AP photo President Donald Trump speaks at the "Inaugural Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Event" at Carnegie Mellon University, Tuesday, July 15, 2025, in Pittsburgh, as Sen Dave McCormick, R-Pa., left, and Jon Gray, President and Chief Operating Officer, Blackstone, right, look on.

In the wake of an energy and innovation summit hosted by U.S. Sen. David McCormick this week in Pittsburgh, a state lawmaker is proposing faster permitting for data centers.

State Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R-Washington, is drafting legislation to ensure accelerated permits for data center projects that commit to equal, or higher, environmental performance. Her co-sponsorship memorandum was introduced Thursday in the state Senate, with companion legislation to be introduced in the state House of Representatives. Several Republican House members have already agreed to sponsor the House version of the bill.

“The path is clear, better environmental outcomes can be achieved when developers are empowered to innovate, design and implement advanced techniques to increase field performance,” Bartolotta wrote in her co-sponsorship memorandum. “Engineers, and artificial intelligence, can pre-determine specific air emissions generated from multiple sized power plants. If engineering stamps and site designs meet or exceed federal limits, there is no need to wait for a multi-year DEP review.”

Bartolotta’s push is being prompted by Tuesday’s summit focusing on energy and innovation in Pittsburgh helmed by Republican Sen. David McCormick and attended by President Donald Trump. The summit included dozens of top executives from companies aiming to make the city and the state a hot spot for advancements in robotics, artificial intelligence and energy. McCormick announced more than $90 billion of investments in the state — spurring tens of thousands of jobs — although some of the projects had already been in progress ahead of the summit.

“I think we have a true golden age for America. And we’ve been showing it, and it truly is the hottest country anywhere in the world,” Trump said at the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit, held at Carnegie Mellon University, according to the Associated Press. “I’m honored to be in Pennsylvania, and I’m honored to be in Pittsburgh. And you’re going to see some real action here. So get ready.”

Both the president and senior administration officials on Tuesday framed the investments as part of a race against China for the most advanced deployment of artificial intelligence. Before Trump spoke, his Cabinet members spoke of the need to produce as much energy as possible — especially from coal and natural gas — to beat China in the AI race for the sake of economic and national security.

“The AI revolution is upon us,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said during an earlier panel discussion, according to the Associated Press. “The Trump administration will not let us lose. We need to clean, beautiful coal. We need to do natural gas, we need to embrace nuclear, we need to embrace it all because we have the power to do it and if we don’t do it we’re fools.”

Some of the investments on a list released by McCormick’s office were not necessarily brand-new, while others were. Some involve massive data center projects — such as a $15 billion project in central Pennsylvania — while others involve building power plants, expanding natural gas pipelines, upgrading power plants or improving electricity transmission networks.

Amazon will spend $20 billion on two data center complexes in Pennsylvania, while the one-time Homer City coal-fired power plant is being turned into the nation’s largest gas-fired power plant to fuel a data center campus., Constellation Energy is reopening the lone functional nuclear reactor on Three Mile Island under a long-term power supply agreement for Microsoft’s data centers.

Bartolotta’s bill will direct the state Department of Environmental Protection to generate approved earthwork, stormwater and air permits to developers who commit to improved environmental outcomes by meeting, or exceeding, design standards. An accelerated permit will enable simultaneous pursuit of additional permits and processes like Highway Occupancy Permits, Environmental Justice Permits, land use approvals and other complicated hurdles in an effort to speed up project approval. If a lawsuit is filed challenging an aspect of a data center project, the associated permit timelines shall be suspended during the legal dispute to ensure permits do not expire because of extended lawfare – something Bartolotta said has led to abandoned projects in the state.

“We need to be faster,” she said.

– The Associated Press contributed to this report.