The Philadelphia Inquirer published an article on July 24th titled “Gov. Josh Shapiro’s admin consulted with Amazon and data centers on his marquee protections, records show.” The article reports on the role Amazon and other data center developers played in assisting Shapiro with the drafting of proposed new regulations for data centers in Pennsylvania.

Shapiro released his Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development, or GRID, guidelines on May 27th, proclaiming that “The GRID Standards ensure large-scale infrastructure projects are developed responsibly by protecting Pennsylvania ratepayers, creating good-paying jobs, strengthening environmental safeguards, promoting transparency, and ensuring local communities have a voice in major infrastructure projects.”

From the Inquirer’s article:

Gov. Josh Shapiro spent months preparing a set of standards he promised would “hold data center developers accountable.”

But behind the scenes, top Shapiro administration aides were drafting the framework with the input of Amazon and thepowerful data center lobby and sharing early drafts with company officials before making them public, records show.

The emails, first reported by climate change media outlet HeatMap earlier this year and obtained by an anti-data center activist in Montour County through the state’s open records law, show a cozy relationship between Shapiro’s administration and data center developers. But they also show the role the technology giants played in influencing the final version of Shapiro’s guardrails — though that influence only went so far.

You can read the full article here.

Photo: Commonwealth Media Services