BETHLEHEM, Pa. — As demand for artificial intelligence accelerates, communities across Pennsylvania, including the Lehigh Valley, are increasingly pushing back against a new wave of development: data centers.
On this week’s episode of Lehigh Valley Political Pulse, host Tom Shortell spoke with political scientist Chris Borick about the economic forces driving the boom – along with the political friction emerging.
Borick said the surge in proposed data centers reflects mounting national and global pressure to build the infrastructure needed to support AI technologies.
These facilities, often resembling large warehouses but with significantly higher energy demands and security requirements, are becoming essential to powering everything from consumer search tools to large-scale business operations.
“There’s an enormous national pressure … international, economic pressure to start establishing data centers, which drive artificial intelligence,” Borick said, thus highlighting a “national priority — an economic priority.”
He flagged Pennsylvania as becoming an attractive location due in part to its energy resources, particularly natural gas.
But while the economic case for data centers is gaining traction among policymakers, public opinion remains mixed and still evolving.
Borick’s recent statewide survey found only about one in five Pennsylvanians consider data centers a “major problem,” while a similar share see no issue at all.
The majority fall in between, viewing them as a “minor problem” – a sign the issue is gaining awareness, he said, but has not yet fully crystallized in the public mind.
That ambiguity is contributing to unusual political dynamics.
Support for data center development spans party lines at the state and national level. Leaders from both parties have emphasized the need to expand energy production to support the industry and maintain a competitive edge.
Yet at the local level, opposition is mounting.
Residents and municipal officials are raising concerns about the facilities’ impact on electricity demand, water usage and land use.
While data centers can generate construction jobs and tax revenue, they typically employ relatively few workers once operational – a tradeoff that has fueled skepticism in some communities.
“People may support the idea broadly, but not in their backyard,” Borick said, describing a familiar pattern in land-use politics.
“People may support the idea broadly, but not in their backyard."Chris Borick
Energy has been at the center of the debate. Data centers require massive amounts of electricity, and experts say meeting that demand will require a complex mix of new power generation, grid upgrades and policy decisions.
Options under discussion include expanding natural gas production, increasing renewable energy capacity, extending the life of existing coal plants and revisiting nuclear energy.
Each comes with political and logistical challenges.
“You don’t just flip a switch and bring new energy online,” Borick said. “It takes time, infrastructure and coordination — and all of that has political consequences.”
“You don’t just flip a switch and bring new energy online."Chris Borick
The issue also is exposing tensions within Pennsylvania’s system of local governance. Municipalities hold significant authority over land use under state law, but that authority could come into conflict with state and federal efforts to fast-track data center development.
To learn more, watch the full episode of Political Pulse in the YouTube player above. You can also subscribe to the PBS39 YouTube channel to make sure you don’t miss an episode.
