(The Center Square) - Gov. Josh Shapiro, facing a tidal wave of public negativity about data centers, on Tuesday reversed course on an industry he once embraced by chastising many of its players as speculative troublemakers and pulling away access to the state's "fast track" permitting program.

It was during a visit to a major data center site in Luzerne County in late 2024 that Shapiro created the fast track process, which he described as a "game changer" in getting big projects moving along. Recently, nine of 17 projects in the program were data centers.

On Tuesday, he signed a new executive order that he said put the "strictest guard rails in the nation" on the industry. The state, he said, has become filled with data center speculators.

He said they were "scaring our communities, being aggressive with township officials, bullying our neighbors."

Among other things, the new order dictates data centers will not be in the fast-track program; that the state Department of Environmental Protection will put a set of Shapiro-backed safeguards into the review process for data center permits; and that the use of nondisclosure agreements on data center projects will not be "permissible."

So-called NDA's have become a major public concern in data center development. But they are just one aspect of the chaotic conditions faced by communities around the state that are grappling with massive, difficult-to-understand, and often non-transparent proposals they worry might affect property values, water, energy availability, and even health.

Shapiro signed the executive order in the Governor's Reception Room in the Capitol.

In May, a group of nonprofit and grassroots group leaders had stood outside the room for 45 minutes, holding a huge placard that invited Shapiro to a Data Center Town Hall, after reaching out in various other ways. They were shunned by the administration.

On Tuesday, one of that group, Ginny Marcille-Kerslake of Food & Water Watch, said Shapiro's new guard rails would do very little to protect communities.

"If he's serious about protecting Pennsylvanians and the environment, then he would issue an executive order halting state permits for data centers and associated power infrastructure, now," Marcille-Kerslake said.

State lawmakers are in the midst of a long summer break from Harrisburg.

When both chambers departed after passing a budget on July 12, they left on the table many bills related to data centers, including ones from Democratic Sen. Katie Muth of Chester County and Republican Sen. Jarrett Coleman of Lehigh County.

Muth wants to see a three-year moratorium on data center development. On Tuesday, she noted that the governor of New York already had put in place a one-year moratorium on permits for large data centers.

"I don't know how these are the strictest standards when there is a moratorium in New York," Muth said after Shapiro's action. "My gut reaction is he is responding to the general public outrage."

Coleman has sponsored a bill that would give communities the option of putting in place their own moratorium of up to 18 months.

"I am glad that Governor Shapiro realized he had made a mistake by rolling out the red carpet for data centers and fast-tracking their permits," he said. "My constituents want a moratorium."

Shapiro, a Democrat, is seeking re-election and is frequently mentioned as a potential 2028 Democratic presidential nominee. His Republican opponent, state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, on Tuesday said Shapiro was trying to "gaslight" Pennsylvanians into not believing what they have seen from him.

"Last summer, Josh Shapiro was the biggest data center cheerleader in the nation," she said. Garrity added that he "lit the fuse on the chaos we are seeing in community after community."

Praise for Shapiro's actions came from top Democrats in both chambers of the Legislature.

Leaders in the Democratic-controlled House said it set up "strong common-sense requirements" that will hold developers accountable and protect communities, utility costs, and the environment. They blamed the Republican-controlled Senate for not advancing any of the many data center-related bills that had passed the House.

The top Democrat in the Senate, Sen. Jay Costa of Allegheny County, shared that criticism.

The governor, he said, was taking action to hold data center developers accountable while Senate Republicans have "abdicated their responsibility to protect taxpayers, deliver local control, safeguard the environment" and listen to state residents.

The leader of the Senate Republican majority, Sen. Joe Pittman of Indiana County, recalled past Shapiro comments that his administration was "already all in on AI" and "the future of AI is going to run right here through the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania." Pittman said Shapiro is not "seriously engaged on this issue" other than what has appeared on social media.

"His comments today seem aimed at erasing his remarks from last year and underscore how afraid he's become over his previous record of embracing data centers, only to find out how politically intense the proposals have become," Pittman said.