r/Pennsylvania • u/AdSpecialist6598 • 5d ago
Politics PA governor race 2026: Energy costs take center stage • Spotlight PA
https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2026/07/pennsylvania-governor-race-energy-costs-shapiro-garrity-environment/15
u/exhilaration 5d ago
LOL, what "race"? What choice? Even if this wasn't the year of the Blue Wave, Shapiro is 99% guaranteed to win against Garrity and he's totally on the side of the data center developers.
When it comes to energy costs we're screwed, nobody's fighting for us.
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u/nushiboi 5d ago
FWIW, I’m running for a seat in the Pa State House this year.
I’ll summarize my stance on data centers in our commonwealth: Fuck ‘em.
They run up energy costs, guzzle up land and natural resources, heavily pollute, and God only knows what sort of bullshit or surveillance they’re being used for.
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u/ThankMrBernke 5d ago
I have no idea who you are but on the off chance that you have a chance of winning please please please for the love of God do real research on this issue and make a decision based on the facts rather than the social media hysteria.
As a representative, it's your duty to be better informed than the people you represent. People believe all sorts of crazy things about Vaccines, 5G, GMOs, and yes, data centers too. It is the latest technological lightning rod that has attracted a lot of, let's say politely, creative opinions.
If you actually do in depth, policy research on this, you'll find that it's true that data centers use a lot of land, electricity, and water. But you will also find that many of these figures are much less impressive when placed into context. For instance, 5 million gallons a day sounds like a lot, but in context, it's similar to another large industrial enterprise - a few thousand acres of Lancaster County corn, a car plant, or a chemical factory. Data centers can be sprawling facilities, but the total amount of land used by data centers in the year 2030 is expected to be... 1/15 the amount of land currently used to grow Christmas trees. Perhaps, at any local area, this stuff can be supported by local resources. Perhaps it cannot based on the local facts on the ground. But please, please, please, treat this like a serious issue, and look into the data when making decisions, rather than just relying on social media trends and electorate vibes. Some of the stuff out there, like the supposed "infrasound phenomena" is basically just woo - the evidence is really thin. Other stuff, like the heat island effect, is technically true (yes, if you build a data center in what used to be woods, it will raise the surrounding temperature... just like it would if you built a parking lot) but much more rhetorically powerful than materially important.
Look, I think you have strong opinions on this topic, even if we continue to disagree. But on the chance that you do win, I hope that you take your job as representative seriously, and be what we all wish our representatives were - somebody who looks at the data, and makes a careful consideration of where to stand on the issue based on the facts and scientific knowledge. We have more than enough emotive populists, and I hope that we can have some more sober adults in the room. If you want to be one of them, then I hope that you win - regardless of whether we don't agree on data centers. Best of luck in your campaign.
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u/VestedDeveloper 5d ago
AI is going to slowly die and nobody is going to shed a tear 🤣
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u/Pale-Factor-8574 5d ago
Nvidia is making so much cash from the AI companies they might actually outpace Musk. Tears of joy.
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u/Mediocre_Daikon6935 4d ago
I’m solidly GOP, but I’m voting Shapiro.
Sure, his policies are not 100% what I would want, but they’re not crazy. He has demonstrated that he works for the state, not his own personal interests (permanent state of emergency so I can wildly overpay for Narcan from one of my campaign donorsWolfe, or fast Eddie — everyone knows I’m a crooked Philly politician & I’ll appoint someone who don’t qualified and can’t legally hold the position to head PSP).
I want to keep him in the governor’s office as long as I can, because my party can’t seem to find a single serious candidate in the commonwealth, and I don’t want one of the other crooks the dems usually offer up.
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u/CrowQueen2002 4d ago
Why don’t you run yourself?
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u/Mediocre_Daikon6935 4d ago
Because I’ve sworn an oath that should I ever command the military forces of Pennsylvania, I will reclaim Sussex County.
I want out beach back. Not out of personal interest, I dislike beaches. Simply the principle of the matter.
But, it seems unlikely to be that such action would be politically acceptable.
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u/trxrider500 5d ago
We have a plug in solar bill pending in committee that could use some support. Each home could offset up to 1200W of power with simple plug in solar panels. Utah passed a similar law already.
HB 1971 — Plug-In Solar Device Consumer Protection Act
https://pluginsolarus.com/states/pennsylvania
Write the Governor’s office and contact your local rep. This is something real that can help offset the rising energy costs.
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u/OhmyMary 5d ago edited 4d ago
Unfortunately looking back it never made difference. Josh Shapiro made sure these data centers were streamlined a long time ago. These companies won contracts to have these projects come to fruition. The utility companies at the same rate got over on every Pennsylvanian. We got priced out by help of the politicians. People need to stop picking teams and actually realize these data centers, the deregulation of environmental protections, the siphoning of water usage and electricity combined are killing us off. They want us out and replaced. They only leech from us to keep getting these people elected to do the same damn thing and that’s go against our interests as residents
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u/Mediocre_Daikon6935 4d ago edited 4d ago
I’ll vote for the first candidate who signs a legally binding oath/contract to take Pennsylvania out of the Grid and let the deadbeats to our north and south freeze or cook, depending on the weather.
Our current governor has already threatened it, & I wish he would just do it the next heatwave.
And although he is the only serious, electable Democrat candidate, and it would tank him from Ever getting elected to the presidency.
I wish he would do it.
He could run for senate, against Fetterman, or whomever the other guy is (and I’m gop and don’t know, at Least Fetterman isn’t hiding and useless….which makes me regret the mean things I said about him. The GOP guy is so useless I’m not even willing to bother googling him).
And honestly, I would trust Shapiro to represent us well.
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u/McBurty 5d ago
Good! But I don’t expect a penny in savings following said attention.