Pennsylvania’s swing congressional district is seeing a heated race between Democrat Paige Cognetti and freshman Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan. Cognetti has released a new TV ad criticizing artificial intelligence data centers, saying ‘we’re not for sale’.
Data Center Controversy
Cognetti’s ad invokes the region’s industrial heritage, stating that big companies have come before, taken what they wanted, and left the community with their mess to clean up. She criticizes the secrecy surrounding data center projects, tax breaks given to developers, and rising electric bills to satisfy the growing energy demand of data centers.
Cognetti demands that ‘Big Tech needs to pay their own way. Not hide behind NDAs. No tax breaks. Don’t raise our electric bills, don’t poison our water. And hire local, union labor.’ If not, she says, ‘then get out. This is our home. We are not for sale.’
Local Impact
The controversy surrounding data centers has been a major issue in the district, with communities fighting against data center projects and new high-voltage transmission lines. Bresnahan has introduced legislation called the Local Control Protection Act, which aims to limit a corporation’s right to sue over local zoning decisions denying an application to build a data center.
Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.
