Pennsylvania.”
The executive order removes all data center projects from the PA Permit Fast Track program, a program designed to speed up the permitting process for select economic development and infrastructure projects. Data centers will no longer be considered for this program.
Notably, Shapiro’s order does not include a moratorium on the development of data centers, which Hochul’s did. Hochul’s order lays out a one-year moratorium on the development of large-scale data centers. Hochul said that this was to allow time for the state to develop proper regulations on data centers and make sure that their development is in line with state values.
One thing that unites the two orders is their stated focus on ensuring that local communities are not adversely affected by, and actually benefit from, hosting data centers. Hochul’s order directed Empire State Development, an umbrella organization for two other statewide economic development financing entities, to create a Community Investment Framework (CIF). The CIF would provide guidance to local communities to negotiate benefits from developers of data centers, such as how they would invest back in the community.
Shapiro’s order directs the PA Department of Community and Economic Development to prepare best practices, zoning standards and community benefit agreements that municipalities and other local governments could use in their engagement with data centers.
Shapiro, speaking before he signed the order, outlined the growth of data center development and how data center developers have little regard for their host communities, saying that data centers are “threatening to fundamentally change the character of our communities.”
“Today, with this executive order, I’m putting these developers on notice and letting them know that we will not let them bully Pennsylvanians, disregard our constitutional right to clean air and pure water, or drive up our utility bills,” Shapiro said. “We’ve had enough here in Pennsylvania, and I’m not going to let it happen on my watch. If these companies want to do business here, they need to comply with the strictest guardrails in the nation on data center development, starting today. Otherwise, they’ll have to go somewhere else.”
Pennsylvania’s regulations don’t go far enough…
PA Senator Rosemary Brown (R-40), who has advocated for strong regulations for data center development, asked in a Facebook post why the governor took so long to take action on data centers.
“Yesterday, the Governor announced what our community has known all along: we need stronger standards to control data center development and protect our communities,” Brown posted. “But his announcement begs the question—if the Governor apparently has the authority to implement stronger statewide standards, why did it take this long to act?”
Brown called out the proposal as not going far enough, calling for a moratorium on data centers, and saying that Shapiro “is signaling that meaningful action is being taken but only making modest changes at the state level.”
“The Governor’s GRID proposal does not go far enough to protect our communities. I continue to be a leading voice on the need for a statewide moratorium on data center development until strong protections are in place for our residents. This executive order should have included a moratorium as well,” she said.
Brown indicated that her support of a moratorium was not to curtail economic growth, but rather to allow Pennsylvania time to prepare to harness that growth.
“It is about making sure Pennsylvania gets this right. Once these projects move forward, there is not a second chance.”
…and neither do New York’s
Lawmakers in New York have also urged their executive to sign off on legislation that would further regulate data centers. The Data Center Development Act is a bill sponsored in the Assembly by Assembly Member Didi Barrett (D-106) and in the Senate by Sen. Kristen Gonzalez (D, WF-59). The bill passed on June 4, and has since been awaiting action by the governor. On August 21, Barrett and Gonzalez sent a letter that was signed by 58 additional state lawmakers, including Assembly Member Paula Elaine Kay (D-100), to Hochul, asking her to sign the bill.
“The omnibus bill ensures critically important ratepayer protections, robust public participation, meaningful host community benefits, strong labor standards, and renewable energy procurement—as well as a one-year moratorium on permits for data centers to give New York State time to fully understand the energ