Pennsylvania just made it meaningfully harder to build an AI data center in the state.
Governor Josh Shapiro signed an executive order on Tuesday that pulls data centers out of Pennsylvania's permit fast-track program. The order also blocks state environmental review from starting until developers have already secured approval from local governments. It bars state agencies from signing non-disclosure agreements tied to data center projects, a practice developers have used elsewhere to keep water and power usage details out of public view. In effect, three separate protections that used to move independently now stack against a single project timeline.
That local-approval-first sequencing flips what developers usually count on, where state review can run alongside or ahead of town-level fights over water and power. It puts local zoning boards, not Harrisburg, in the position of gatekeeper for a technology other governors have been racing to wave through with tax breaks and streamlined permitting.
Other states have rolled out the red carpet for data centers. Pennsylvania just handed the keys to town councils instead.