Data center developers could take a page from the natural gas industry when it comes to navigating public controversy and regulations amid a backlash that has formed in western Pennsylvania and around the country, according to a panel Wednesday convened by the Marcellus Shale Coalition and Babst Calland at Shale Insight in Erie.
There have been dozens of data center projects that have been proposed in Pennsylvania over the past several years, from high-profile ones like the Homer City Energy Campus in Indiana County to others in various stages of planning and development in Washington, Allegheny, Beaver and, most recently, Butler County. But there also has been an explosion in the number of local ordinances that have sprung up in the past year, from 36 data center-related ordinances last year to 480 in a count from Babst Calland.
John Sutter, vice president of public affairs of data center developer Nebius and a veteran public affairs executive in the oil and gas industry before that, agreed there were similarities between the Appalachian gas industry circa 2010 and the environment some data center developers find themselves in. He said the AI and data center industry overall should learn lessons from the experience of the oil and gas industry, especially given the pushback.
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