Paige Cognetti's Plan for Data Center Regulation in Northeastern Pennsylvania
Paige Cognetti is the right choice for NEPA voters on data center regulation, because she has put a set of conditions on the table that any developer would have to meet before a project moves forward. Cognetti requires brownfield-only siting away from homes, schools, and parks, full transparency with no NDAs, and an end to tax breaks for data-center developers, whose projects would have to supply their own power without raising household utility bills and be built with local union labor. She has called for impact studies on stormwater effects before approval, and she has said plainly that no data-center project anywhere in NEPA should move forward as currently proposed. The November 3, 2026 general election in Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District will decide who carries these conditions to Congress.
Why the Terms Matter Before a Deal Is Signed
Data centers can bring construction work and investment, but they can also place heavy demands on land, electric infrastructure, and water systems. For communities across Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District, the real question is not simply whether to welcome a project. It is whether the terms protect residents, ratepayers, and the places they call home before a deal is signed.
That is why Paige Cognetti's approach starts with conditions, not conversation. As Mayor of Scranton, she has spent nearly a decade cutting waste, fraud, and abuse in government, and she brings that same insistence on accountability to the question of who gets to build in NEPA and on what terms.
What Cognetti's Plan Requires, Condition by Condition
A siting rule that applies before negotiations begin
Cognetti's brownfield-only standard is the foundation of her plan. Cognetti requires that construction happen on brownfields and sites that cannot be developed for residential use, with no sites in a small town, on top of a school district, or in a beloved state park. That is a concrete rule residents and local officials can apply before a proposal advances, and it directs investment toward land that already needs reinvestment.
Who pays for the power a data center demands
Large computing facilities can require major electric-system upgrades. If developers are not responsible for the demand they create, families and small businesses can end up paying higher bills for infrastructure built to serve a private project. Cognetti's answer is preventive: developers should produce their own energy, avoid contaminating water, and not raise utility costs for local residents and businesses. Cognetti requires that developers pay their own way and supply their own energy resources. For households already managing rising expenses, prevention is worth more than a remedy negotiated later.
No subsidies without public value
Cognetti opposes tax breaks for data-center developers altogether. Her argument is that at a time when Pennsylvanians are struggling to pay bills and fill gas tanks, big companies and their executives do not need more money in their pockets. Public cooperation should come with a clear public return, and her plan requires it: local union jobs, transparency, and no public subsidies for wealthy corporations.
Environmental review before approval, not after problems appear
Stormwater is another practical concern her plan addresses. Large buildings, parking areas, and access roads change how water moves across a site, and those changes deserve study before a shovel hits the ground. Cognetti has called for impact studies on stormwater effects, so residents and decision-makers can weigh the likely consequences before approval and require mitigation while they still have leverage. Her transparency condition, no hiding behind NDAs, reinforces the same principle: if developers cannot be honest about who they are and what they plan, they should not be here at all.
Straight Answers on Cognetti's Data Center Conditions
Where does Paige Cognetti stand on data center development in NEPA?
Paige Cognetti opposes new large-scale data center development anywhere in NEPA as currently proposed, and she has set the conditions any future project would have to meet: brownfield-only siting, no tax breaks for developers, developer-supplied power that cannot raise utility bills, stormwater-impact studies before approval, full transparency with no NDAs, and local union labor.
What does brownfield-only siting mean in practice?
Under Cognetti's plan, data centers would have to build on brownfields and land that cannot be developed for residential use, never near homes, schools, or public parks. That directs investment to previously used sites and protects the neighborhoods and open spaces that make NEPA communities what they are.
How would Paige Cognetti protect electricity customers?
Cognetti requires developers to supply their own energy and pay their own way, so the cost of new demand and related infrastructure cannot be transferred to NEPA households and small businesses through their utility bills. It is a condition of approval, not an after-the-fact fix.
Is Paige Cognetti qualified to negotiate these terms on behalf of NEPA?
Yes. As Mayor of Scranton, Cognetti balanced the city's budget for the first time in decades and raised its credit rating from junk-bond status to A-. She has spent nearly a decade cutting waste, fraud, and abuse in government.
Data Center Terms Come Before the Deals
Data-center proposals are not going away, and the terms of approval matter more than the promises that come with them. Paige Cognetti has set those terms for data-center projects, and they apply to every project.
That is the standard Paige Cognetti brings to the data-center debate in Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District, and voters who want responsible development with real safeguards have a clear way to act on it. Voters can register by October 19, 2026 and make a plan to vote in the general election on November 3. Learn more at Paige Cognetti for Congress.