Plans for the massive Wildcat Ridge data center faced scrutiny, as residents and council members questioned its economic promises and environmental impacts.

ARCHBALD, Pa. — 14 buildings, each over 200,000 sqft, requiring a total of 560 generators and up to 3.3 million gallons of water to operate.

It’s a data center campus called Wildcat Ridge, and developers are trying to build it in the borough of Archbald.

“Blame the state, they said we have to have at least one data center in each town if they come here,” Councilman Louis Rapoch.

Hundreds of people gathered in the auditorium at Valley View High School to ask developers questions about the project, and developers brought in experts to answer some of those questions.

An attorney asked, “What is the advantage of being able to use a closed-loop system and supplement it with water?”

“Again, it drives down the operational expense of the data center, to ensure that not as much power is being used,” advisor Ben Mitten.

But some folks were unsatisfied with the answers they got, “Build it in your own town, buddy.”

Which is why some residents near the proposed campus hired a lawyer.

“PowerPoint presentation, that this borough council is supposed to rely upon, to believe this is reliable data for income that should be coming to the borough of Archbald, the county of Lackawanna, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” Attorney Justin Richards says. 

Council members also had questions, particularly about the developers’ claim that the project will bring more than 1200 jobs.

“Just break down for 1280 jobs, because consensus is once fully built out, data centers’ operating, best case scenario is 15-35 jobs,” says Councilmember Joseph Altier. 

But developers are confident their numbers are correct.

“Data centers are not huge employers, that’s true. But they do provide very good jobs and the economic impact of the income of the overall project is huge,” Advisor Thomas Shepstone says.Â