SCRANTON — Exasperated residents wracked with anxiety over the impact local data center development could have on their health and the quality of the air they breathe begged Lackawanna County commissioners Wednesday to move forward with a study aimed at quantifying that impact.
The standing-room-only crowd that packed the commissioners meeting specifically implored the board to approve a $165,000 proposal Democratic Commissioner Bill Gaughan solicited from EmPower Analytics Group, which would assess the cumulative air-quality and public-health impacts of all data centers and power plants proposed in the county that has become a hotbed for the industry.
But it’s also home to an arguably unprecedented local bipartisan grassroots opposition movement that was well represented at Wednesday’s session. Members of the movement, some donning distinctive yellow shirts emblazoned with anti-data center slogans, see the study as an arrow in their quivers as they make their case to municipal officials responsible for data center land use decisions and as potentially invaluable evidence in future legal fights.
Founder of the Facebook page ‘Stop Archbald Data Centers’ Tamara Misewicz-Healey, of Archbald, speaks during the Lackawanna County Commissioners’ Meeting held at the county government center in Scranton Wednesday, August 5, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The contention that ultimately marked the sometimes-chaotic meeting stemmed from Democratic Commissioner Thom Welby’s and Republican Commissioner Chris Chermak’s unwillingness to immediately approve the EmPower Analytics project. Both insisted they support the goal of a health-impact study, but said the county should solicit additional proposals and undertake other efforts in the interest of doing the project right the first time.
Welby, who’s also expressed cost concerns, wants to engage potential partners who might support the project financially and otherwise, even if their financial buy-in is relatively nominal.
Gaughan, a chief elected critic of data centers locally, and his allies on the opposition front insist there isn’t time to wait. Many of those allies live in Archbald, ground zero for local data center proposals, though data center developments have also been proposed in Clifton Twp., Covington Twp., Dickson City, Jessup, Olyphant, Newton Twp. and Ransom Twp. A data center developer, meanwhile, proposes building three natural-gas power plants in Dickson City and one in Archbald.
People stand against the wall during the commissioners’ meeting held at the county government center in Scranton Wednesday, August 5, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
“We’ve been fighting this for over a year now in Archbald and it’s really just taken over our lives, and we’re just pleading with you to help us in any way in Archbald,” Archbald Neighborhood Association co-founder Kayleigh Cornell told commissioners, fighting back tears while holding her young daughter. “I just plead with you to pass, make a motion, for the countywide health-impact assessment as soon as you can.”
Multiple speakers stressed the potential downstream impact of data center and power plant development on their health and that of their children. Others noted the relatively small cost of the EmPower Analytics proposal, about 0.09% of the county’s $181 million general fund budget, compared to its would-be value.
Olyphant resident Eva Rappenglueck, a core member of the data center opposition movement there, did both.
“This is do or die,” she said, addressing Welby and Chermak. “The state is not coming to save us. The federal government is not coming to save us. This is on you. … You’re out of time, you’re out of options and you’re running out of excuses.”
A crowd member wears a pin on his hat against data centers during the commissioners’ meeting held at the county government center in Scranton Wednesday, August 5, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
“Out of all of the things that money has been burned on in the last five to 10 years I think the health of every person in this county is worth more than that, more than $165,000,” Rappenglueck said moments later. “That’s my 5-year-old daughter sitting in that corner. She is worth more than $165,000. I am so sick and tired of having to beg people in power to actually do something and then stand by again and again as they drop the ball. But I’m going to stand here and I’m going to keep trying, so with that being said I am asking you — actually begging you like everybody else did — to get this survey going. And if it’s not this one (then) it’s something else, and you do it now!”
The study Gaughan and the speakers are pushing for would be similar but broader in scope to an air quality and public health assessment that served as the foundation of the grassroots Stop Archbald Data Centers movement’s case against the Wildcat Ridge Data Center Campus proposed in Archbald. That assessment was presented last month by Harvard University environmental health scientist and biostatistician Michael Cork, Ph.D., who co-founded EmPower Analytics Group and would be involved in the countywide study.
It estimated that Wildcat Ridge’s 588 backup diesel generators would cause anywhere from $3.3 million to $124 million in annual health damages across Lackawanna County, though an engineer consulting for the developer disputed the assessment’s findings at a hearing Tuesday.
A project overview submitted by EmPower for the potential countywide assessment says the firm would build on its “recent expert report on the Wildcat Ridge Data Center Campus” and expand the analysis “from a single facility to the full set of proposed developments under review.”
Gaughan made a motion near the close of Wednesday’s nearly three-hour commissioners meeting to place the EmPower proposal on the commissioners’ Aug. 19 meeting agenda for a vote, but it died for lack of a second from either Welby or Chermak. They both spoke thereafter but were often interrupted by frustrated audience members.
Lackawanna County Commissioner Thom Welby looks on during the commissioners’ meeting held at the county government center in Scranton Wednesday, August 5, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
“If you think I’m not on your side you’re 100% wrong,” Chermak said. “We’re looking into this, and as far as I’m concerned if we don’t do this right the first time, we have one shot at this. … But I can tell you that we will be having a discussion, and there’s no reason, if we all decide tomorrow that we want to hire the Cork team to do this, we can do it tomorrow.”
“Do it now,” someone shouted from the crowd.
Welby, who reiterated his support for doing a health-impact study, emphasized that commissioners understand the speakers’ frustration and said they’ll find the most appropriate person or firm to do it. But his broader remarks prompted frequent responses and retorts from the crowd, with Welby ultimately moving to adjourn the meeting after pleading in vain with the audience to let him finish.
In an interview immediately after the session ended, Welby said officials would move quickly to seek out other potential proposals. Asked if he thinks there’s a good chance commissioners will vote at their next meeting in two weeks on the EmPower Analytics proposal or an alternative one, Welby said “I do.”
Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan speaks during the commissioners’ meeting held at the county government center in Scranton Wednesday, August 5, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Gaughan, whom members of the crowd frequently lauded, maintains the project is of the utmost importance and shouldn’t be delayed.
“This (EmPower) proposal … evaluates all proposed data centers and power plants together, models their combined emissions, estimates cumulative health impacts, identifies communities most affected and provides the county with a scientific foundation that it currently lacks,” he told the sympathetic crowd at one point. “To the residents who came here today and to those who I have met over the last year, you should not have to beg your government to study whether developments proposed next to your homes may affect your health. That should be the easiest decision that we make.”