Pennsylvania

Democrat or Republican - doesn't matter. They sold out Pennsylvania to tech lords, vulture and pirate equity, fossil fuels, and energy companies.

After being boosters for rapid mega data center development Pennsylvania politicos are looking for ways to spin. Because of the backlash from people.

John Gilda

— 9 min read
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Democrat or Republican - doesn't matter. They sold out Pennsylvania to tech lords, vulture and pirate equity, fossil fuels, and energy companies.
By {{{1}}} - originally posted to Flickr as Cascades, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11793919 § 27. Natural resources and the public estate. The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preervation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania's public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of ll the people.(May 18, 1971, P.L.769, J.R.3) 1971 Amendment. Joint Resolution No.3 added section 27.

As Pennsylvanians discover the extent to which our representatives sold us out to data center developers, fossil fuel firms, and big investor owned utility companies, citizens will take action.

Sign on farm in Bucks County (West Rockhill Township) across the street from site being marketed as shovel ready mega data center campus that will use UGI fossil fuel generation and PPL delivered electricity. Right next to suburban residential development and small farms. We are not happy.

Politicos fanned the flames of a greedy gold rush before a real AI business case was established. Discussed in an earlier blog.

Presumably they did this to ensure donations from the selfish-class. Call me cynical but nothing else quite explains selling out your people, your voters to desperate greed.

The big beautiful innovation and energy summit - documented greed from the selfish-class

It's been about a year since da' boyz did the big bogus innovation and energy summit. And the backlash on data center development has been loud and fast. The following recaps and updates the self-serving 'pledges.' Shapiro, Fetterman, McCormick are all cheerleaders with the grifter in chief and are helping special interests invade the State.

Our State Senators and Representatives played along like the tribal minions that they are. This section sets the stage for what our politicians favor and support. It also provides a frame for their current double speak. They realize the people are pissed but they owe their puppeteers. So don't expect much help from them.

Last year POTUS, Dave McCormick, Josh Shapiro, and John Fetterman all lauded investments to benefit the selfish class at the expense of their citizens. Standing shoulder to shoulder with pay to play grifter in chief.
  1. Anthropic - now trying to become profitable with unproven business model. Pump and dump time. Now that SpaceX has force-fed their shares into the index funds in 401ks etc, Altman (OpenAI) and Amodei (Anthropic) are racing to pump and dump their IPOs before the bubble bursts.
  2. Blackstone - is now restricting withdraws from investors with sneaky changes in terms
  3. Brookfield - in a venture with Google to provide 3GW of power to data centers by refurbishing hydro olants. Question is why not use those existing hydro generation facilities to provide clean power to Pennsylvania consumers given the surge in energy prices?
  4. Capital Power - a Canadian firm, will create large fossil fuel generation facilities for hyper scale data centers. These large scale natural gas generation facilities primarily benefit data centers, fracking firms, and other energy firms. No discernible benefits for Pennsylvania citizens who will absorb the noise from these turbines and their upstream environmental impacts.
  5. Constellation Energy is retrofitting aged nuclear plants including Three Mile Island and Limerick with support from Josh Shapiro, POTUS, and our Senators. It is true nuclear is required to transition Pennsylvania to renewables. But let's use small modular reactors and new thinking in this arena. Let's not prop up ancient facilities or build 40 year old designs. Our Governor wraps these legacy technology initiatives in a 'transformation' wrapper. The only thing transformative is the positive effect on Shapiro's war chest.
  6. CoreWeave, was a show case project in Lancaster County, was lauded as a great firm and project by the politicos. This year CoreWeave is being sued for fraud by their investors. The cracks in the AI bubble grow. (Can bubbles crack?)
  7. Energy Capital Partners was highlighted for investment in renewables and training but they are simply a pirate equity firm. They have recently been pivoting toward nuclear. They are also being sued for fraudulent activities.
  8. Enbridge is a pipeline company expanding their existing pipelines. They may be happy that data centers are getting the environmental heat while they dig full speed ahead. But in the end, they are just another fossil fuel company not particularly environmentally friendly or innovative. It's necessary pipes and pumps.
  9. Equinor a Norwegian firm, continues its fossil fuel investment. Note to politicos, the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund now stands at over $2 Trillion dollars. The purpose is to safeguard and build financial wealth for current and future generations based on revenue from Norway's oil and gas resources. Where is the PA citizen energy wealth fund from all this extractive wealth generation? A sprinkling of too little tax goes back to local government where fracking occurs but it is an insulting pittance. About $2.15MM a year on about a $7B annual revenue flow.
  10. First Energy will help PJM upgrade the transmission grid. That is good but really is just maintenance and poor planning. It's wires and substation upgrades. Yawn.
  11. Frontier Group is transforming the former Bruce Mansfield coal power plant into a
    natural gas power station in Shippingport, Pennsylvania. Beaver County citizens are very angry with the mega data center projects.
  12. GE Vernova is expanding an existing manufacturing facility. That's nice but only relevance is that it manufactures transmissions equipment. Yawn again.
  13. Google and META are doing what they do. Angling for tax favors and sane washing their INSANE planet crushing capacity plans. 
  14. PPL Corporation will expand grid capacity and modernize transmission across multiple
    Pennsylvania counties for data centers. This is good as long as the data centers pay upfront but of course that is not the plan. PPL is also in joint venture to own and operate gas generation. This is after spending years strategically divesting all generation capacity in Pennsylvania. There is also some idea that they can just come in and use eminent domain will- nilly to service these high demand losers. We need a system level transmission plan not ad-hoc expansion.
  15. TC Energy more fossil fuel pipeline expansion. Yay!
  16. Westinghouse Electric Company hopes to start 10
    large nuclear power plant reactors construction by 2030. Using 40 year old designs. Again old legacy tech being branded as 'transformation' for regulatory convenience.
  17. You would think that expansion of non-nuclear non-fossil fuel renewables would be part of the mix. But alas, no. Our growth rate is abysmal. Our representatives should be ashamed and explain why we are such laggards instead of blaming each other for not getting squat done.

