Bird sounds and musical tones play over a nature video montage as the narrator of the Facebook ad says, “This is what Pennsylvania sounds like.”
“And this” — a mechanical “data center noise” interrupts — “…is what your town could sound like if Camera Bartolotta’s bill to fast-track data centers passes the state Senate.”
The ad, paid for by Coalfield Justice Action, the political advocacy arm of an environmental justice nonprofit Center for Coalfield Justice, takes aim at Bartolotta, an incumbent Republican candidate for Pennsylvania Senate representing Washington, Greene and part of Beaver County. She is the prime sponsor of Senate Bill 991, which would induce faster permitting for proposed data centers that meet or exceed federal environmental standards, according to her co-sponsorship memo.
“They’re saying I have a bill to fast track putting data centers everywhere, and that’s not it at all,” Bartolotta told NewsWorks Lab and Technical.ly. “No. I want to make it easier and quicker for people to remediate toxic environmental hazards.”
“They’re saying I have a bill to fast track putting data centers everywhere, and that’s not it at all.”
PA. Senator Camera Bartolotta
This November, data centers could shape midterm elections across the country as candidates on both the right and left respond to mounting opposition from communities where they could be built.
More than 60% of voters across the political spectrum “dislike political leaders who support building data centers in areas near them,” according to a poll by the Pew Research Center conducted from late September to early October. Only 8% said they like those leaders.
Candidates vying to represent Southwestern Pennsylvania in Harrisburg have staked a claim on the issue: pro or con, speed up or slow down. Some have even made data centers a focal point of their campaigns.
The race for Bartolotta’s seat, Senate District 46, is one such hotspot.
Coalfield Justice Action endorses Bartolotta’s opponent, independent Jodi Borello, who put data centers front and center in her bid to represent the region. If elected, Borello would like to enact a state moratorium on data centers, according to her website. The group also endorses Lois Bower-Bjornson and Rebecca MacTaggart, two Democratic candidates in the place-based voter guide below.
NewsWorks Lab and Technical.ly put together this guide to 10 races in districts where data centers could be built to help you better understand the candidates on your ballot. When candidates made specific promises, we spoke with experts to understand the legal limits on following through.
Who has the power
An individual state lawmaker can’t unilaterally approve or deny a data center, even when it’s in their district. State legislators have the power to introduce or support bills, which don’t become law without approval of a majority of both chambers and the governor’s signature. That means their power can only go so far, said Michael Helbing, executive director of Penn State University’s Center for Energy Law and Policy (CELP).
“Any individual, obviously, is going to be limited in what they can do,” Helbing said. “They have one vote.”
That means independent candidate for District 46 Borello’s ambition for a state moratorium on data centers can’t materialize without buy-in from many other elected officials.
Even so, Borello is far from the only state legislature candidate with boldly-stated intentions for data centers.
Many of the candidates say they do not want data centers to drive up electric bills for Pennsylvanians. Some promise to stop price increases.
“Everyone kind of agrees that data centers should pay their own way,” said Jon Gordon, senior director at the national industry group Advanced Energy United. But in reality, “a state representative has limited ability, or authority, to absolutely ensure that happens.”
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission — the government organization that regulates local utilities — has the most power over electric rates, he said. When a local utility wants to charge customers more, they need permission from the Pennsylvania PUC first.
A state legislator, however, could support a bill that would regulate the Pennsylvania PUC, said Darryl Lawrence, who oversees the Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate, an agency that represents utility customers.
Right now, Pennsylvania’s state lawmakers are pushing bills that would make it so “data center developers will pay for all the costs that they cause,” Lawrence said.
No single person in Pennsylvania has control over how much it costs for a local utility to buy energy before selling it to customers, Gordon noted. That’s the responsibility of PJM Interconnection, a regional grid operator that manages the “capacity market” for Pennsylvania, all or part of 12 other states and Washington, D.C.
In a capacity market, utilities pay power generators to promise they’ll be able to supply electricity when they need it in the future, according to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, a federal agency that regulates aspects of interstate transmission of electricity, natural gas and oil.
