It mandates that data centers using more than 10 MW of electricity annually disclose their energy and water usage. Environmental advocates said the change, which covers most of the new data centers planned for the state, is positive but not especially meaningful.
Lawmakers left in place an increasingly unpopular sales tax exemption for data centers that is projected to cost the state $2 billion in tax revenue by mid-2031, and passed no other bills that would regulate the burgeoning industry.
This is despite the state House and Senate passing a bevy of recent bills seeking to rein in data centers, such as one that would ban developers from accessing a program that gives tax breaks to those who invest in certain “opportunity zone” areas, and another to allow local governments to temporarily pause development.
The measures came after polling this spring showed that 64% of Pennsylvanians saw data centers as a problem, and communities increasingly rallied against them.
However, none of these pieces of legislation made it to the governor’s desk.