![\"Archbald](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1777060698_837_STT-L-DATACENTERS-0328-04.jpg\")
Archbald resident Tamara Misiewicz-Healey prepares for remarks during the special meeting on data center applications at the Archbald Borough Building in Archbald Friday, March 27, 2026. Healey and her husband founded the Stop Archbald Data Centers Facebook group. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n
Data centers, the report says, contribute to poor air quality through two primary pathways: power consumption linked to electricity grid emissions and backup generators.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost data centers rely on regional electricity grids where fossil fuels like methane gas (also known as natural gas) and coal still make up a significant share of generation,\u201d per the report, which notes electricity generation from those sources emits fine particulate matter, nitrogen oxides and other ozone-forming pollutants linked to asthma, heart attacks, stroke and premature death. \u201cAdditionally, many data centers are building their own new, on-site fossil-fueled plants.\u201d<\/p>\n
As demand for electricity rises, power plants emit higher levels of both fine particulate matter and nitrogen oxides, \u201cworsening regional air quality and contributing to ozone formation downwind of generation sites,\u201d the report says. Diesel-powered backup generators, often installed to ensure data centers operate uninterrupted, also emit nitrogen oxides and \u201ccarcinogenic diesel particulate matter.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn major data center hubs such as Northern Virginia, analyses show that clusters of diesel generators can rival small power plants in total permitted emissions, raising concerns about cumulative local air-quality impacts,\u201d the report notes.<\/p>\n
As escalating use of artificial intelligence continues to drive demand for new data center development, the American Lung Association\u2019s report says \u201censuring these facilities are powered by clean electricity, and transitioning to clean power and storage resources instead of diesel backup power, can play an important role in cleaner air for all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many residents who collectively make up the fierce and growing local opposition to data centers and related infrastructure proposed in Lackawanna County and elsewhere in the region would prefer they not be built here at all. Air pollution and other impacts on water, electricity, quality of life and the environment are fears they frequently cite despite industry promises of significant tax revenue and jobs.<\/p>\n
Air quality grades<\/p>\n
Data centers notwithstanding, the report also includes air quality grades for some but not all local counties in Northeast Pennsylvania. Where and when available, it used data collected at official monitoring sites across the country from 2022, 2023 and 2024 \u2014 the three most recent years of available data \u2014 and looked at fine particles and ozone, \u201ctwo of the most widespread and dangerous air pollutants.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rural Susquehanna and Wyoming counties both received \u201cA\u201d grades for particle pollution<\/a>, while Lackawanna County received a \u201cD.\u201d Lackawanna scored slightly better in terms of another metric, high ozone days<\/a>, earning a \u201cC\u201d grade. Monroe County, the only other local county to receive an ozone grade, also earned a \u201cC.\u201d<\/p>\n In Pennsylvania, only 37 of the state\u2019s 67 counties could be graded for at least one of those measures of air quality, and Lackawanna County was the only county in the northeast to receive a grade for both. Luzerne, Pike, Schuylkill and Wayne counties weren\u2019t graded for either.<\/p>\n Despite \u201cdecades of successful efforts to reduce sources of air pollution,\u201d the report found that 44% of Americans live in places that get failing grades for unhealthy ozone or particle pollution levels. And while that\u2019s apparently not the case in any of the Northeast Pennsylvania counties that received grades, the American Lung Association also found that almost half of American children, 46%, \u201clive in counties that received a failing grade for at least one measure of air pollution.\u201d<\/p>\n Elsewhere in the state, Adams, Allegheny, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Northampton, Philadelphia and Washington counties all received \u201cF\u201d grades for particle pollution. Allegheny, Dauphin and Philadelphia counties also got \u201cF\u201d grades for high ozone days, as did Berks and Bucks counties, the data shows.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/STT-L-AIRQUALITY-0423-02.jpg\")
A view of downtown Scranton Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n