PA’s New Data Center Guardrails: What Should You Do?
IT Solutions Still Needed Amidst Developer Overreach
On Tuesday, August 18th Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed an executive order placing what he called “the nation’s strictest guardrails” on data center development in Pennsylvania. He concurrently eliminated Fast Track permitting for data centers, which is still available for large projects in other industries of economic importance to the Commonwealth. The governor’s full remarks can be found here.
Data centers are desperately needed but in our view some developers are not conducting their business in the correct manner. Our growing digital economy calls for a significant foundation of IT infrastructure for companies, non-profits, hospitals, government agencies, and all organizations to meet their technology requirements. As a result, there is demand for data center services and, as with other utilities, providers must meet that need.
But it is also the case that some of those looking to develop data centers at a scale we haven’t seen before are outsiders whose actions are concerning to people in the communities where they seek to build.
As Governor Shapiro put it, “we’ve seen an unacceptable number of speculative proposals for data centers swamp our Commonwealth – many of them led by developers who have no regard for local communities.”
The concern of citizens is understandable, as some of these projects are enormous and will change the character of the immediate area of development. On the other hand, the need for new data center inventory is critical for the continued growth of our economy. Pushing out data center infrastructure services to other areas will reduce job growth and economic activity in Pennsylvania. Overly limiting them in our country as a whole is a national security risk given the growing battle for AI supremacy between China and the US and the military implications of AI.
Direct LTx founder Albert Boscov purchased our data center from a utility provider twenty years ago due to his concern that a technology-driven economy may leave Reading behind. As a result of Mr. Boscov’s foresight, private and public sector entities alike seeking a highly redundant home for their infrastructure have an ideal option at Direct LTx, a world class data center that has continued the previous ownership’s history of responsible stewardship of water and power since 1985. And we’re proud to have contributed to Reading not being left behind and continue to provide options for organizations seeking to expand their infrastructure footprint in a place convenient to Philadelphia and its western suburbs.
If your company has data center, cloud, and interconnection needs and would like to explore the services of a local company committed to the quality of life and economic success of Eastern Pennsylvania we would welcome the opportunity for a conversation and/or a tour of our resilient, highly connected, cloud-adjacent data center. Email us at strategy@directLTx.com to arrange for either.