What was said about data centers in Pennsylvania
119 statements from 64 speakers, grouped by who spoke. Each appears as said, with the date and the source. No verdict is attached.
From July 10, 2026 to October 1, 2026. Statements from every state are on Statements.
Data center companies 6
Developers, operators and builders of data centers and the technology companies that fill them, speaking through their staff and spokespeople. Every state.
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Amazon committed to build 20 billion dollars worth of data centers in Pennsylvania including a facility in Bucks County.
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Prime Data Centers Senior Vice President of Development
Kate Nolan Bryden, Prime Senior Vice President of Development and project lead, testified that the facility will use advanced closed loop cooling systems
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MLP Ventures developer
O'Neill stated 'Will I win legally? Absolutely. And I'll spend whatever it takes to do that because what I'm building is right, and it's right for the community.'
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MLP Ventures developer
O'Neill said his proposed facilities would use closed loop water systems, generate their own electricity, create no light pollution and comply with local noise limits
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MLP Ventures developer
Brian O'Neill said he is committed to moving forward with the projects despite community opposition
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MLP Ventures developer
O'Neill called the township council's claim that he rejected safeguards a 'bald faced lie' and said he agreed to most requests
Government 70
Officials in office, lawmakers, regulators, public agencies and courts, federal, state, tribal and local. Every state.
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Tracy Pennycuick, Pennsylvania Senator, stated that data center developers require local governments to sign NDAs, restricting officials' ability to communicate with residents about proposed projects.
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Pennsylvania state senator
Tracy Pennycuick, Republican Senator from Montgomery County, sponsored the bill.
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Pennsylvania Governor
Governor Josh Shapiro has evolved his stance on data centers after once seeking to make it easier for projects to call Pennsylvania home
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Chris Wright, Energy Secretary, said investments will get more out of infrastructure already in place, move more electricity across the grid, and help deliver affordable, reliable and secure power.
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U.S. President
Trump said U.S. communities that don't have data centers will end up being backwards and poor.
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Pennsylvania State Senate Majority Leader
Pennsylvania Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman said a statewide moratorium is not a possibility and local governments should have ability to dictate the future of their own communities
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Pennsylvania House Speaker Joanna McClinton said Pennsylvania would not be in a space for a data center moratorium
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Pennsylvania Governor
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro shifted from supporting data centers to favoring stricter regulation and community protection
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Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro headlined a July 2025 summit celebrating 90 billion dollars in data center and AI infrastructure investment
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State Rep R-79th District and Scott Barger, State Rep R-80th District
Andrea Verobish and Scott Barger represent most of Blair County and part of Huntingdon County
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Pennsylvania Governor
Josh Shapiro called for strict guardrails on the development and use of advanced technology and signed an executive order imposing tight requirements and restrictions on data centers in Pennsylvania.
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PUC (Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission)
PUC Study warns of electricity shortages unless supply keeps pace with AI data center growth
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Shippingport Mayor John Erickson said the project will create thousands of jobs
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Stephen DeFrank, Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission Chairman, warned that if more data centers interconnect than expected with no new generation, loss of load events could increase from one every ten years to 13 per year by 2030
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Elizabeth Township commission president
Commission president revealed that someone has approached Elizabeth Township about building a data center
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Senate Majority Leader (R-Indiana)
Joe Pittman, Senate Majority Leader, blamed former Governor Tom Wolf's decision to join a regional carbon trading program for the reliability crunch and stated all sources of power should be embraced
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Steve DeFrank, Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission Chairman, stated that Pennsylvania is at an energy crossroads and that data center development brings significant opportunities but growth cannot come at the expense of reliable and affordable service
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Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission Chairman
DeFrank emphasized need for data center projects to include their own power supplies and for the state to increase overall power generation with a mix of natural gas, nuclear, and green energy
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John Erickson, Shippingport Mayor, said Project Phoenix honors the legacy of commercial nuclear energy and opens a new chapter by rebuilding the historic site
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House Majority Leader (D-Montgomery)
Matt Bradford, House Majority Leader, stated that failure to address the reliability crisis will cost lives and cause economic damage
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Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission Chairman
Steve DeFrank, Public Utility Commission Chairman, said PJM Interconnection must take urgent action to make sure electricity supply keeps up with demand from data centers
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Steve DeFrank, Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission Chairman
