PA House committee advances data center bills

Lawmakers on the Pennsylvania House Energy Committee on Monday approved two bills aimed at addressing the growing number of data centers across the commonwealth, including one that requires data centers to submit annual reports to the state detailing their water and electricity use.

The Democratic-controlled committee passed the first bill, House Bill 2150, with a party-line vote. That legislation, sponsored by state Rep. Kyle Mullins of Lackawanna County, requires data centers to submit yearly reports to the state Department of Environmental Protection that outline each center’s total energy and water consumption for the previous calendar year, as well as any measures undertaken in the previous calendar year to improve energy or water efficiency and reduce consumption.

House Energy Committee Chair Elizabeth Fielder, who represents part of Philadelphia, said she’s hopeful that the House will advance the bill and send it to the Senate for consideration, noting that it would establish transparency requirements that could shed light on how data centers impact local communities. 

“It is important that we are transparent, and that we ask those companies that are coming to do business in our commonwealth to be transparent about the potential impacts that they could have on the people who are already living there – and those folks are our constituents,” she said. “To me, that piece is incredibly important.”

Republicans weren’t sold on the legislation and expressed concerns that it could hurt the state’s competitiveness in the burgeoning AI economy.

“I’m concerned that the legislation specifically singles out one industry in Pennsylvania. So that’s a No. 1 concern,” said House Energy Committee Minority Chair Martin Causer, a Republican who serves Cameron, McKean and Potter counties. “It also places requirements with a regulatory agency to collect this information. So I’m questioning why this regulatory agency needs this data. There’s also a significant penalty on the reporting side of this. So overall, I think that this makes our state less competitive when looking at the legislation that’s been proposed.”

The bill, which was amended to exclude businesses with small data-center operations, such as telecommunications services, was reported out of the committee by a 14-12 vote. 

The committee also voted 14-12 to advance legislation from Democratic state Rep. Kyle Donahue, also of Lackawanna County, that would direct the state Department of Community & Economic Development to develop a model zoning ordinance to assist municipalities in regulating data centers in their communities. 

Republican members of the committee expressed concerns that developing a state-level model ordinance would create an environment ripe for litigation. 

“By putting a standard out there that is ostensibly embraced by the commonwealth, you set up litigation for the municipalities about their own ordinances,” said GOP state Rep. Craig Williams, “which, of course, I don’t think the maker of the bill intended whatsoever, but it is absolutely in the same way that we see constant litigation over zoning regulations and ordinances.” 

That concern was echoed by a coalition of environmental organizations that oppose the bill, including the Better Path Coalition and No False Climate Solutions PA. In a position statement sent to committee members last week, leaders of the organizations, as well as advocates against data center developments from across the state, outlined their concerns. 

“The current language states more clearly that municipalities can opt out of using the specific language of the model ordinance, but that further begs the question of the need for a law in the first place,” the statement reads. “In fact, we are concerned that a statute will have the opposite effect – that municipalities will feel the need to use the ordinance as written and that the industry could cite it in legal challenges to more strongly worded ordinances.”

Fiedler, meanwhile, stressed that the legislation – House Bill 2151 – is not a requirement. 

“It is not a mandate, and it does not, in fact, restrict local officials’ decision-making in any way. It is optional,” she said. “It is thoughtful, and it gives local elected officials another tool as they seek to do their work in their neighborhoods.”

As the AI boom has led to proposals for data centers across the commonwealth and the country, opposition to the projects has surfaced throughout the state. A recent Pennsylvania-focused poll from Quinnipiac University found that opposition to data center development stretches across party lines. 

According to the poll, which surveyed 836 registered voters in the state, 68% of Pennsylvanians would oppose building an AI data center in their community, compared to 20% who said they would support the construction of a data center. When broken down by party, 53% of Republicans said they would oppose a data center in their community, 81% of Democrats expressed opposition and 67% of independents said they would oppose the construction of a data center where they live.