Northeast Pennsylvania awaits Stacy Garrity’s plan to ‘deal with’ data centers encroaching on the region’s power, land, and quality of life.

Data centers are the defining issue in northeastern Pennsylvania right now. Not jobs. Not taxes. Not crime. The thing people show up to township meetings about, the thing filling comment sections and packing supervisors’ meetings past capacity, is whether the land they live on is about to be turned into a cooling system for someone else’s cloud.

Where They Stand

Governor Josh Shapiro rolled out his GRID Standards earlier this year. He said the framework would require data center developers to meet benchmarks on energy, environment, workforce development, and community transparency to qualify for state incentives. He announced it in his February budget address. He called it accountability. It wasn’t.

Stacy Garrity, the Republican state treasurer challenging Shapiro, called it what a lot of people in NEPA were already thinking: voluntary and toothless. She called for a pause on data center development. She launched listening sessions across the state, showing up in the communities where these fights are happening. She attacked Shapiro’s donor list. “Your voice is what matters, not Josh Shapiro’s out of state campaign donors.” She accused him of doing nothing while cutting sweetheart deals for developers.

On the surface, Garrity sounds like the candidate NEPA wants. See Garrity vs Shapiro full side-by-side comparison.

The Paper Trail

Right-to-Know records, reported by HeatMap and confirmed by the Philadelphia Inquirer on July 24, show his administration sent early drafts of GRID to Amazon and the Data Center Coalition before the public saw them, let the industry mark them up, and assured them in writing the state would “not ban or even discourage data centers.” His campaign took $100,000 from NorthPoint Development, which is building Amazon’s Bucks County data center complex, and $1.4 million from construction trade unions in the first quarter of 2026 alone.

The state House passed bipartisan legislation that would have actually regulated data centers. It would have monitored energy and water usage and mandated contributions to low-income energy assistance programs. The Republican-controlled Senate blocked it. GRID never made it into the budget. Shapiro says he’s now “considering all executive actions” he can take without the legislature.

That’s his record. He solicited industry markups before the public saw a draft. He watched the Senate kill the version with teeth. He signed a budget that kept the $2 billion tax exemption intact.

Garrity’s Record

She has called GRID voluntary. She has called for a pause. She has held listening sessions. She has said she favors “mandatory rules” not tied to climate mandates. She wants data centers built on brownfields, powered by natural gas. She pointed to the Homer City coal-plant conversion as a model.

Spotlight PA asked her campaign for specifics on what “mandatory” means. What it looks like in legislation. Who enforces it. What the penalties are. Her campaign did not answer.

She has no bill. No framework. No enforcement mechanism. No named policy. No plan.

The bar is on the floor. Shapiro’s own guardrails were exposed as industry-drafted and voluntary. All Garrity has to do is put something concrete on paper and she owns this issue in every township in northeastern Pennsylvania. She hasn’t done it.

The Fights on the Ground

Meanwhile, NEPA isn’t waiting for Harrisburg.

These fights are happening at the municipal level because nothing is happening at the state level. Township supervisors, volunteer planning commissions, and residents reading zoning code for the first time are the only line of defense. Not the governor. Voters want to know exactly what Garrity is going to do that Shapiro can’t.

The Question

Treasurer Garrity, residents at your listening sessions are asking us the same things they’re asking you. What does “mandatory” look like in a bill? Would you support repealing the sales tax exemption projected to cost Pennsylvania over $2 billion by 2031? Would you back municipal zoning authority against any state-level preemption? Would you refuse campaign donations from data center developers? Would you require public comment periods before sharing regulatory drafts with industry? What’s the enforcement mechanism, and who runs it?

NEPA is waiting on Treasurer Garrity’s data center plan.