Proposals for hyper-scale data centers have been popping up across Pennsylvania, causing conflict and opposition. Ahead of signing an executive order reining in large-scale data development, Governor Josh Shapiro mentioned his visit to Archbald in Lackawanna County, which is facing the most data center proposals of any municipality in Pennsylvania.
Kat Bolus is a reporter for WVIA News in northeastern Pennsylvania who has been covering this data center story in Archbald – 13 miles northeast of Scranton, with a population of 7,500. The Allegheny Front’s Kara Holsopple recently spoke with her about what’s happening there.
LISTEN to the interview
Kara Holsopple: Kat, tell me a little bit about Archbald.
Kat Bolus: I think one of the best ways to describe it is that it’s kind of like a river town. So you have two mountains on either side, and the Lackawanna River runs through the middle of it. It’s a very residential area. Lockheed Martin has a weapons manufacturing footprint in the town, but other than that it’s mostly restaurants and local businesses. It’s really residential, really community-focused. Some of the people that live there have lived there for generations.
Kara Holsopple: What is the scale of the data center development proposed for Archbald?
Kat Bolus: Right now, there are six campuses proposed. Each campus has a different amount of buildings in it. But in total, there would be over 50 buildings that are larger than Walmarts. And there was recently a seventh proposal.
Kara Holsopple: What are the main concerns of residents who are against these plans?
Kat Bolus: I think the biggest overarching concern is how much their quality of life will change and how much it would change their entire borough, how it would go from kind of being this nice residential area with parks and a river trail and a really nice area to raise your kids to kind of just being data centers — because they’re proposed everywhere.
They’re proposed on either side of the mountain. One is proposed next to a park. Another project has kind of already torn down their trees behind a residential neighborhood. So I think there are overarching concerns about quality of life.
Then when you boil it down, they’re worried about their air quality, their water. They are worried about noise, worried about traffic from construction, how their roads might be torn up.
I think air quality has been a huge focus right now. Just for example, one of the data center proposals, it’s called the Wildcat Ridge, is going to have around 15 buildings, and the whole campus will have 588 diesel-powered backup generators at it. So the Stop Archbald Data Centers group, which has kind of become this opposition group, hired a public health expert to come in and assess how that would change their air quality. He found that it could cause between $3 [million] and $124 million dollars in health damages annually. It’s heart attacks, asthma, people going to the hospital.
Panel discusses how energy demand from data centers nationwide will impact Pennsylvania
Kara Holsopple: How have people mobilized there?
Kat Bolus: The Stop Archbald Data Centers group on Facebook. They grew beyond Facebook. They have people, everyone comes out to the meetings, especially the conditional use hearings. They’re at borough council meetings, they’re at the zoning meetings, they’re at the land development meetings. They’re always in yellow shirts that say “Stop Archbald Data Centers.” They fundraise by selling the shirts, by selling yard signs, and they have hired an attorney through their crowdfunding. It’s become more than just, ‘We’re a Facebook group, and we’re mad about this.’ They’ve truly mobilized to fundraise and to kind of make sure that the residents in Archbald have a say in this process.
Kara Holsopple: Is there anyone who is for data center development in Archbald?
Kat Bolus: I have yet to find anyone. If you’re out there, I would love to talk to you. But my guess is the landowners. There have been a lot of private landowners that either have sale agreements, or they’ve already sold their land to some of these developers for lots of money.
Kara Holsopple: Do you think that this conflict in Archbald is representative of what’s happening in other parts of the state?
Kat Bolus: Yes and no. I think what’s different specifically in Archbald is kind of this influx of developers with no named end user, kind of just descending on this small borough that’s in essentially the middle of Lackawanna County, just kind of targeting such a small borough to put all these developments there.
I think that’s what’s different, but as far as what’s happening in other parts of the state, the zoning fight, the opposition, the really informed residents who are doing their homework – that’s all very similar. I know that the Archbald group talks with people across the state. They kind of keep up on what’s going on outside of their borough.
Kara Holsopple: You’ve been on this beat for a while now. What’s been striking to you about what’s happening there?
Kat Bolus: I have been covering local news for going on 15 years, and I work with a colleague who has been covering local news for 40 years. And he and I have often talked about, have we experienced anything like this as far as public participation in an issue? And he hasn’t. He said sometimes when there are landfill developments, it comes a little bit close to this. But the unity, the bipartisan-ness of the issue, that’s been the most striking.
Kara Holsopple: What’s happening now?
Kat Bolus: Wildcat Ridge will have its ninth conditional use hearing in early September. The school district has entered the chat, as I like to say. The Valley View School District covers three boroughs. Archbald is one of them. They kind of threw their hat in the ring to fight these developments. They keep asking, ‘How is this gonna impact the kids that go to our school district?’
There is a power plant proposed for Archbald. In neighboring Dickson City, which is also kind of a borough of Scranton, there are three power plants proposed to power this industry.
At the county level – Archbald is in Lackawanna County, which Scranton is the seat of – three county commissioners are kind of squabbling over whether to fund an independent health study that would look at how all of the data centers, because there’s more proposed in the county, would impact the health of residents in Lackawanna County.
Kat Bolus is a reporter for WVIA News.