Recently, the price of this future commitment has gone way up, Gordon said: Demand for energy is far exceeding supply, primarily because of data centers.
Local control
Some legislative candidates in our voter guide say they want to bolster the data center-regulating power of local decision-makers. Local decision-makers already hold several relevant tools.
Right now, locally elected officials have “substantial authority,” Penn State CELP Director Helbing said, with respect to land use decisions — things like noise controls and how far away from property lines a data center must be built, what he called “setbacks.”
Pennsylvania law gives zoning power to municipalities (and counties when municipalities lack zoning) under the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code.
Broadly, zoning ordinances divide a place into districts, and dictate where certain land uses can take place. One area might be zoned for industrial use, and another for housing.
In Pennsylvania, local governments can use zoning to control where and how a data center is built. They can also come up with formal plans with varying levels of oversight to ensure developers adhere to the zoning ordinances, according to Helbing.
Apart from zoning, locals might also work with a data center developer on voluntary community benefits agreements, which could result in money for parks or emergency services, for example, Helbing said.
Yet it’s unlikely a Pennsylvania municipality could completely ban data center construction within its borders.
A zoning ordinance that totally excludes a legitimate business would likely be deemed unconstitutional by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, according to the 2025 edition of the Pennsylvania Legislator’s Municipal Deskbook produced by the Pennsylvania Local Government Commission, a legislative service agency of the Pennsylvania General Assembly.
This brings us back to state legislators, who can push for laws that would impact data center development in a variety of ways, from moratoriums to taxes.
Here’s where the candidates stand.
PA House District 62
Jim Struzzi
Republican · incumbent
Did not respond to a request for comment
The Homer City Energy Campus “represents an incredible new future for Indiana County,” Jim Struzzi wrote in an April 2025 statement posted on his website.
Struzzi is the prime sponsor of House Bill 114, which would create an Independent Energy Office tasked with “protecting the reliability and affordability of the electricity grid.”
Trajan Jones
Democrat · challenger
Did not respond to a request for comment
Trajan Jones’ rhetoric is tough on data centers. On his website, he promises to:
- “Require public disclosure of how much water a facility will draw before permits are approved”
Under Gov. Josh Shapiro’s August executive order, which laid out a new set of requirements for data centers, operators “must report their water consumption for the previous calendar year to the [Department of Environmental Protection] annually by July 1, beginning in 2027,” a DEP spokesperson wrote in an email response to NewsWorks Lab and Technical.ly. “The report must also include estimated water demand for the following year.”
Jones could support a bill that would add to existing requirements.
- “Protect Indiana County households from rate increases driven by data center demand”
A single legislator might have a tough time wielding control over the interstate electric grid manager, PJM Interconnection, said Jon Gordon, senior director at the national industry group Advanced Energy United.
A state legislator, however, could support a bill that would regulate the Pennsylvania PUC, said Darryl Lawrence, who oversees the Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate, an agency that represents utility customers.
The Pennsylvania PUC regulates local utilities and approves or denies their request to change rates.
- “Make sure host communities keep a real share of the tax benefit, not just the impact”
In Pennsylvania, data center developers might not need to pay sales tax on computers they buy because of the 2021 Computer Data Center Sales and Use Tax Exemption Program.
However, data centers will pay property taxes, which fund local governments, said Laura Beltrán Figueroa, a director at the Pennsylvania Policy Center, a policy advocacy organization.
Beltrán Figueroa said that localities could negotiate more benefits through community benefit agreements made directly with the data center developer.
A legislator could also support bills that would, for example, create special taxes for data centers, she said.
- “Independent air monitoring in Homer City, Center Township and neighboring communities, with results posted publicly”
Jones could ask the DEP to add a site in Indiana County near the Homer City Energy Campus.
Right now, the DEP monitors air quality in Strongstown, according to its list of site locations by county.
He could also support a bill that would create new air monitoring requirements.