How our representatives are starting to cover their butts

Now that the people are actively opposing this grift and greed, the politicos are trying to blur the lines on their positions while taking no action to give the selfish-class time to slam in these dirty data centers.

The Pennsylvania passed a bill (HB1834) but the Senate is waiting until next year to consider. Conveniently after the election.

John Fetterman

Head fake: "Fetterman says Steelton plant ‘should absolutely’ make steel after data center talk"

Head fake: "Fetterman: Democratic opposition to AI, data centers is ‘lunacy’"

John is currently spouting the Republican China and National security talking point. Which ignores the government bowing to NVIDIA to sell China advanced technology.

He is a wholehearted AI apologist who doesn't represent his people. He also is toting hydro. Keep in mind this drum beat that we have a huge need for power is based on believing tech bros who have yet to show a path to profitability. Hydro can be a good renewable force but if done poorly or perhaps rushed it can also hurt waterways.

Ryan Mackenzie

The weasel is weaseling.

March Morning Call Article. You can smell the fear in his sweat as he claims it is a local issue. https://www.mcall.com/2026/03/05/ryan-mackenzie-telephone-town-hall-ice-iran-data-centers/?clearUserState=true

His if then or else maybe language about Artificial Intelligence. Let me translate before you read: I am a freaking MBA with no technical background but I have an opinion on AI that is not really an opinion one way or the other. He gently leans into the National Security meme like Fetterman, ignoring we are selling the tech and taking a 15% cut. Ryan, bless his heart, is also saying it is not a local issue. One mouth - two sides. (his whole statement is here https://edworkforce.house.gov/uploadedfiles/mackenzie_os_4.15.26.pdf

We also have to consider the large investments by foreign countries in AI research, infrastructure, and workforce development. As we enter a new era of global competition, we should consider the implications for domestic AI industries if patchwork state and local regulations were to impede the development of our capabilities. The bottom line is this: American leadership in artificial intelligence will be essential in the years to come. To support domestic innovation, Congress should consider ways to better enable businesses to innovate and modernize. This means supporting policies that encourage responsible AI development, improve access to high-quality data, and create opportunities for efficiency in our regulatory framework. At the same time, Congress has a responsibility to take seriously the risks AI may pose to the public interest. We must consider how to adopt safeguards that are grounded in evidence and designed with industry, consumers, and workers in mind. We may not be able to predict exactly how, but AI will continue to transform the economy. With policies that strike the right balance between innovation and accountability, the United States can build a strong and positive future for American workers and employers.

