Governor Shapiro’s Executive Order Regarding Data Centers and its Impact on Blasting Activities

• Posted on Sep 11, 2026

On August 18, 2026 Governor Joshua Shapiro issued an executive order regarding data center projects to give local communities more power over development of these projects.¹  The Executive Order directs the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to evaluate any permit applications at proposed data centers sites only if developers have made a legally binding commitment to meet the Governor’s GRID Requirements and have received local approval.¹

This order affects blasting activities related to development of a data center. Please be aware of the following when considering blasting at these proposed sites:

• Blasting Activity Permits (BAPs) applications, in Greenport and on paper, will now have a question asking the applicant to identify whether the activity is related to a data center. Please be honest when answering this question, and if necessary, ask your general contractor if you don’t know. We understand there may be times where you do not know how to answer that question or the work may be only tangentially related to a data center project or serve multiple purposes. In those cases, reach out to me or your inspector and ask and we will do our best to provide some answers.
• The permit-by-rule application will now state that permits-by-rule will not be accepted for any data center project.
• BAPs that are flagged as being related to data center development may not be evaluated or approved in accordance with the typical timeframes. If local approvals for the data center site have not been obtained and the requirements of the Order have not been met, including compliance with the Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development (GRID) Requirements, we will not be able to evaluate a BAP application at that site until those things have been done.
• DEP’s regional offices will be coordinating overall data center site clearances. The Blasting & Explosives Inspectors may be able to answer some of your questions and may discuss the project with you as a pre-application inquiry but will not be allowed to act on these BAP applications until told by the regional office that all requirements have been fulfilled and the permits may be issued. Please understand the inspector’s role and limitations in this and be patient with them throughout the process.
• Please be especially attentive to the details on these permit applications. DEP’s expectations remain the same as for any other BAP: your permit application must clearly explain what you intend to do and how you intend to do it to the extent that the inspector recommending it for approval can have a reasonable expectation that what you propose can be done both safely and legally. Avoid unanswered questions, poorly prepared blast plans, unclear maps, and generalizations.

I know this is a big change, especially for those of you who have not previously been involved in projects requiring interagency coordination. Please be assured that DEP explosives program staff will aim to assist through the process. I suggest taking a few minutes to read through DEP’s webpage announcing the Governor’s order, as well as the read the order itself and the Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development (GRID) Requirements. Those resources should help answer some questions you may have.

Sincerely,

Christopher D Catalano | Chief, Explosives and Safety Section
Department of Environmental Protection | Bureau of Mining Programs
Rachel Carson State Office Building
400 Market Street, Harrisburg, PA 17101
www.dep.pa.gov

REFERENCES

1. PADEP. (2026). Governor Shapiro Signs Executive Order Demanding Data Center Developers Comply with Strict Requirements and Blocking Speculative, Irresponsible Data Center Projects. Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection: https://www.pa.gov/governor/newsroom/2026-press-releases/governor-shapiro-signs-executive-order-on-data-center-developmen