- “Enforceable local hiring and apprenticeship commitments so the permanent jobs go to people who live here”
“From a legal standpoint, it’s a bit tricky,” said University of Pittsburgh law professor Jay Hornack, who specializes in employment law. If the state provides public funding to a data center, the money could come with requirements to hire locally.
But if it’s privately funded, “it’s going to be almost impossible,” he said.
At the federal level, too, there will be hurdles to restrict hiring by geography. The United States Constitution considers it discrimination to deny employment to people from other states, Hornack said.
Technically, the Constitution does not prohibit geographic discrimination within a state. But if someone from Philadelphia applied to work at a data center in Indiana County, “then the problem is, you know, Philadelphia is right by New Jersey and Delaware, and somebody across the river could say, ‘Hey, you know, I want to apply too,’” he said.
PA House District 33
Mandy Steele
Democrat · incumbent
Did not respond to a request for comment
Steele is a prime sponsor of House Bill 2359, which would require data center developers or operators to complete a “community protection plan.”
The plan would include documentation that the data center owner or operator held at least one public meeting and met with chief elected officials, among other requirements.
It would also include details about the project’s footprint, such as water and electricity usage, updated annually.
Michael F. Hammill
Republican · challenger
Could not be reached for comment
Hammill supports the expansion of all kinds of power generation — both fossil fuels and renewables, according to his website. However, he believes data centers should bring their own electricity.
For developers that sign onto the governor’s new requirements to have permits reviewed on a rolling basis, data centers must pay “100% of the costs caused in whole or in part by their project.”
So far, no data center developer has signed an agreement committing to the standards, known as “Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development (GRID) Requirements,” a spokesperson from the DEP told NewsWorks Lab and Technical.ly.
PA Senate District 38
Lindsey M. Williams
Democrat · incumbent
Did not respond to a request for comment
Lindsey M. Williams is the prime sponsor of Senate Bill 724, which would regulate who pays for updates to the electric grid and how developers contribute to the communities where they set up shop.
Thomas West
Republican · challenger
Did not respond to a request for comment
Thomas West believes that “development should create jobs and opportunity without handing local families the bill,” according to his website.
A single legislator might have a tough time wielding control over the interstate electric grid manager, PJM Interconnection, said Jon Gordon, senior director at the national industry group Advanced Energy United.
A state legislator, however, could support a bill that would regulate the Pennsylvania PUC, said Darryl Lawrence, who oversees the Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate, an agency that represents utility customers.
The Pennsylvania PUC regulates local utilities and approves or denies their request to change rates.
PA House District 16
Robert F. Matzie
Democrat · incumbent
Did not respond to a request for comment
Robert F. Matzie is the prime sponsor for House Bill 1834, which lays out a regulatory framework for all large-load customers of the energy grid.
On his website, Matzie says he’s sponsored legislation to hold “large tech companies accountable” for the energy they use to power data centers, “ensuring that your utility bill never rises a cent because of data center construction.”
A single legislator might have a tough time wielding control over the interstate electric grid manager, PJM Interconnection, said Jon Gordon, senior director at the national industry group Advanced Energy United.
A state legislator, however, could support a bill that would regulate the Pennsylvania PUC, said Darryl Lawrence, who oversees the Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate, an agency that represents utility customers.
The Pennsylvania PUC regulates local utilities and approves or denies their request to change rates.
Speaking to 90.5 WESA, Matzie said he supports the end of tax exemptions for data centers, a ban on non-disclosure agreements between data centers and municipalities and would like to allow municipalities to place a six-month pause on applications.
Matzie voted in favor of House Bill 2496, which would allow municipalities to pause applications from data centers for 180 days.
Gov. Shapiro’s August executive order says the use of non-disclosure agreements in connection with data centers “is impermissible.”
In Pennsylvania, data center developers might not need to pay sales tax on computers they buy because of the 2021 Computer Data Center Sales and Use Tax Exemption Program.
Matzie could support a bill that would eliminate the tax exemption.
