State Sen. Jarrett Coleman says he want to repeal tax breaks that he says are responsible for luring data centers to Pennsylvania.

Coleman, R-Lehigh, held a telephone town hall meeting Wednesday night addressing constituent concerns about data centers.

“Everyone seems to be scared to talk about it,” Coleman said during the hourlong meeting, which drew several dozen callers. “I think we have to talk about it, because I need to know what you think. To my knowledge, this is the first town hall that’s focused on data centers, which is crazy considering how much of a concern these things have been.”

While conceding that data centers are a part of life — noting that the average household has 21 devices connected to the internet — Coleman said the downside of the huge buildings include electric usage, water consumption, noise pollution and whether they are good fits in the community.

“What does that do to the water? What does it do to groundwater? What is the byproduct of these places?” Coleman said. “Those are all questions I think you all deserve answers to.”

The 16th District, which is split between Lehigh and Bucks counties, has data center proposals at the former Air Products headquarters site in Upper Macungie Township and across the street from Parkland High School in South Whitehall Township.

Both projects have drawn strong pushback from the public.

Coleman said a reason why Pennsylvania has more than 100 data centers, and 50 more on the drawing board, is a measure passed in 2021 exempting computer data center equipment from state sales and use tax.

“The state gave them a huge tax incentive to locate here and it will cost us about $188 million in revenue this year and about $2 billion cumulatively through 2031,” Coleman said. “We understand the governor [Josh Shapiro] wants the data centers. We’ve got to make sure that this is right for our community. In some communities, it’s not going to be a good fit.”

Coleman said he would like to repeal the tax breaks and use any future revenue to offset the gas tax.

Among the concerns raised by participants on the call:

• Katie from Upper Milford Township, who said she’s an electrical engineer, feared that data centers could “black out grids overnight” and said skyrocketing energy bills could force people out of their homes. She was also concerned about potential emissions from the South Whitehall plant and how they may affect the health of Parkland students.

• Mia was concerned about heat from data centers, citing a study that said ambient heat from the facilities could raise surrounding temperatures by 3 to 16 degrees, which could make summers even hotter in the Lehigh Valley.

• Karen from Richland Township wondered how the water usage would affect her well since she’s not on a municipal system.

• A few callers, along with Coleman, said they don’t think enough jobs will be created by data centers to make them worth it. After construction, they require very few staff, including security guards and technicians, while many can work remotely.

• Matt from Lower Macungie Township said townships seem powerless to stop them. “And they’re not accurately reflecting or representing their constituents,” he said. “I don’t understand what they feel they are going to gain.”

Coleman emphasized several times during the call that constituents should make their feelings known to township and borough officials.

“If the municipalities aren’t going to stand up for the citizens we might have to discuss preempting this from the state,” he said. “Municipalities won’t like that because they want to make the decisions, but we may have to address this.”

Coleman said he plans to hold additional meetings in specific municipalities where developments are proposed.

Morning Call reporter Evan Jones can be reached at ejones@mcall.com.