WASHINGTON, D.C. — The secretary of the Department of Energy (DOE) made two stops at businesses in Pennsylvania on Monday.
Secretary Chris Wright was joined by Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Kelly Loeffler, Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., Rep. Rob Bresnahan, R-Pa., and local business leaders to put the spotlight on the commonwealth’s role in America’s energy future while also unveiling a new small business support program.
Secretary Wright made two stops in the Keystone State. The first, at a power plant in Frackville, and the second, at a precision manufacturing facility near Scranton that specializes in plastic and metal machining.
The DOE and SBA signed a memorandum of agreement at Creative Design and Machining Inc., establishing the Small Business Investment Company-Energy (SBIC-E) Initiative. Officials call it “a new strategic partnership advancing President Trump’s commitment to supporting America’s small businesses, strengthening domestic manufacturing and supply chains, and ensuring the United States leads in the technologies critical to our national and economic security.”
The program aims to provide small businesses in the energy and tech sectors with capital from private investment funds.
“America’s small businesses drive American innovation and affordable, reliable energy access,” said Secretary Wright. “By partnering with the Small Business Administration, the Energy Department is committing to invest its resources in American small businesses that will create jobs, strengthen our domestic manufacturing base, and unleash American energy production.”
The Secretary’s visit to the Commonwealth comes roughly two months before the November midterms. Wright discussed the importance of the Keystone State and its vital role in American energy.
“It is indeed the Keystone State, and it’s a swing state,” said Secretary Wright. “Pennsylvania, first of all, has the proudest legacy of an energy and industrial state of all 50 of our states. The region we’re in right now, the beginning of anthracite coal mining over 200 years ago, this launched industrialization in the United States. The global oil and gas industry began in western Pennsylvania. After Texas, the biggest natural gas producing state is Pennsylvania. It’s also the second biggest nuclear power producing state. Pennsylvania produces more electricity than California, far less people. So this is an energy state, but it’s an energy state on the pivot,” Wright said.
When it comes to energy, one of the top policy debates in the Commonwealth is over data centers. The massive centers are vital to powering artificial intelligence, which continues to grow at a very fast rate.
In Pennsylvania, there are more than 120 data centers that have either been proposed or are under construction. It’s among the top 10 in the country, according to Pew Research Center.
In some cases, the projects have faced extreme opposition from local communities. Last week, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, signed an executive order requiring data center developers to get local approval before their projects can move to the state permitting process.
Wright’s stop in the Scranton area is politically significant as well. Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District is one of roughly two dozen districts in the country, currently held by a Republican, that are rated a “Toss-Up” by the Cook Political Report. Republican leaders and administration officials have been making stops in battleground states and districts throughout the year, but with just over 10 weeks until Election Day, those stops are becoming more frequent.
