Editor’s Note: A version of this article originally appeared on the website of Food & Water Action (our affiliated organization) at an earlier date.
Donald Trump’s deregulatory pro-corporate agenda has made clear the dangers of stripping away our health and environmental protections. But rather than stand up for people and the environment, several Democratic governors are making similar moves.
These governors, including Gavin Newsom of California, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, and Kathy Hochul of New York, are buying into industry talking points and embracing corporate polluters in the name of purported progress.
They say they’re slashing red tape, but they’re really slashing caution tape and throwing the gates open for more pollution, faster. At the same time, their embrace of expensive techno-fixes and their appeals to corporate giants make clear where their loyalties lie.
Gavin Newsom’s Techno-Fixes Won’t Save California
California Governor Gavin Newsom has long supported failed, expensive techno-fixes to some of the state’s biggest environmental and climate challenges. He’s boosted costly water desalination projects and the multi-billion-dollar Delta Tunnel scheme to carry water from northern to southern California.
The Governor would rather waste taxpayer dollars on unnecessary infrastructure than tackle the root cause of California’s water scarcity problems — outsized water use by Big Ag operations.
When it comes to energy, Newsom has also embraced nuclear power and Big Oil’s carbon capture and storage scam. Make no mistake, support for these technologies is not climate action — it’s a handout to dangerous and polluting industries.
Most recently, Newsom has shown a loyal friendship to the tech industry as its data centers guzzle our water, imperil our climate, and spike our energy bills. Newsom has vetoed several bills aiming to regulate the potential harms of Big Tech’s artificial intelligence technology.
He seems to have bent the knee to tech companies’ millions of lobbying dollars and their threats to take their business out of California. And nothing illuminates Newsom’s loyalties as brightly as his reaction to a new proposed tax on billionaires — vehement opposition.
This track record shows a governor more loyal to Big Tech billionaires and flashy technologies than his constituents. Newsom has embraced the misguided “Abundance agenda” that promised more of everything through deregulation. But his policy decisions spell abundance for the ultrawealthy more than for everyday Californians.
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Josh Shapiro’s Data Centers Promise More Pollution for Pennsylvania
Like Newsom, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro has embraced the abundance agenda for his state. Not long ago, as former Attorney General, Shapiro demanded accountability and justice after frackers poisoned Pennsylvanians. As governor, he’s taken a different tune, embracing an ”All of the Above” energy strategy and “Lightning Plan” to deregulate and fast-track energy projects.
This means fewer guardrails to protect health and the environment, as well as less public input and transparency. Moreover, in a state where fracking giants rule, an “All of the Above” energy strategy will mean more dangerous pollution in the Commonwealth.
The Governor has also embraced the data center boom sweeping the country. Pennsylvania is the third-biggest state for proposed data center energy demand. In his recent budget address, Shapiro even touted a $20 billion Amazon investment to build data centers in the state.
The data center industry markets itself as a boon to communities, from jobs to tax revenue. But in fact, they’re drains — across the country, states have offered lucrative tax breaks to Big Tech, and data center job projections are wildly overinflated. Moreover, data centers are already making energy more expensive for people across the country, including in Pennsylvania.
While making gestures at Pennsylvanians’ energy and water concerns, Shapiro seems to be falling for Big Tech’s talking points hook, line, and sinker. For example, in January, he began pushing a part of his Lightning Plan: a bill that includes a model data center ordinance that would speed data center development and curb local efforts to stop them.
Across the state, people have gathered in force to stop data center proposals, and this grassroots opposition grows every day. Which raises the question — is Shapiro more interested in rich investors and Tech oligarchs than the well-being of Pennsylvanians?
Kathy Hochul’s Noxious Ploy for Nuclear in New York
New York Governor Kathy Hochul has made risky nuclear power a central part of her energy policy. While her administration has framed this as necessary to meet the state’s climate goals, it will only entrench a costly, dangerous energy source at the expense of cheaper, safer solar and wind.
Most egregiously, Hochul has directed the New York Power Authority to build five gigawatts of nuclear power capacity in New York — the equivalent of five new large-scale nuclear reactors.
New Yorkers have already been burned by nuclear’s sky-high costs. In 2016, they received the bill for an $8 billion bailout for three aging nuclear plants. And in January of 2026, Hochul herself approved a $33 billion bailout to keep aging nuclear plants running, which New Yorkers will pay for. Expanding this dangerous and expensive industry further is unconscionable.
This push for nuclear power goes hand-in-hand with the Governor’s moves to attract the energy-hungry tech industry. Hochul is working to make New York a “global hub for semiconductor research and manufacturing,” including with more than $10 billion-worth of incentives. (The AI and data center boom are driving semiconductor demand to new heights.)
At the same time, Hochul has done little to assuage New Yorkers’ fears about data centers. She recently announced a vague proposal to make New York data centers “pay their fair share” for their outsized electricity use, which is already raising power bills nationwide.
This is wholly inadequate. More than 50 New York organizations agree — we need nothing less than a full stop to new data centers until we have proper protections for our communities, environment, and health. Anything less is a handout to the tech industry.
We Need Leaders Who Fight for Us, Not Corporations
At this critical moment for our politics and our planet, we need strong leadership more than ever. We need leaders who won’t fall for corporate talking points or sacrifice our communities for flashy deals or techno-fixes.
Democratic leaders like Newsom, Shapiro, and Hochul have a major opportunity here. They can change course, stand up for their constituents, and embrace policies that tackle the real root of our country’s economic, environmental, and political problems: unrestrained corporate greed.
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