Request of Governor Shapiro
Archbald.org reached out to the governor to respectfully solicit his views on the data center proposal. We look forward to getting the Governor's response, and when we do, we will publish it.
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Fern Leard for PA
(Reprinted from Fern's position expressed on her Fern Leard for State Representative website and we LOVE it)
Stop Skyrocketing Utility Bills
Working families should not be stuck paying higher utility bills so massive corporations can power energy-hungry data centers. But that is exactly the direction we are heading. These projects threaten our water, our power grid, and our quality of life while giving back very little. I’m committed to making sure our communities come first. I started speaking out about AI data centers because I saw what was at stake, not just on paper, but in the lives of the people around me. I’ve talked to neighbors worried about their wells running dry, families already stretched thin wondering how they could handle higher utility bills, and people who just want to protect the quiet, safe communities they’ve built their lives in. This isn’t abstract. This is about whether people can afford to stay in their homes, whether they can turn on the heat, whether they can trust that their water will still be there tomorrow.
That’s why I didn’t stay quiet. I worked alongside local leaders to strengthen zoning protections, close loopholes, and make sure these projects cannot move forward without real accountability. I’ve pushed for strict requirements that any developer must complete independent environmental and economic impact studies before a single shovel hits the ground, and that those costs are not passed on to taxpayers.
Because we have lived through this before in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Coal companies came in, took what they could, and left behind polluted waterways, damaged land, and communities forced to pick up the pieces. To this day, we are still paying to treat acid mine drainage and repair the damage they walked away from. That failure was not just environmental. It was a failure of policy, a failure to hold corporations accountable before the damage was done.
We cannot make that mistake again.
A single large data center can use as much electricity as tens of thousands of homes and millions of gallons of water every day. In Pennsylvania, rising demand from these projects is already driving up energy costs and straining our grid. Those costs do not disappear. They are passed directly onto working families through higher utility bills. That is unacceptable.
That is why I will put clear, enforceable protections in place. I will act to prohibit utility companies from shifting infrastructure and capacity costs onto ratepayers. I will require full transparency from the Public Utility Commission so decisions are made in the open, not behind closed doors. I will support policies that ensure developers prove, before approval, that their projects will not harm our water supply, overwhelm our grid, or burden our communities. And I will stand for local control, so the people who live here, not outside interests, have the final say.
This is about learning from our past and protecting our future. Our communities are not sacrifice zones. Our water, our homes, and our way of life are not bargaining chips.
And I will make sure they never are.
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