Dave McCormick

Dave, proud sponsor of the big innovation and energy summit, the hedge fund centi-millionaire who moved back from his Connecticut hedge fund land with his matched pair swamp beast wife who is now a META executive and an Exxon board member. Is all in on AI, and fossil fuel and supporting his private equity bros. He's on the stump. https://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/news/2026/05/06/sen-mccormick-data-center-impact.html

Of course he does. Touting and spouting McCormick,
Bigger is better from the tech bro meat puppet cheer leader for greed. When he is done lining his pockets he will move out of State. Mark my words.

But even the tech bro kissing and fossil fuel loving weakling is doing one side or the otherism. Just in case.

PR placement article in Axios trying to make Dave seem like a reasonable human. Here he is looking Senatorial in a photo he approved.

And as a reminder Dave said this about fraud meisters CoreWeave last year: “I’m thrilled to welcome this transformative investment in our great Commonwealth...I’m deeply grateful to CoreWeave for their tremendous commitment to Pennsylvania’s future.” Ask him how grateful he is to the fraudsters now they are being sued for fraud.

Josh Shapiro

Josh, when not dispatching the State Police to guard his neighbors property, has been a very vocal booster of fossil fuel energy consumption for data centers.

He was also tied to the hip with Fetterman, McCormick and Trump at last year's big beautiful innovation and energy summit. He also has significant out of State Energy company and tech bro CEOs as donors amid his 'business friendly' fundraising gambit.

His transformation office look a bit like an expediter for special interests rather than an innovation hub given all the legacy energy projects. He and the State elected offcials needs to correct the fact that Pennsylvania is such a laggard in renewable energy race. Pennsylvanian's are being left behind.

Some people 'like' Josh without knowing why. The why is strong out of State funding from special interest leaders being used for image management. Accomplishments for Pennsylvanians, not so much. In a way Fetterman and Shapiro are bookends, with different PR strategies.

Anyway, like McCormick, he has started to blur the lines of the crazy cheer leading with reasonable sounding nonsense like:

  1. Standards for fast tracking data centers. After after boosting and boasting fast tracking data centers, we now have some 'standards.' A true steward of his State should be calling for a time out, a moratorium.
  2. It is ironic that the Democrat machine is turning its anti-data center guns toward his opponent.

His pro-business, pro-fossil fuel, pro-tech bro, pro-data center, and crappy record on renewable growth make him very unappealing. I'll be unable to vote for him in the upcoming election unless something changes.

He will need a plan B career track for after his second term. Or, if he loses on this issue this year. Not even his big money donors will be able to sane wash his crazy Data Center support.

His fatal flaw was falling hook line and sinker for the Silly Con Valley con. If he had more of a business background, he would have said show me the ROI.

Pennsylvania House

Here is the response from my Rep back in December. My cynical translation is the Republican party is on a forced march. And spinelessly offering prayers of condolence. Makes me feel like she has passed a 'there is nothing I can do' passive aggressiveness to her son, the soon to be ex-Congressman Ryan MacKenzie.

Pennsylvania Senate

Met recently with Jarrett Coleman. He seems like a genuine proponent of increasing solar energy. He doesn't want the Atlas Data Center across from South Whitehall High School. He is waving his data center moratorium around.

Given his animus with Josh Shapiro, my guess is he is hoping he can force Josh to veto the moratorium bill before the election. Timing may be tricky on this unless it can get passed quickly.

At a political layer, he has cleanly weighed in on data centers but prefers to defer to local officials. I support his moratorium.

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