Rep. Rob Bresnahan backs local data-center veto bill despite personal tech holdings
Rep. Rob Bresnahan is promoting legislation that would require municipal approval for data-center projects while holding sizable investments in data-center and technology firms.
In a televised advertisement aired in the Scranton-Wilkes-Barre market, Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan argues for a bill that would grant municipalities authority to approve or block data-center construction, presenting the measure as a safeguard for local jobs and communities. This position contrasts with his 2025 remarks that data centers could serve as "catalysts for economic growth" in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Disclosures filed in August reveal Bresnahan owns between $19,005 and $110,000 in four data-center operators—including Equinix, Digital Realty Trust and Iron Mountain—and between $804,024 and $2.04 million in a suite of AI-related technology firms such as NVIDIA, AMD, Amazon, and Alphabet.
He maintains that his investments are overseen by financial advisers and that his legislative effort aligns with constituent wishes. The bill has not progressed in Congress, while a Franklin & Marshall College poll shows nearly four-fifths of Pennsylvania voters oppose local data-center projects. Opponent Paige Cognetti, Scranton’s mayor, has also launched ads on the issue, though she holds no individual tech stocks.
Why it matters
It raises questions about a lawmaker influencing policy that could affect companies in which he holds significant stock.
How this story developed
- Jul 9 Texas AI Data Centers Spark Pollution Debate as Rural Residents Face New Hazards
- Aug 23 California legislators introduced two bills targeting utility tariffs and environmental‑review exemptions for new data centres.
- Aug 25 New York and Texas announced moratoria or pauses on new data‑center projects and federal legislation targeting data‑center permitting has moved forward.
- Aug 26 Governor Shapiro signed an executive order ending fast‑track permitting for AI data‑center projects.
- Aug 26 Nvidia reported a record $96.2 billion in revenue for the latest quarter, driven largely by its data-center segment, and forecasts $108 billion in the coming months.
- Aug 27 Nvidia added a new tranche of GPU chips to its agreement with AWS for future data‑center deployments.
- Aug 27 Nvidia set a provisional 70% revenue growth target for fiscal 2028.
- Aug 28 New York and Texas each announced a pause on new hyperscale data centres.
- Aug 30 Judge Lesa Gelb ruled that Salem Township’s planning commission violated Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Act by excluding residents from a data‑center ordinance meeting.
- Aug 30 Austin’s city council is set to vote on a resolution that would create a specific land‑use category and review process for large AI data centers.
- Aug 31 President Trump posted on Truth Social that communities rejecting AI data‑center projects will become “backwards and poor.”
- Sep 1 Nvidia announced quarterly revenue of $96.2 billion, surpassing analyst forecasts.
- Sep 2 At a virtual G‑20 technology ministers’ session, Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk called for accelerated AI data‑center construction and additional power capacity.
- Sep 2 Trump labeled communities that reject data‑center projects “backwards and poor” and warned that China would welcome such resistance.
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