Pennsylvania is at an energy crossroads
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President Trump dismisses idea of new AI guardrails, saying there is a sick conspiracy against AI and data centers
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Republican Senator
Republican Sen. Gene Yaw said 18 months ago we probably are going to have blackouts and brownouts
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Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission
Study warns rapid data center growth could increase consumer electricity costs
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House Speaker
Mike Johnson said Trump will have AI companies potentially meet at the White House this week or next week to discuss responsibility and safety
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Philadelphia City officials
City officials identified two sites in Philadelphia with potential for AI data centers but no current proposals exist
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President
Trump said the administration has already stopped Anthropic from doing bad or potentially bad things
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President
Trump said there is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers and that China is the only one happy about it
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President
Trump said his presence in the Oval Office should assuage fears about AI and that AI risks are a hoax
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Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission Chairman
Pennsylvania PUC Chairman Steve DeFrank said data center development is putting reliability of electricity supplies in Pennsylvania and nearby regions at risk by causing demand projections to exceed anticipated supply
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Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission
PUC released independent analysis warning rapid data center development impacts electricity reliability
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Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania Governor
Executive order requires growing percentage of data center energy from clean firm resources, starting at 10 percent and climbing to 32 percent by 2035
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Pennsylvania Governor
Governor Josh Shapiro signed executive order on data centers on August 18, 2026, prohibiting non disclosure agreements and removing permit fast tracking
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Shippingport borough secretary
In Shippingport, Beaver County, borough Secretary Kayla Wilkinson in October signed an Oracle America Inc. NDA although the document was not signed by Oracle.
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Ernest Ashbridge III, Salem Township supervisor
In Salem Township in Luzerne County, a supervisor signed an NDA involving Amazon in 2024 and one involving QTS in 2025.
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North Coventry Township supervisors
Board opposition is not automatically a final denial unless it controls the remaining approvals the project still needs
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Lower Mount Bethel Township elected officials and staff
In Lower Mount Bethel Township in Northampton County eight different elected officials or staff each signed a mutual confidentiality agreement with Talen Energy Supply.
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Falls Township supervisors' chairman
In Falls Township, Bucks County, the supervisors' chairman signed an NDA in 2024 with an attorney representing Amazon.
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Governor Shapiro rejected moratorium, saying 'we figured it out' regarding data center regulation
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United States Senator
Senator Richard Blumenthal launched a nationwide investigation in March into the use of NDAs and other restrictions that may limit public disclosure of data centers' energy usage, water needs and potential community impacts
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Deputy Chief of Staff to Governor Shapiro
Deputy Chief of Staff Sam Robinson said the administration wants to respect local decision making in zoning and siting, noting that some parts of Pennsylvania have one house per square mile where data center siting may make sense
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Joseph Farrell, Valley View School Board director, called for regional coordination among Northeastern Pennsylvania communities to resist data center development.
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U.S. Senator, R-Pa.
Sen. Dave McCormick shared reports on Aug. 27 detailing an investigation led by Republicans into anti data center non profits over their ties to China
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U.S. Senator, R-Pa.
McCormick said China knows the AI race will shape the future and Chinese money may be funding groups working to stop data centers America needs
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U.S. Senator, D-Pa.
Fetterman said on Aug. 22 that AI supremacy and energy dominance underpin national security and that China continues to benefit from American overreaction
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U.S. Senator, D-Pa.
Sen. John Fetterman agreed with Trump on data centers and wrote 'We must win the war for AI supremacy over China. They foment the anti argument through misinformation'
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U.S. Senator, D-Pa.
Fetterman said on Aug. 10 that America must lead in the development of AI, otherwise the nation will live under China's rules
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Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor
Lt. Gov. Austin Davis said the Shapiro Administration has put strict new guardrails in place on data center development
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Pennsylvania Governor
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro shifted his stance from generally supporting data centers to placing restrictions after Republican opposition criticism, recently signing an executive order imposing new rules
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Joe Pittman, Senate GOP Majority Leader, argued the order marks a reversal from the Administration's earlier posture
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Governor, Pennsylvania
Governor Josh Shapiro mentioned his visit to Archbald ahead of signing an executive order reining in large scale data center development
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Pennsylvania state Senator (40th District)
Republican state Sen. Rosemary Brown announced a plan to introduce a package of bills requiring developers to undergo third party evaluation of water use.
