Pennsylvania makes the township vote the gating item for data center permits
Executive Order 2026-05 tells the state environmental regulator to withhold data center permits until developers sign binding cost commitments and win local approval.
The Board Room · Leadership desk
What happened
- Governor Josh Shapiro signed 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.
- The Executive Order directs the Department of Environmental Protection to evaluate permit applications from proposed data centers only if developers have made a legally binding commitment to meet the GRID Requirements and have received local approval.
- Shapiro made the announcement Tuesday in Harrisburg, and said: "if the local community doesn't approve a project, the state won't approve it either."
- The order directs DEP to incorporate the GRID Requirements into its permit review process for all data center proposals, with projects required to make legally enforceable commitments via a Consent Order and Agreement (COA).
- For projects that sign the agreement, DEP will continue to review qualifying permits as applications are submitted and found compliant, but as a change from current practice DEP will not issue any permit unless the project has received all required local approvals.
Why it matters
Governor Josh Shapiro signed Executive Order 2026-05 at an announcement in Harrisburg on Tuesday, directing Pennsylvania agencies to require every data center permit applicant to make a legally binding commitment to his Responsible Infrastructure Development (GRID) Requirements and to obtain local approval first [1][2][3]. For anyone modelling AI capacity, that moves the binding constraint off chip allocation and interconnection queues and onto municipal land use votes, which no amount of capital can accelerate.
The mechanism is procedural rather than declaratory. The order tells the Department of Environmental Protection to fold the GRID Requirements into permit review, with compliance made enforceable through a Consent Order and Agreement [4]. Projects that sign that agreement still get their applications reviewed as they arrive, but DEP will not issue any permit until all required local approvals are in hand, which the administration describes as a change from current practice [6]. Projects that decline get a harsher sequence: DEP will not begin review at all until local approvals are secured and every permit application needed for construction has already been reviewed and found compliant [10]. The new process applies to new applications going forward [8].
The substantive condition that matters to utility regulators is cost allocation. GRID requires developers to pay the full cost of new generation, transmission, distribution and other infrastructure needed to power their projects, without shifting those costs to Pennsylvania households and businesses [12], plus documented community outreach including notification of affected local governments and public meetings [14]. The order also strips all AI data center projects from the state's Permit Fast Track Program and bars their future consideration [15], and states that nondisclosure agreements with data center projects are not permissible [20]. The Department of Revenue will rewrite guidelines for the Computer Data Center Equipment Exemption so that sales and use tax exemption applicants must also comply [21]. That last item is the sharpest edge: the incentive and the permit now hang on the same condition.
The numbers Shapiro cited undercut the idea that much is being stopped. He said there are reports of more than 100 data center proposals under discussion in Pennsylvania, that none are operating, and that only five hold the permits they would need to begin operating [5][7]. That is under five percent of the reported pipeline with permits in hand [22]. He described Archbald in Lackawanna County, a borough of 7,500 people across 17 square miles, facing six proposed campuses comprising 51 warehouses [9] - roughly one proposed warehouse per 147 residents [23].
The politics are explicit. Shapiro said the House passed GRID as legislation on a bipartisan basis, the Senate refused to bring it to a vote, and the Senate Majority Leader said he had no intention of acting on data center regulation [16]. Shapiro said that left him no option but executive action, which he called the strictest guardrails in the nation [17]. Business Insider notes he is widely viewed as a 2028 presidential hopeful, and that New York Governor Kathy Hochul imposed the first statewide moratorium last month [18][19].
Watch what happens to the announced Amazon commitment: Shapiro last summer announced two projects worth $20 billion in Salem Township, Luzerne County, and Falls Township, Bucks County [11], and Business Insider reported it is unclear what the order means for that investment, with Amazon not responding to a request for comment [13]. Watch the Consent Order text, since the enforceability of the cost bar depends on its drafting rather than on the order. And watch whether the five already-permitted projects are treated as grandfathered, because that is the only cohort the order does not reach [8][7].
Clarity's read
What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.
Reality
- Evidence62
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+25
- Incentives75
- Confidence66
Perspective Coverage
3 publishers- Builder
- Builder 15%
- Operator
- Operator 53%
- Investor
- Investor 32%
Claim ledger
Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.
- [1]
Governor Josh Shapiro signed 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.
