Recent reporting from CBS News places Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-Luzerne) back in the hotseat after it was disclosed that the freshman lawmaker owns millions of dollars in stocks tied to the artificial intelligence and data center boom.
“I’ve been crystal clear: Not one of these proposed data center projects should move forward,” Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti (D) said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Northeastern Pennsylvania has seen this before. Powerful outside interests come in, make millions, and leave us with the mess. This time, our water, our power, and our quality of life are on the line.”
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Bresnahan reportedly owns up to $2.04 million in stock from companies that supply chips, networking equipment, semiconductor manufacturing tools, and software driving AI growth and data center development, and he owns an additional $777,000 to $1.78 million in stock from technology firms that build, operate, or lease data center capacity.
Financial disclosure forms show that Bresnahan also owns stock valued between $19,005 and $110,000 in four companies with direct ties to the data center industry.
According to Quiver Quantitative, Bresnahan has made 644 stock trades valued at $8.47 million since taking office last year.
Cognetti added, “Rob Bresnahan welcomed data centers into our region while investing millions in companies that stand to benefit from the industry’s growth. Now that our communities are fighting back, he’s changing his tune. This is just another example of Rob saying one thing while doing another and cashing in while our community feels the pain.”
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With less than two months until the election, Bresnahan is campaigning on holding data center companies accountable even though he voted for President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which gave corporate tax breaks for data center and hyperscaler development.
Last year, Bresnahan supported data center development in Northeastern Pennsylvania but is now running an advertisement highlighting legislation he introduced that would give local governments control over data center development.
