Pa. Gov. Shapiro says many developers don’t care

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Tuesday that “too many” data center developers don’t care about the communities where they are building those artificial intelligence-sector projects, which have met with growing opposition nationwide.

Shapiro’s comments to CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” came a day after President Donald Trump said the only reason American communities should not want AI data centers “is if they want to end up being backwards and poor.”

“The reality is, I want CEOs that give a damn about the community where they’re going to be,” said Shapiro, who appeared on CNBC with Chobani CEO Hamdi Ulukaya to talk about the Greek yogurt maker’s planned $1.2 billion investment in a new Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, dairy manufacturing hub.

“Unfortunately, we’ve seen too many developers who don’t care about our communities who are trying to run roughshod over our communities, and those are the kinds of data center projects we don’t want here,” Shapiro said. “We want to work with people that want to work with local communities.”

The governor, who is considered a potential contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, on Aug. 18 signed an executive order aimed at controlling data center development, mandating that any proposals for centers comply with the Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development (GRID) Requirements, and removing all artificial intelligence data center projects from a fast-track approval program.

“This executive order represents the most stringent requirements in the entire country,” Shapiro said when he signed the order. “And my word to developers is you better follow these requirements. Otherwise you shouldn’t plan to do business here.”

Shapiro’s order came as he seeks re-election as governor against Republican nominee, state Treasurer Stacy Garrity.

He cited that order during his appearance with Ulukaya on Tuesday.

“That’s why I put those regulations in place through my executive order that says you’ve got to earn local support before you can even come to the state for permitting,” Shapiro said. “We want to frankly knock out the people who don’t view the world the way Hamdi and Chobani do, that they’re partners with the community.”

Asked what that means, Shapiro said data center developers have to earn local support before seeking permits from the state.

“Number two, you’ve got to generate your own power, and you got to pay for the power,” he said. “You can’t saddle local homeowners and businesses with that. Number three, you’ve got to protect our water supply and our air quality.”

“All of those things are common sense, and you are now legally bound to those standards.”

Shapiro is one of several governors who have imposed new restrictions or called for greater scrutiny of data center…