Stop Archbald Data Centers<\/a> co-founder Tamara Misewicz-Healey and opposition Attorney Justin Richards, Leonard repeatedly failed to provide information her inquisitors argued is required by the \u201cconditional use\u201d process.<\/p>\nNo public health or environmental impact data. No emergency response plans. No documentation of the site-selection process. Murky answers on toxic emissions. Leonard dodged some questions by noting that Essential Energy isn\u2019t required to answer them until later in the process.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could ask you more questions, but I\u2019m afraid you won\u2019t be able to answer them,\u201d Misewicz-Healey said.<\/p>\n
\u201cCome back when you get your (bleep) together!\u201d shouted a man in the fed-up crowd.<\/p>\n
The next witness had his bleep together, but no one in the crowd gave a bleep about what he had to say.<\/p>\n
Randall Holmes, a consultant with 35-plus years of experience in the energy industry, spun the power plant as an opportunity for Archbald to help mitigate a looming energy-generation \u201ccrisis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Holmes noted that PJM Interconnection runs the electrical grid in all or parts of 13 states, including Pennsylvania. Without urgent construction of new power plants, future energy shortages are guaranteed, Holmes said.<\/p>\n
What the crowd heard was: \u201cC\u2019mon, Archbald! Be nice and take one for the team! Without this power plant, schoolkids in Kentucky and West Virginia might have to learn in the dark!\u201d<\/p>\n
No good soul wants schoolkids to suffer through blackouts, but Christ himself couldn\u2019t convince anyone anywhere that the future struggles of the electrical grid warrant shoehorning mammoth concrete vampires into neighborhoods next to their homes, schools, public parks and wildlife.<\/p>\n
This is especially true in Archbald, which has already taken more than its fair share of burdens for the team and is staring down six data center \u201ccampus\u201d proposals that would cram 51 buildings each the size of a Walmart Supercenter into the borough, a massive PPL infrastructure upgrade and Marzolino\u2019s power plant.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s next, an \u201cAI-enhanced\u201d locust factory?<\/p>\n
Citing the \u201cfair share doctrine,\u201d a state rule against \u201cexclusionary\u201d zoning, Misewicz-Healey listed examples of the Midvalley\u2019s long history of industrial exploitation, from the coal barons to the Lackawanna Energy Center \u2014 one of the largest natural gas power plants in the nation. She pointed out that the doctrine works both ways. It can also be used to shield communities from being steamrolled by developers.<\/p>\n
Holmes said he was unfamiliar with the fair share doctrine. Misewicz-Healey\u2019s next question was simple and straightforward. For a well-prepared \u201cexpert\u201d witness, it should have been a layup.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs there any benefit to us for this (power plant) being in town versus above the Casey Highway?\u201d she asked Holmes. \u201cIs there a benefit to it being in town versus away from people, where people live? Is there a benefit on why we should say yes, this should go here, versus away from people. Is there a benefit? Can you provide a benefit?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am at a loss to answer your question,\u201d Holmes replied. \u201cI just don\u2019t know how to answer it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I believed him.<\/p>\n
CHRIS KELLY, the Times-Tribune columnist, occasionally has his bleep together. Contact the writer: ckelly@scrantontimes.com; @cjkink on X; Chris Kelly, The Times-Tribune on Facebook; and @chriskellyink on Bluesky.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The last soul I expected to see at Monday night\u2019s \u201cconditional use\u201d hearing on a proposed natural gas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[2117,1590,2116,201,182,3052,139,1559,1560,28,178,180,179],"class_list":["post-180622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-archbald","tag-chris-kelly","tag-data-centers","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-midvalley","tag-news","tag-opinion","tag-opinion-columnists","tag-pennsylvania","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}