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Shapiro to call for industry-friendly federal AI policy, amidst widespread criticism over his handling of AI data center development in Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh, PA — Today, for the second year in a row, Governor Josh Shapiro will join tech and fossil fuel company executives in headlining the AI Horizons Summit in Pittsburgh, amidst widespread criticism over how he is handling AI data center development. In a scheduled speech this afternoon, Shapiro will reportedly call for industry-friendly federal AI policy to grow the sector without clear regulation or government oversight to protect people and the environment.

This comes just one month after Shapiro unveiled his Executive Order placing woefully inadequate “guardrails” around data center development in the Commonwealth. Pennsylvania does not currently have any operational hyperscale AI data centers; many dozens have been proposed to widespread opposition. Recent polling from Quinnipiac University found that 74 percent of Pennsylvania voters oppose AI data center construction in their community.

In response, Megan McDonough, Pennsylvania State Director for Food & Water Watch, issued the following statement:

“Shapiro so desperately wants to tow a line where he looks like he’s doing something about AI data centers while also marching hand in hand with his Big Tech besties. But Pennsylvanians see the truth — that data center developers get more of Shapiro’s attention than the people he governs.

“We aren’t buying Shapiro’s double talk. We don’t want hyperscale data centers and we don’t want this development to supercharge the pollution legacy of the fossil fuel industry. Big Oil and Gas developers stand to profit by poisoning our communities, all to fuel the AI and crypto boom. Shapiro needs to stop dabbling in federal policy, and get back to work protecting Pennsylvanians. He has a choice to make: side with Pennsylvanians and pass a mandatory statewide data center moratorium or continue allowing self-serving corporations to determine our futures — we’ll be watching.”

Shapiro’s executive order also requires data center developers to “bring their own energy”, a popular approach some elected officials across the country have been promoting as a way to protect residents from shouldering the high energy costs of data center development. Meanwhile, a new analysis from Food & Water Watch finds that data centers tend to build less efficient, dirtier natural gas plants to serve their off-grid operations, and that off-grid energy generation can still impact grid prices.