Investigations
Ro Khanna backed a statewide pause on Pennsylvania data centers
The Silicon Valley congressman sat with Conshohocken steel-country workers before endorsing a statewide halt.
In Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, Representative Ro Khanna backed a pause on new data center construction statewide after meeting blue-collar and white-collar workers at a local bar. More Perfect Union posted the Economic Patriotism Tour stop on Sept. 4, 2026.
Khanna holds a Silicon Valley seat but grew up in Bucks County. Chris Bertino lives less than a mile from the closed Cleveland-Cliffs steel mill, where yard signs already protest a proposed build on New Elm Street. Bertino told Khanna that data centers were popping up across Pennsylvania faster than communities could respond.
The mill once employed more than 5,000 workers in a town Bertino called totally blue-collar. After shutdowns, wages stagnated and many residents took service jobs or left. Khanna argued the country was repeating globalization's mistake, when productivity gains flowed to shareholders rather than paychecks.
A former Verizon worker said the carrier built an in-house ChatGPT and offered buyouts before eliminating staff who stayed. Other workers described short-term jobs erecting data centers while worrying that automation would reach trucking next. Khanna said he knew the AI executives in his district and that they wanted technology to squeeze workers for shareholder profit.
Khanna told the group he would not rule out a national moratorium if safeguards never arrived, echoing a separate proposal from Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Facing resident pushback on the Pennsylvania leg, he said the state needed a pause to get siting rules right.
Khanna introduced a Data Center Bill of Rights resolution on Aug. 6 that would keep new facilities at least 2,500 feet from homes, schools, and hospitals and let states halt construction until electricity and water protections pass. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that his Pennsylvania swing, including opposition near the Conshohocken mill, shaped the federal language.
Pennsylvania's legislature has moved in smaller steps. The Pennsylvania Capital-Star wrote in July that the House passed a bill allowing 180-day holds on zoning applications and the Senate advanced an up-to-18-month moratorium on hyperscale projects. Khanna's Aug. 6 release cited more than 4,400 data center facilities nationwide, with Berkeley Lab projecting hyperscale sites could consume 33 billion gallons of water annually by 2028.
Source video: His District Is Getting Rich Off Of AI. Will These Workers Be Left Behind?