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Pennsylvania GOP State Treasurer
GOP state Treasurer Stacy Garrity called for a temporary moratorium on all data center development in Pennsylvania.
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Pennsylvania Governor
Executive order mandates data center projects receive all required local approvals before permits are issued
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Pennsylvania Governor
Gov. Shapiro said: I will not allow Pennsylvanians to be bullied by greedy developers and bulldozed by the lawyers working for these big tech companies
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Governor Shapiro branded more than 100 Pennsylvania data center proposals as mostly speculative
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Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania Governor
Developers must bring their own power and pay related electricity expenses
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Pennsylvania Governor
Gov. Josh Shapiro characterized data center developers as predatory
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Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania Governor
Developers must use increasingly clean power sources
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Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania Governor
Developers must hire locally and offer robust community benefits agreement
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Governor of Pennsylvania
Gov. Josh Shapiro reversed course on data centers in August, characterizing most proposals as speculative.
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Governor of Pennsylvania
Governor Shapiro announced Amazon's $20 billion Pennsylvania investment including two data center campuses in Luzerne and Bucks Counties
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Governor of Pennsylvania
Shapiro has begun softening his position on data centers, going from consulting with Amazon and the industry to draft incentives to vowing executive actions to curb projects in communities that oppose them
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Plymouth Township Council President Lynne Viscio said O'Neill rejected more than 40 proposed safeguards and conditions
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Pennsylvania state senator
Rothman stated he had nothing to do with the actual data center deal but RSR Realtors received real estate fee for sale of land
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Pennsylvania state senator Greg Rothman made money from 30 million dollar sale of property in June 2025 to PAX-1 data center developer
Chief executives 4
Chief executives, presidents, founders and chairs of companies, in technology, data centers, power and elsewhere. Every state.
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Anthropic CEO
Amodei cited a July 2026 cyberattack by OpenAI models on Hugging Face as reason to slow AI development
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OpenAI CEO
Sam Altman said pacing AI development will be well worth the cost and that government help is needed for international coordination
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Anthropic CEO
Dario Amodei published an essay on Saturday calling for slower development of AI
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CEO of Anthropic; Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI; Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX
Tech leaders including Dario Amodei, Sam Altman, and Elon Musk are calling for greater government oversight of AI
Utilities and grid operators 1
Electric utilities, cooperatives and the operators of the power grid, and the people who speak for them. Every state.
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PJM Interconnection identified increased data centers as a cause of rising electricity bills in the region
Candidates and campaigns 11
People running for office, their campaigns and their parties. A candidate who does not hold the office is not an official. Every state.
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Pennsylvania state treasurer and Republican gubernatorial candidate
Stacy Garrity, state treasurer and Republican candidate for governor, said she supports leaving the decision on data centers to local communities.
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The No Data Centers in Philly campaign will hold a press conference and rally at Philadelphia City Hall at noon on Monday.
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Democratic candidate
Bob Harvie called for a data center moratorium in his campaign
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Harvie previously supported tax break for Amazon data center in Falls Township during Bucks County Commissioners vote in December 2020
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Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial nominee
Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity called for a temporary pause on new and uncontracted major data center developments
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Republican candidate for Pennsylvania governor
Garrity held five listening sessions around Pennsylvania on data center concerns
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Republican candidate for Pennsylvania governor
Stacy Garrity, Republican candidate and current state treasurer, called for a pause on new data center development
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Stacy Garrity
Governor Shapiro initially signed two contracts with Amazon for data center projects and gave them tax deals
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Democrat candidate for Pennsylvania state Senate 40th District
Democrat Brian Wrightson wants the state to ban all data center developments and implement a moratorium.
Business groups and unions 3
Chambers of commerce, trade associations and labor unions. Every state.
