Gov. Shapiro's Executive Order Aims for Accountability, but Doesn't Halt Data Center Harms

What sounds like a restriction on data center development could still be a boon for the fracking industry.

Harrisburg, PA — On Tuesday, August 18, 2026, Governor Shapiro signed a new executive order that he claims will set “the most stringent” data center regulations in the nation. This is a significant departure from the Governor’s previous stance on data centers, which invited hyperscalers like Amazon Web Services to join the state’s Fast Track permitting program and championed their investment in Pennsylvania.

Now, this order removes all AI data center projects from Fast Track, prohibits state agencies and officials from signing NDAs with data center developers, requires data center developers to sign legally-binding agreements that comply with transparency and water conservation requirements in the Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development (GRID) standards, and requires data centers to bring their own power generation.

While we commend Governor Shapiro for taking this step to hold developers accountable and protect Pennsylvanians from power rate hikes caused by data centers in the Commonwealth, we are concerned the executive order will fail to prevent environmental harm before it occurs. 

Requiring data centers to bring and develop their own power generation may help solve one problem, but it creates another. While the GRID standards do require a small portion of a data center’s power generation to come from clean energy sources, we know that data center developers are planning to use fracked gas as the vast majority of their power sources. Many of these data centers will be colocated with new gas-fired power plants, locking our Commonwealth into climate-polluting fossil fuel generation for decades to come, and exposing our communities to more exploitative fracking operations. 

If Governor Shapiro allows this to occur without implementing the increased, health-protective drilling setback distances that communities have been advocating for — and that Governor Shapiro, himself, promoted as a solution to fracking harms in the 43rd Statewide Grand Jury Report — the Order will be in conflict with our constitutional rights to clean air and pure water.

The executive order also states that local zoning approvals must be obtained before any PA DEP permits will be granted to a data center project, increasing permitting timelines and putting strong emphasis on local control. While we agree that community consent is paramount in any development process, the protections that local control provides are only as good as the circumstances in each particular municipality. Many of the rural municipalities where data center projects are being proposed do not have data center ordinances in place, or lack zoning entirely, leaving them with little to no recourse when a data center comes to town. Nor do many of these local governments have ordinances pertaining to gas-fired power plants and other power generation developments. Even with Shapiro’s EO in place, local governments will still operate under fear of lawsuits for denying zoning approvals, and with little time to develop more robust ordinances as this data center gold rush unfolds.

We still need data center legislation that uniformly protects municipalities across our Commonwealth, and until legislation can be passed, a data center moratorium is the only way to safeguard our communities.

Ultimately, we do appreciate this step in the right direction. Governor Shapiro rightly called out the intimidation tactics and bullying that have been employed by this industry against our local communities, and it’s clear he is starting to hear the voices of impacted residents. However, the relationship between data centers and the fracking industry is clear. Protecting residents from data centers’ environmental harm means protecting residents from fracking. Until then, our residents’ health will continue to foot the bill for the oil and gas and tech industries.