31/05/2026
Garrity To Host Data Center Development Listening Session In Wilkes-Barre Township
HARRISBURG, PA – Republican nominee for Governor and state Treasurer Stacy Garrity (R-PA) will host a data center development listening session on Monday, June 1st in Wilkes-Barre Township, PA.
Garrity will lead a discussion focused on the challenges communities across Pennsylvania are facing with the conflicting messages they are receiving from the Shapiro Administration regarding data center development, the confusion this has caused, and the concerns that continue to go unaddressed in countless Pennsylvania communities.
Garrity will be joined by leading northeast Pennsylvania voices and leaders, including: Luzerne County Councilman John Lombardo, Wilkes-Barre Twp. Mayor Carl Kuren, and other local community leaders with unique insights into the challenges communities are facing due to data center development.
WHO: Treasurer Stacy Garrity, Republican Nominee for Governor Pennsylvania
Luzerne County Councilman John Lombardo
Wilkes-Barre Twp. Mayor Carl Kuren
WHAT: Data Center Development Listening Session
WHEN: Monday, June 1, 2026
11:00am ET
WHERE: Wilkes-Barre Township Fire Department
150 Watson Street
Wilkes-Barre Township, PA 18702
Media interested in attending should RSVP to Matt Beynon: [email protected].
Monday’s listening session comes in response to Governor Josh Shapiro’s (D-PA) flip flop on data center development policy.
Less than a year ago, Josh Shapiro trumpeted Amazon’s plans to build $20 billion in AI infrastructure, with campuses in Salem Township and Falls Township – and additional Pennsylvania communities being targeted for data center investment. At the time, Shapiro proclaimed that he was “proud” of the Amazon project for data center projects in Luzerne and Bucks counties – saying his team “worked closely” with Amazon to “land this deal.”
Now Josh Shapiro is singing a different tune on data centers. City & State called it an “evolution,” but the reality is that it’s a massive flip flop and attempt to sweep his “embrace” of data center development under the rug. As recently as February of this year, Josh Shapiro said Pennsylvania would lead the way in data center development during his 2026 budget address. Now, Shapiro claims to be putting guardrails on an industry he was championing just a few short months ago.
Unsurprisingly, Shapiro’s new standards do nothing to address the concerns raised by data center development or the sweetheart tax deals they already received – like those benefiting liberal billionaire Jeff Bezos. In addition to his leadership of Amazon, Bezos owns and operates The Washington Post, the paper of record for Democrat presidential candidates inside the DC Beltway, so it should shock absolutely no one that Shapiro would try to endear himself to Bezos in the lead up to the 2028 presidential primary election.
Whether at her January speech to the Pennsylvania Press Club, her April address to the Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association, or today - Stacy Garrity has spoken with one voice regarding data center development. She has repeatedly said there needs to be:
Transparency and clear rules of the road.
Data center development demands thoughtful planning that focuses on affordable, reliable power that ensures development goals do not infringe on the needs of local communities.
Developers must bring their own water and energy generation.
Community engagement agreements.
Ratepayers must be protected.
Local communities need to be protected through responsible noise ordinances.
Data center development restricted to industrial and brownfield sites, not residential areas.
Because of the confusion created by the Shapiro Administration’s “all-things-to-all-people” data center development policy, Garrity is now calling for a pause in data center development to give communities the opportunity to update zoning laws. She will discuss her plans and do what Josh Shapiro doesn’t, hear directly from the community leaders about the challenges they are facing.
PAID FOR BY GARRITY FOR PA
