Your Daily Guide

Pennsylvania’s data center boom is coming closer to home as proposals ramp up in Philadelphia’s suburbs. A recent hearing for a proposed project in the Plymouth Township-Conshohocken area was met with resounding boos and legal challenges from opponents. The project’s developer, Brian O’Neill, is also pushing for a campus of data centers in King of Prussia that would be larger than Philadelphia International Airport.

• What’s the argument? Concerns over data centers include lost tax revenue, energy policy challenges, and environmental health. The outcry has manifested in the creation of a Pennsylvania Data Center Resistance Facebook group.
• What’s the counterargument? Some argue the environmental concerns over AI’s growth are “misguided,” and Gov. Shapiro sees data center development as an opportunity to increase jobs.
• Is Shapiro’s popularity on the line? Shapiro’s staunch support for data center development puts him at odds with growing opposition from both sides of the political aisle. Republican nominee for Pennsylvania governor, Stacy Garrity, called out her rival in a new ad, claiming Shapiro “sold us out” by garnering support from out-of-state data center developers.
• Development hasn’t stopped. Multiple data centers have already been constructed in the area, with two in the works in Bucks County and Cumberland County in New Jersey.
• Pennsylvania’s impact. U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna (a Bucks County native and Democrat) introduced federal legislation to protect communities’ rights to reject data centers or allow them with clear protections. Khanna was inspired after hearing concerns from residents in Philly’s suburbs.
• How many projects are there? Use this map to track proposed data centers in Pennsylvania and across the country.

Learn more about the data center projects coming to the Philadelphia area — and how residents are pushing back — on today’s episode.