John Costanza
Republican · challenger
Could not be reached for comment
John Costanza told 90.5 WESA that he supports legislation protecting “local control, requiring data centers to cover their costs, and ensuring they deliver jobs, revenue and lasting benefits to our communities.”
For developers that sign onto the governor’s new requirements to have permits reviewed on a rolling basis, data centers must pay “100% of the costs caused in whole or in part by their project.”
So far, no data center developer has signed an agreement committing to the standards, known as “Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development (GRID) Requirements,” a spokesperson from the DEP told NewsWorks Lab and Technical.ly.
Locals already have control over things like zoning, said Michael Helbing, who runs CELP.
However, Costanza could support bills that would allow municipalities to enact moratoriums on data center applications.
Municipalities do not currently have that power, Helbing said.
Under the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, local governments can pause applications while they decide how to zone data centers using something called a “curative amendment process,” said Lisa Johnson, a Pittsburgh-based environmental attorney.
The curative amendment process allows municipalities 180 days to change their zoning ordinances to accommodate data centers, she said.
Costanza could also support bills that address community benefits agreements.
PA House District 15
Joshua D Kail
Republican · incumbent
Did not respond to a request for comment
Sydney Speicher
Democrat · challenger
Did not respond to a request for comment
Sydney Speicher’s campaign promises put her squarely in favor of regulating data centers, according to her website.
If elected, Speicher says she will:
- “Work to strengthen zoning and environmental review standards to prevent projects that could strain local resources or harm our neighborhoods”
Speicher could introduce or support bills that would add to environmental requirements, or amend the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code. House members cannot single-handedly prevent projects.
- “Carefully assess the energy and water impact before approving industrial development to protect residents and the environment”
Speicher could support bills that would add to environmental requirements at the state level, but legislators cannot single-handedly approve or deny industrial development projects.
- “Promote community-focused, environmentally responsible technology projects that provide local benefits without negative impacts on our homes and resources”
PA House District 48
Tim O’Neal
Republican · incumbent
Did not respond to a request for comment
Rebecca MacTaggart
Democrat · challenger
Rebecca MacTaggart would like to change the penalty for a zoning violation, according to her website. The penalty is currently “not more than $500 plus all court costs,” according to the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code. MacTaggart said she thinks the penalty is too small.
“There certainly could be legislation introduced to change that at the state level,” said Amy Sturges, deputy executive director for advocacy of the Pennsylvania Municipal League, a statewide association for local governments.
MacTaggart also told NewsWorks Lab and Technical.ly that she believes there needs to be more transparency and accountability, and that she would support a three-year moratorium if elected to office.
PA House District 50
Ben Humble
Republican
“I believe data centers present a tremendous opportunity for economic growth in southwestern Pennsylvania, particularly in Greene and Washington counties,” Republican candidate Ben Humble wrote in a statement to NewsWorks Lab and Technical.ly.
Humble believes data centers could tap into the state’s abundant natural resources.
“We should be utilizing those resources to strengthen our electrical grid, support Pennsylvania energy workers, and attract new investment,” he wrote.
However, like many other state Assembly candidates, Humble wants transparency and local control. He does not want electric bills in his district to go up as a result of data centers.
A single legislator might have a tough time wielding control over the interstate electric grid manager, PJM Interconnection, said Jon Gordon, senior director at the national industry group Advanced Energy United.
A state legislator, however, could support a bill that would regulate the Pennsylvania PUC, said Darryl Lawrence, who oversees the Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate, an agency that represents utility customers.
The Pennsylvania PUC regulates local utilities and approves or denies their request to change rates.
Lois Bower-Bjornson
Democrat
Bower-Bjornson, a southwestern Pennsylvanian organizer for the environmental organization Clean Air Council, said she would support a three-year moratorium on data centers if elected to office.
Bower-Bjornson said she is concerned that data centers will lock Pennsylvania into fossil fuel production for decades, since the data centers will require new power to run.
“When considering something like this new gas plant for this new data center, you should take into account the pollution we already live with,” she wrote in a November 2025 statement to the Department of Environmental Protection.