- [2]
The Executive Order directs the Department of Environmental Protection to evaluate permit applications from proposed data centers only if developers have made a legally binding commitment to meet the GRID Requirements and have received local approval.
- [3]
Shapiro made the announcement Tuesday in Harrisburg, and said: "if the local community doesn't approve a project, the state won't approve it either."
- [4]
The order directs DEP to incorporate the GRID Requirements into its permit review process for all data center proposals, with projects required to make legally enforceable commitments via a Consent Order and Agreement (COA).
- [5]
Shapiro said there are reports of more than 100 data center proposals under discussion in Pennsylvania, and that most are completely speculative, many having taken no formal steps to apply to the Commonwealth.
- [6]
For projects that sign the agreement, DEP will continue to review qualifying permits as applications are submitted and found compliant, but as a change from current practice DEP will not issue any permit unless the project has received all required local approvals.
- [7]
Shapiro said there are no AI data centers up and running in Pennsylvania, and only five have the permits they would need to begin operating.
- [8]
The new permit review process will apply to all new data center permit applications going forward.
- [9]
Shapiro said six data center campuses made up of 51 giant warehouses have been proposed in Archbald, Lackawanna County, a single borough of 7,500 people covering 17 square miles, including on land next to Eddy Staback Park playing fields.
- [10]
For developers who do not agree to meet the GRID Requirements, DEP will not begin review of permit applications until after all required local approvals are secured and every permit application required for construction has been reviewed and found compliant by DEP.
- [11]
Shapiro said that last summer he announced two projects bringing thousands of new jobs and $20 billion in new investment to Pennsylvania in Salem Township, Luzerne County, and Falls Township, Bucks County.
- [12]
The GRID Requirements stipulate that developers must pay the full cost of new electricity generation, transmission, distribution and other infrastructure needed to power their project without shifting costs to Pennsylvania households and businesses.
- [13]
Business Insider reported that it is unclear what the announcement means for Amazon's planned $20 billion investment for data center campuses in Bucks and Luzerne counties, and that an Amazon spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
- [14]
The GRID Requirements stipulate that developers must commit to open, transparent engagement with local residents and leaders, including detailed community outreach plans with notification to impacted local governments and public meetings.
- [15]
The Governor is immediately removing all AI data center projects from the PA Permit Fast Track Program and will not consider data center projects for the program going forward.
- [16]
Shapiro said the House passed the GRID Requirements as legislation on a bipartisan basis, the Senate refused to bring it up for a vote, and the Senate Majority Leader said he had no intention of taking action to regulate data center development.
- [17]
Shapiro said the absence of legislative approval left him no other option but to take executive action to put what he called the strictest guardrails in the nation in place.
- [18]
Business Insider reported that Shapiro is widely viewed as a 2028 presidential hopeful and said local opposition to proposed data centers had shaped his view on the topic.
- [19]
Business Insider reported that governors in both parties are pushing their states to rein in incentives for data center development, and that last month New York Governor Kathy Hochul imposed the nation's first statewide moratorium.
- [20]
The Executive Order implements new public transparency requirements for developers and makes clear that the use of nondisclosure agreements with data center projects is not permissible.
- [21]
The Department of Revenue will update the Computer Data Center Equipment Exemption Program Guidelines to ensure applicants for the sales and use tax exemption also comply with the GRID Requirements.
- [22]
Five permitted projects out of more than 100 reported proposals is under five percent of the reported pipeline.
- [23]
The 51 proposed warehouses in Archbald work out to roughly one per 147 residents of the borough.
Sources
3 independent publishers whose own reporting we read for this story.
- businessinsider.comPennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro cracks down on data centers, says speculators are 'scaring our communities'
2 articles · August 19, 2026
- Governor Shapiro Signs Executive Order on Data Center Development in PA | Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
pa.gov
2 articles · August 20, 2026
- Data center politics take over PA midterms • Spotlight PA
spotlightpa.org
1 article · August 22, 2026
Topics and entities
Topics
- AI Infrastructure
- Pennsylvania politics
- Data Center Permitting
- Utility cost allocation
Entities
- Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
- Governor's Responsible Infrastructure Development (GRID) Requirements
- PA Permit Fast Track Program
- Stacy Garrity
- Josh Shapiro
- Pennsylvania Department of Revenue
- Amazon
- Kathy Hochul
- Archbald, Pennsylvania