Pennsylvania Launches Data Center Tracker Amid Industry Boom

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection launched a Data Center Permit Tracker on August 18 to map a rapid industry expansion that has placed the state fourth in the United States for data center buildings. The tool follows an executive order from Governor Josh Shapiro, who established industry standards and criticized certain industry actors as "speculative troublemakers."

Advocacy groups have criticized the tracker for lacking clarity and completeness. PennEnvironment described the site as "nearly indecipherable for the average person," while Green Amendments for the Generations accused the state of using semantics to exclude specific facilities. Food & Water Watch argued that official location data should have been available much sooner.

Significant discrepancies exist regarding the scale of the boom. While the state identifies 73 facilities, private trackers report figures ranging from 57 campuses to 261 individual buildings. Despite these concerns, the state Legislature ended its session without passing legislation to constrain the growth of these facilities before the November 3 general election.