From ‘Wall Street West’ to the Data Race: Why PA Is Being Left Behind

I now live in Houston, Texas, the energy capital of the world. From here, I watch skyscrapers and pipelines rise overnight as leaders match bold vision with pragmatic action. However, while I may live in Houston today, my roots are in northeastern Pennsylvania. It was home for nearly two decades and remains the lens through which I view energy, economic development, and the future of this industry.

Northeastern Pennsylvania is also a microcosm of the broader Commonwealth. Its successes and struggles reflect what Pennsylvania gets right — and what too often gets wrong.

From “Wall Street West” to What?

Two decades ago, the region was buzzing with a bold new identity: “Wall Street West.”

The idea emerged after the September 11 attacks, when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Reserve, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency recommended that financial firms move their backup facilities outside New York City. The requirements were precise: these sites needed to be on a different power grid, transportation network, and watershed than New York, but still close enough for instantaneous data transmission via fiber optics.

In 2006, Gov. Ed Rendell announced the Wall Street West initiative to attract as many as 20 firms to relocate backup operations to northeastern Pennsylvania. Nine counties were targeted, stretching from Northampton and Berks counties up through Monroe, Carbon, Pike, Wayne, Luzerne, and Lackawanna counties. The state pledged investments in office space, infrastructure, and fiber optic connectivity to Manhattan.

The effort was supported by $15 million in federal Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) funding, as well as an additional $24 million from state, federal, and private sources. For a while, it seemed as if NEPA might truly become the redundant hub of America’s financial infrastructure.

But technology evolved. Financial data systems were decentralized, resiliency hardened in New York, and momentum faded. Wall Street West never became what its architects envisioned.

Now, two decades later, history is repeating itself in a new form.

A New Race: Data, Not Dollars

Fast forward twenty years, and we find ourselves in a different kind of race, not for dollars but for data.

Data centers are the new vaults and trading floors of the global economy. They power cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and everyday digital transactions. These facilities are massive consumers of electricity, requiring robust power grids and reliable, affordable energy.

If ever there were a place that should attract them, Pennsylvania is it. We have abundant land. We have skilled workers. And we sit atop the Appalachian Basin, the most prolific natural gas basin in the country — and one with the lowest methane emissions intensity of any major producing basin in the United States.

Recent surveys conducted through the Appalachian Methane Initiative (AMI) confirm emissions intensities of less than 0.1%, setting a gold standard for transparency and performance. As professor Arvind Ravikumar of the University of Texas at Austin has noted, “The science developed through collaborative projects like AMI can pave the way towards near-zero-emissions natural gas supply chains.”

In short, Pennsylvania has the fuel to power the digital economy responsibly.

The Map That Tells the Story

And yet, when Nick Routley of Visual Capitalist recently published Mapped: The Massive Network Powering U.S. Data Centers, the picture was sobering.

Dots cover the map, from Virginia to Ohio to the Pacific Northwest. But Pennsylvania, and especially the northeast, is essentially blank.

Outside of the Talen Energy/AWS project, which straddles the edge of the region, there are no significant data centers in the area or currently under development. Announcements have been made, but announcements are not final investment decisions. Until steel is in the ground, they’re just words.

Meanwhile, Virginia has become the data center capital of the world, with significantly more planned. Ohio has emerged as a hub in the Midwest. And Pennsylvania, with its abundant resources and strategic location, is watching from the sidelines.

Pennsylvania’s Missed Moment

This issue goes beyond data centers; it reflects a broader pattern of missed opportunities.

Consider PJM’s Reliability Resource Initiative (RRI) earlier this year, designed to fast-track new power generation. Dozens of projects are moving forward, but most of them are outside Pennsylvania. Yes, through PJM’s regional grid, we will benefit indirectly. However, it’s hard not to acknowledge the reality: we could have hosted dozens of those projects ourselves, thereby further increasing our competitive advantage in attracting data center investments.

Fuel Without Anchors

The Appalachian Basin offers an unmatched advantage: an affordable, abundant, and low-emission natural gas supply. But producing fuel without hosting the demand anchors that consume it leaves us with half the prize.

Data centers are not just electricity consumers. They are anchors that attract investment in fiber, water, and cooling infrastructure. They create construction jobs and technical careers.

By letting Virginia, Ohio, and others seize these anchors, Pennsylvania risks repeating a familiar pattern: we provide the energy, others capture the long-term prosperity.

A Call to Action for Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania does not lack potential. We sit at the intersection of abundant fuel supply and proximity to the very markets that consume it. But potential without action means little.

Here’s what we need to do:

• Exit RGGI: Pennsylvania should remove itself from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. The program handicaps our competitive advantage while neighboring states capitalize on our resources.
• Build power lines and power plants: Without transmission and generation capacity, new industries won’t come. Data centers and advanced manufacturers need guarantees of reliable power.
• Incentivize and encourage development: From tax policy to permitting reform, we should create an environment that attracts capital instead of driving it away.
• Plan for grid reliability if investment slows: Consider targeted incentives that de-risk new baseload gas. Texas’ $10 billion Energy Fund helped move NRG’s 456-MW Houston project by mid-2025. Pennsylvania could pursue a “Keystone Energy Fund” and assess additional reliability measures as needed.

We already know what needs to be done. The issue is not a lack of solutions — but a lack of urgency. We have the land, the workforce, and the cleanest-burning natural gas supply in the world to power the digital economy responsibly. It’s time to set aside politics, look at all options, and get to work.