Shapiro Order Blocks Data Centers Without Local Approval

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro signed an executive order Tuesday that lets the state block new AI data centers unless developers win local approval first and pay their own power bills.

Executive Order 2026-05, titled "Protecting Pennsylvania Consumers from Data Center Impacts," took effect immediately.

It strips every data center proposal out of Pennsylvania's fast-track permitting program and bars nondisclosure agreements between developers and the state.

Shapiro, a Democrat and a possible 2028 presidential candidate, helped land Amazon's $20 billion data center investment in Pennsylvania last year. He calls the new rules the strictest in the country.

What The Order Requires

The order directs the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to fold Shapiro's Responsible Infrastructure Development standards — branded GRID — into its review of new data center proposals, according to the governor's office.

Developers must make legally enforceable commitments on energy affordability, environmental protection, workforce development, transparency and community engagement. They must secure all required local approvals before DEP issues any permit.

They must pay for the energy infrastructure their facilities need without shifting those costs onto Pennsylvania households and businesses; report their energy and water consumption; hire and train local workers; engage residents; and meet water-conservation standards.

Projects that fail the GRID requirements do not qualify for the state's sales and use tax exemption on eligible equipment.

The Epoch Times reported the guardrails apply to projects designed to draw more than 25 megawatts, and that above that threshold a project needs a consent order, an agreement, and sign-off from the municipality or county where it would sit.

Shapiro stopped short of a moratorium on permits, Fortune reported. NTD reported the order also bars any office or agency under his jurisdiction from signing nondisclosure agreements with developers.

Which Projects It Touches

The administration has published an online map of proposed data centers that have contacted DEP so residents can track permit applications.

Publicly sourced databases have identified more than 100 proposed projects in Pennsylvania, the administration said. Fifty-eight have communicated with DEP about permitting, 15 have applied for at least one permit, and five already hold the permits needed for their first phases.

At his news conference Shapiro singled out developers seeking to build six campuses of roughly 50 server warehouses in tiny Archbald Borough, Fortune reported — a fight that has produced a community uprising, a lawsuit by one developer and motions by another to force the recusal of six of the town's seven council members.

On CBS Mornings Wednesday, Shapiro also named a project proposed beside Eddie Staback Park in Lackawanna County and one in a densely populated part of Montgomery County about seven miles from him.