Profile in Cowardice: Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D)

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (D) tells his constituents that he governs according to a simple philosophy: “get stuff done.” He’s said “[w]hen we see a problem, we get to work to solve it,” which certainly sounds good. Yet, when faced with one of the most important political issues of the day—data center deployment—the governor seems to favor the idea of getting nothing done. His recently signed executive order (EO) on these projects directs “the Department of Environmental Protection to only review permit applications if developers have made a legally binding commitment to meet the Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development (GRID) Requirements and have received local approval.”

In other words, Shapiro is betting developers will give up rather than clear his hurdles. These completely unnecessary barriers mean fewer jobs, lower tax revenue across the state, and diminished digital innovation. For abandoning the hard work of governing and kowtowing to kneejerk populism, Gov. Shapiro is a Profile in Cowardice.

Gov. Shapiro claims that, by signing the permitting EO, he is sending a clear message to data center developers: “if you can’t agree to our strict requirements and get the community where you want to build to say ‘yes,’ you’re not going to have the Commonwealth’s support either. These are some of the biggest companies in the world — they can afford to be good neighbors, follow the rules, and do this right.”

These “strict requirements” are ostensibly grounded in concerns for “our communities, our environment, and our utility bills,” but these concerns bear little resemblance to reality. According to a recent analysis by the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, data centers accounted for just 0.3 percent of water consumption in Pennsylvania and 1 percent of electricity consumption in 2025. Meanwhile, these projects have created significant opportunities across the state—including thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic output and tax revenue.

Estimates suggest that these innovative projects contribute more than $14 billion annually to Pennsylvania’s economy—or more than $1,000 for every Pennsylvania resident. That total will almost certainly climb to $20 billion by 2030. Recent estimates show that, across the country, data center build-outs have added more than 216,000 construction jobs since 2022, with up to 500,000 net new power and grid infrastructure roles needed to sustain long-term demand. These are exceptionally well-paying local jobs, particularly for the region’s building trades as well as local small businesses across the supply chain. As Rob Bair, president of the Pennsylvania Building and Construction Trades Council, recently told the Associated Press, data centers “create…a lot of construction jobs, which we live and work in your communities.”

Further, data centers support the entire digital ecosystem, giving state residents access to everything from Google searches to Amazon Prime products to online banking. Yet, Gov. Shapiro insists on thwarting these innovative projects. By imposing regulatory bottlenecks, insisting on duplicative and unnecessary government reviews, and allowing rogue local officials to hold up permitting, the order will almost certainly cause major developers and tech companies to freeze active proposals in Pennsylvania and divert deployment to neighboring states such as West Virginia—which has a far better framework for accommodating data center projects.

For abandoning Pennsylvania residents and his own governing platform to score political points, Gov. Shapiro is a Profile in Cowardice.