‘Once-in-a-generation opportunity’: business leaders plan for booming data center and AI industries
Energy leaders and state and federal representatives say they will unleash Northeast Pennsylvania’s natural gas reserves for the future of data centers and artificial intelligence.
They said their goal is to cut the process for permits and possibly to create tax exemptions for AI development zones.
U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan said the federal government needs to get “out of the way” of progress. He spoke Friday morning at a meeting focused on "Pennsylvania’s Energy & Economic Opportunity" at Scranton’s Lackawanna College.
“[We need] to empower our state representatives, our state legislators and our commonwealth to be able to make decisions without having to go through the bureaucratic process,” Bresnahan said.
He brought up a meeting he had last week with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation about bridge improvements in Nanticoke. Bresnahan said he had asked how long it would take to finish the project if the federal process runs smoothly.
PennDOT said it would take six years, according to Bresnahan.
“That’s the problem and that's the reality. When you get FHWA (Federal Highway Administration) or federal dollars involved, it opens up a whole new can of worms,” said Bresnahan.
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The gas-rich Marcellus Shale rock formation underlies around two-thirds of the state. Bresnahan and other lawmakers said they want to tap into the billions of dollars “under our feet.”
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