In the statement, Bower-Bjornson compares the promises made by data center developers to those of fracking and coal companies.
As wealthy as Pennsylvania is, “Pennsylvania should look like Dubai,” she said, “but it doesn’t.”
PA Senate District 46
Camera Bartolotta
Republican · incumbent
Camera Bartolotta is a prime sponsor of Senate Bill 991, which would induce faster permitting for proposed data centers that meet or exceed federal environmental standards, according to her co-sponsorship memo.
Bartolotta wants to direct data centers away from neighborhoods and communities while revitalizing toxic, abandoned sites.
“I’m all for the space program, but I would never ever ever want a launching pad in the middle of Canonsburg,” Bartolotta told NewsWorks Lab and Technical.ly. “We have plenty of space that could be used.”
Jodi Borello
Independent · challenger
Jodi Borello told NewsWorks Lab and Technical.ly that she would support a three-year moratorium on data centers if elected to office. A data center moratorium would have to come from the state or federal levels, not the local level, Helbing — who runs the Penn State Center for Energy Law and Policy — said, under the current laws.
Under the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, local governments can pause applications while they decide how to zone data centers using something called a “curative amendment process,” said Lisa Johnson, a Pittsburgh-based environmental attorney.
The curative amendment process allows municipalities 180 days to change their zoning ordinances to accommodate data centers, she said.
Borello also said she would like to get rid of tax breaks for data centers.
In Pennsylvania, data center developers might not need to pay sales tax on computers they buy because of the 2021 Computer Data Center Sales and Use Tax Exemption Program.
Borello could support a bill that would eliminate the tax exemption.
PA House District 55
Jill Cooper
Republican · incumbent
“My position on data centers is really simple,” Jill Cooper told NewsWorks Lab and Technical.ly. “We need to, from a state perspective, establish reasonable guardrails that protects the consumer and enables the local leaders to have control and slow down the process to make certain everything is done in transparency.”
Cooper voted in-favor of allowing municipalities to pause new data center applications for 180-days, but said she has not decided if she would be in favor of a years-long moratorium if it were to come to a vote.
Davon Tyrone Magwood
Democrat · challenger
Did not respond to a request for comment
Davon Tyrone Magwood supports “common sense” standards for data centers, according to vote411.org, a website launched by the League of Women Voters Education Fund. The League of Women Voters advocates for voting rights. He would like the state to set baseline protections on the environment and natural resources.
PA House District 14
Roman Kozak
Republican · incumbent
Did not respond to a request for comment
Roman Kozak told 90.5 WESA that he does not believe the state Assembly should take a hands-on approach to data centers. “Municipalities have zoning and planning that are not controlled by Harrisburg for a reason,” he said.
Bradley Jacob Young
Democrat · challenger
Bradley Jacob Young told NewsWorks Lab and Technical.ly that he supports “responsible development with enforceable protections” and believes that data center developers should cover their costs, protect Pennsylvania’s water and meet strict noise and pollution standards.
“I’ve called for no groundwater withdrawals for cooling and for prioritizing suitable former industrial sites over farmlands and residential neighborhoods, that sort of thing,” he said.
Young wants the state to establish safeguards while preserving local zoning authority.
He previously told 90.5 WESA that he thinks data centers should pay for the cost of electricity, and that Pennsylvania should develop renewable resources to sustain them.
For developers that sign onto the governor’s new requirements to have permits reviewed on a rolling basis, data centers must pay “100% of the costs caused in whole or in part by their project.”
So far, no data center developer has signed an agreement committing to the standards, known as “Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development (GRID) Requirements,” a spokesperson from the DEP told NewsWorks Lab.
Under Gov. Shapiro’s August executive order, which laid out a new set of requirements for data centers, operators “must report their water consumption for the previous calendar year to the [Department of Environmental Protection] annually by July 1, beginning in 2027,” a DEP spokesperson wrote in an email response to NewsWorks Lab. “The report must also include estimated water demand for the following year.”
Young could support a bill that would add to existing requirements.