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Pennsylvania Farm Bureau state board director
Andy Bater notes Pennsylvania has made progress in regulating data centers including Governor Shapiro's GRID standards and PUC's large load tariff
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Jon Gordon, senior policy director for Advanced Energy United, said PJM is lagging behind other grid operators and that time is running out to get new generation proposed, financed, permitted and constructed
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Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry calls for support of data center development
Advocates and residents 13
Advocacy and community groups on every side, residents, neighbors and people speaking at public meetings. Every state.
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Patrick Cicero, attorney at the Pennsylvania Utility Law Project and former state consumer advocate, said the PUC should have been assigning customer assistance costs to all rate classes.
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letter writer
Mary Nelson, Erie resident, calls for local oversight and complete transparency on data center development
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Molly Parzen, executive director of Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania, said the state must work with PJM Interconnection and federal government to ensure Pennsylvania families do not pay for increased power demand from data centers
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Center City resident
Donna Greenberg expressed concerns about pollution, noise, and surveillance from data centers
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People's Tech Project
Hannah Sassaman stated data centers can raise ambient temperature of neighborhood by 5 to 15 degrees
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Concerned Residents of Western Pennsylvania (CROW)
Concerned Residents of Western Pennsylvania held a rally opposing a proposed Amazon Web Services data center campus for Center Township
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managing co-director of Philly Thrive
Shawmar Pitts of Philly Thrive stated absence of regulations amounts to dangerous situation and data centers raise PECO electricity bills pollute air and water and power surveillance systems
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Lancaster resident
Tony Dastra argued residents should have right to present case to zoning hearing board under Municipalities Planning Code
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director Brechner Freedom of Information Project
David Cuillier director of the Brechner Freedom of Information Project stated that NDAs cut the public out of the conversation and are against democracy.
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Marcellus Shale Coalition expressed disappointment over Governor Shapiro's recent pivot on data centers
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Lancaster Farmland Trust
Raudabaugh family preserved farms through conservation easements and sold development rights for about $1.9 million
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retired farmer
Mervin Raudabaugh declined more than $15 million from data center developers for two farms covering about 261 acres in Silver Spring Township, Pennsylvania
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Better Path Coalition and No False Climate Solutions PA coalitions oppose hyperscale data center development in Pennsylvania
Researchers and analysts 7
Universities, research institutes, think tanks, pollsters, economists and consultants. Every state.
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researcher at Ralph O'Connor Sustainable Energy Institute at Johns Hopkins University
Abe Silverman, researcher at the Ralph O'Connor Sustainable Energy Institute at Johns Hopkins University, said the grid would be running at the red line
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Abe Silverman, energy consultant and research scholar at Johns Hopkins University, warned of potential monthly blackouts if data centers continue to connect without new power generation
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Sean Trende, American Enterprise Institute
Republicans oppose data centers with a bare majority opposed and just 29 percent strongly opposed.
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Sean Trende, American Enterprise Institute
By July 2026, support for data centers in or near community was down to 22 percent, opposition was up to 57 percent.
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Sean Trende, American Enterprise Institute
In December 2025, 34 percent of Pennsylvanians supported data centers in or near their community, 42 percent opposed, and 24 percent had no strong opinion.
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Sean Trende, American Enterprise Institute
Democrats oppose data centers more than other groups, with 71 percent opposed and more than half strongly opposed.
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Sean Trende, American Enterprise Institute
In Pennsylvania 7th Congressional District, opposition to data centers runs 74 percent to 14 percent support.
Other voices 4
Journalists, lawyers, former officials, and speakers the source describes in words that name none of the groups above. Every state.
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WHYY
Philadelphia has no local zoning laws or regulations governing data center development
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Associated Press reporting
Anthropic endured an uncomfortable relationship with the Trump administration with the Pentagon trying to label the company's models a security risk and a temporary ban of one of its more advanced models
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Portland Press Herald fact check
Maine has a Down East data center proposal involving DeepGreen Western Passage near Eastport but contains no $15 million land offer to a lobsterman
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WBUR reporting
Gov. Josh Shapiro and opponent Stacy Garrity are navigating public opinion around data centers in Pennsylvania gubernatorial race
The group comes from the words the source gives for the speaker; how the groups are read. Every statement on the record is in CSV and JSON, with its group and its state.
