At 9:59 a.m., Monday, President Trump posted on Truth Social that communities refusing data centers “want to end up being backwards and poor,” told the country to “let Data Reign,” and warned that killing “the Golden Goose” would leave them nobody else to blame. At 6 p.m. the same day, at least 200 people packed the Hanover Volunteer Fire Department hall in Burgettstown for a three-hour hearing on a seven-building, 1.7 million-square-foot data center campus that Prime Data Centers of Dallas wants to build on 126 acres of reclaimed strip mine at Starpointe Business Park, along with its own 450-megawatt gas-fired power plant.

Three townships in Washington County – much of which is “backwards and poor,” as Trump said – have adopted or drafted ordinances restricting data center development this year, and concerns over rising electricity bills, environmental degradation, and the uncertain nature of planned jobs creation are driving the opposition. The county produces more natural gas than any other in Pennsylvania. Despite this huge energy surplus, two consecutive PJM capacity auctions, pushed up largely by data center demand, have added $220 to $320 a year to the average Pennsylvania household’s electric bill, according to Patrick Cicero, the former state consumer advocate, with some utilities raising default rates by as much as 20%. Gov. Josh Shapiro, who spent much of the past year courting the industry, reversed course on August 18 with an executive order he called the strictest set of data center rules in the country. Trump’s post arrived nine weeks before the midterms.

Gov. Josh Shapiro recently signed an expansive executive order restricting future data center development unless facilities pay for all of their electricity costs, source a significant portion of their power from clean energy, and meet a number of other regulatory requirements. Most notably, the governor removed data centers from his Fast Track permit program, which has expedited new construction in recent years.

The executive order comes on the back of Silicon Valley U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna’s pressure campaign against data center construction in Pennsylvania. The congressman has traveled through the state in preparation for a potential 2028 presidential campaign, promoting his proposal to give activists new procedural tools to block data centers. And conveniently enough, the governor caved.