State legislators representing Butler County have eyes on increased energy output
JACKSON TWP — Pennsylvania’s energy capabilities — especially with the rise of artificial intelligence and data centers nationwide — were at the forefront of local legislators’ concerns at the Butler County Chamber of Commerce’s annual legislative breakfast on Friday, May 30.
State Sens. Scott Hutchinson, R-21st, and Elder Vogel, R-47th; and state Reps. Marci Mustello, R-11th, Tim Bonner, R-17th, and Stephenie Scialabba, R-12th, fielded questions on a number of topics, such as AI, housing, transportation, legalized marijuana, broadband and education.
But the officials spoke at length about energy and what they feel is a need to further tap into Pennsylvania’s energy-providing capabilities.
Hutchinson serves on the state Senate’s environmental resources and energy committee, while Scialabba is on the Pennsylvania AI Opportunity Task Force.
The breakfast, held at the Steamfitters Local Union 449’s event center in Jackson Township, is an annual event where members of the business community interact with local members of the legislature on ongoing issues.
The assembly members, particularly Hutchinson, argued that the state is and has been moving toward too much reliance on intermittent energy sources, like solar and wind power. They criticized the Shapiro administration’s continued involvement with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a consortium with 11 states that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through caps on CO2 pollution.
Hutchinson said it is “mind boggling” to consider how much energy we have in Pennsylvania, yet not all of it is being taken advantage of, he argued.
“Unfortunately, I’m here to tell you that your electric rates are going up,” Hutchinson said.
Hutchinson argued Pennsylvania needs to build more pipelines for natural gas, increase the amount of electricity generated and utilize available coal energy.
“Energy and fuel are the lifeblood of the economy. And we are blessed in Pennsylvania to be an energy power house. And it is my opinion that we should be taking that to the next level, that we should be using the God-given resources that we have to grow our economy,” Hutchinson said.
Bonner pointed to current policies and restrictions as reasons for a lack of growth in construction of new power plants as well.
“Leadership at the state level has failed to encourage or incentivize construction of new power plants. As a result of that, our production levels of electricity have significantly declined,” Bonner said. “We are the second-largest producer of electricity in the nation. We are an exporter of electricity. We have the resources to be a leader in producing electricity and power, second only to Texas. But with the governor’s policies, we have seen heavy restrictions on our power plants and a lack of incentives for constructing new ones.”
Potential construction of databases is also a reason local legislators want to increase energy output, due to the amount of energy data centers consume.
“We have data centers in Butler County. We always have. But they need upgraded. It’s like the equivalent of the ’90s-era internet when compared to what we have now. Everything needs to be upgraded. With that comes jobs, with that comes major, major jobs coming through here to construct new data centers, to update the existing ones. It’s good for everyone in Butler County,” Scialabba said.
The assembly members are also looking at potential policies to aid data centers once they are built. Hutchinson pointed to data center equipment such as servers being exempt from sales tax as an example of what the General Assembly can do. He said efforts like those would make Pennsylvania competitive for serving as a location for data centers.
“I think that’s a fair decision. Just like manufacturing, just like farming, when farmers buy equipment to serve their farms, it is exempt from the sales tax. This is a new economy and we should say we’re going to compare apples to apples, we’re going to exempt them for the sales tax,” Hutchinson said.
The legislators said it is important for Pennsylvania to become more business friendly, and that the state can’t lose out on future projects to places like Ohio with an AI and data center boom.
Mustello said making those types of efforts, along with modernization of regulations, are important for attracting and keeping businesses in the state. She also added it’s important to do the same with businesses that have already established their roots in Butler County so they can continue thriving.
“All of this new business coming up and about, but we cannot neglect and forget our existing businesses we have here in Butler County and the region, and do what we can to not harm anything, not throw up any roadblocks for existing businesses, and to let them grow and thrive,” Mustello said.
Bonner said he is working on bills focusing on areas within criminal justice, such as bail reform. He said the state needs greater guidelines to assist judges and magisterial district judges on bail.
The assembly members were also asked if they believe legalizing recreational marijuana should be on the table. Every assembly member present said they would be a no vote on recreational legalization for reasons such as health concerns, and worries it would not bring in as much tax revenue as projected. They also criticized Gov. Josh Shapiro for including potential legal marijuana sales in projected budget revenues as budget talks ensue.
“Some surrounding states I don’t think are realizing the revenue gains they thought they would with legal marijuana,” Mustello said.
Vogel, as a member of the urban affairs and housing committee, said he wants to use his committee position to help neighborhoods with dwindling populations and less occupied houses than they once had.
“Housing is very important where we live, in our area here we have a lot of steel towns and old mill towns, with housing built in the ’20s and ’30s and ’40s. And they were great at the time when steel mills were booming and people wanted a house. But in this day and age, you have a very hard time getting young people to move into an old steel mill house,” Vogel said.
To alleviate those issues, he wants to ease the burden of towns that have to renovate or tear down old buildings and build new houses. He said he’s working on “fair funding legislation” that takes money from real estate tax and, over the next couple years, uses it toward renovations.
When asked about the current status of broadband expansion in places like rural Pennsylvania, Hutchinson criticized the lack of local control over dollars meant to go toward broadband efforts.
“Part of the problem, and I have been critical since the beginning, when this federal money came it really did not have a local government component of controlling where that money goes,” Hutchinson said. “And I really think initially that money should have flowed through our local governments. We know best where these projects are instead of just making it a statewide broadband commission that we should have flowed it closer to the communities, I think they would have spent it better.”
