Energy Secretary Chris Wright talks data center backlash, data center energy costs and community choice

Energy Secretary Chris Wright responded to concerns about proposals to build data centers in local communities.

The potential that the construction of data centers could lead to increased energy prices for neighbors has been a top concern, and it's something Wright talked about while making a stop in western Pennsylvania earlier this week.

"People are rightfully worried about the rise in electricity prices," Wright told KDKA-TV. "We want to massively grow American electricity production, and ultimately both stop the rise in price and start to see prices go down."

KDKA-TV asked Wright about a plan to address concerns from the public. 

"President Trump's ratepayer protection pledge says if you want to build a data center, you've got to fund or build yourself more generation than you're going to consume," Wright said. 

It's a pledge, not an order, and not all states signed on. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro did follow, putting in place similar rules.

"Local communities should engage with the developers and make sure they're going to get lower electricity prices," Wright said. "No one should have a data center imposed on them. It should be a choice of local communities."

That's easier said than done. Take, for example, Forward Township in rural Butler County, where a massive data center is proposed for what's previously been used as a farm near the Connoquenessing Creek. The township lacks zoning. KDKA-TV previously asked Forward Township Board of Supervisors Chair Susan Oliver-Stough if the board could "say no" to data centers in their township.

"It's not that easy," she told KDKA-TV. 

She explained much of the reason has to do with a decades-old state law. 

"Every township and municipality has to have space somewhere within their borders for whatever business it is," Oliver-Stough said. 

In other words, the board can't flat-out deny data centers, and can only require some changes in line with ordinances. The proposals also have to meet state and federal guidelines, she said. 

"We have to give them a location within the township," she added. 

It's much to the chagrin of neighbors, who attended a township planning commission meeting last week. Many of them held signs that said they don't want data centers in their communities. 

In its interview with Wright, KDKA-TV brought up how some communities, like Forward Township, don't have much of a choice when it comes to data center proposals. 

"The Trump administration pushed and got most everyone to sign on to the ratepayer protection pledge, so that if a data center is developed, it'll bring massive benefits to the community in lower electricity prices, large investments, growing tax revenues," Wright said. "But look, America is a big place. We have plenty of space to put all the data centers."

He added that he encourages all communities to engage, saying if communities decline to have a data center, they could be missing out on the tax revenues, jobs, and lower electricity prices. 

"I've visited places where they're being developed. I think the more local communities learn, the more they get engaged, the more they realize this is a win, and we want to have it in our community. But they're not for every community."

KDKA-TV spoke to Wright at the Buckeye Partners Energy Terminal in Moon Township, which has upgraded its capacity. He'd just toured the facility, which is full of large tanks. 

"These tanks, the pipelines that are connecting them, these are what help push down the prices of gasoline and diesel," Wright said. "We're celebrating that Buckeye just expanded capacity just last month to more easily move products from Midwestern refineries into the Northeast."