{"id":182751,"date":"2026-05-03T10:13:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T10:13:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/182751\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T10:13:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T10:13:28","slug":"data-center-backlash-divides-small-pennsylvania-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/182751\/","title":{"rendered":"Data Center Backlash Divides Small Pennsylvania Town"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tensions are rising in Archbald, PA<\/a>, over plans for dozens of new data centers that will span hundreds of acres in the tiny borough.<\/p>\n

The city of 7,000 is divided over developers’ plans to build six data center<\/a> campuses that would include 51 data warehouses that would each be about the size of a Walmart Supercenter, according to the Washington Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Many residents are organizing and pushing back against the data centers, which would cover around 14% of the town\u2019s land.<\/p>\n

Sarah Gabriel, co-founder of the Archbald Neighborhood Association, tells Realtor.com\u00ae<\/a>: “We are fighting back against data center development through three main channels: local government, public awareness, and legal challenges. We speak out at meetings and voice our concerns and make suggestions to our elected officials.”<\/p>\n

Many of the Archbald City Council members and planning board members have reportedly resigned in the past month, with some allegedly fearing for their safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis debate has destroyed this community,\u201d Mayor Shirley Barrett told the Post. \u201cWe want answers, but we have no clue what is going on because this is all happening so quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

An aerial view of Project Boson in Archbald, PA, is pictured in close proximity to The Highland’s neighborhood as well as Valley View High School (top left). Project Boson will replace an auto parts junkyard with a nearly 620,000-square-foot data center. Local residents have raised significant concerns regarding environmental hazards from constructing on a former junkyard.Heather Ainsworth for The Washington Post via Getty ImagesProposed data centers<\/p>\n

Located near the 500-kilovolt Susquehanna\u2013Roseland power line, Archbald has ample water resources and open land left behind after most coal mines in the area closed in the early 1900s\u2014which makes it particularly attractive to data center<\/a> developers.<\/p>\n

Archbald updated its zoning ordinance in 2023 to permit data centers, explicitly including what it termed an \u201cinternet server building.\u201d Following that change, numerous data center projects have been proposed in the area.<\/p>\n

One such project, Project Gravity<\/a>, calls for seven two-story data center buildings, each measuring 138,000 square feet, spread across more than 180 acres in Archbald.<\/p>\n

Developers have reportedly already cleared trees from the site, a move that has sparked anger among local residents.<\/p>\n

Another proposal, Wildcat Ridge<\/a>, envisions 14 two-story data centers to be developed on 400 acres of wooded land.<\/p>\n

Archbald residents share concerns<\/p>\n

Joseph Pullman, whose three-bedroom house is about 900 feet from the proposed Wildcat Ridge campus, told the Post, “I didn\u2019t work 38 years to sit here and listen to a data center, 24\/7, 365 days a year.”<\/p>\n

Gabriel tells Realtor.com that many Archbald residents are worried about the environmental, social, and economic impacts the data centers will have on their community.<\/p>\n

She lists a wide range of concerns, including water use, electricity use, pollution, green house gas emissions, deforestation noise pollution, light pollution, rising utility costs, and decreased property values.<\/p>\n

“Data centers will replace green space with concrete buildings in our town,” she says. “This will lower the quality of life for residents.”<\/p>\n

Downtown Archbald, PA is seen above. Archbald is experiencing a contentious boom in proposed AI data center projects. Recent developer activity has caused massive local political change, with several council members resigning amid resident outrageHeather Ainsworth for The Washington Post via Getty ImagesWhat are data centers?<\/p>\n

Data centers<\/a>\u00a0are facilities designed to store, process, and manage large amounts of digital information used to train, run, and scale artificial intelligence systems.<\/p>\n

They contain servers and networking equipment, supported by power and cooling systems that maintain proper operating temperatures.<\/p>\n

Currently, there are more than 4,200\u00a0data centers<\/a>\u00a0throughout the country, with Virginia<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Texas<\/a>\u00a0 leading the way with at least\u00a0598 and 439 data centers<\/a>, respectively.<\/p>\n

Other states<\/a>\u00a0where many data centers are being built include\u00a0California<\/a>,\u00a0Illinois<\/a>, and\u00a0Arizona<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Data center debate<\/p>\n

Data centers can provide economic and financial benefits to a community, such as increased tax revenue, temporary construction employment, and the possibility of drawing additional businesses or investment. These projects often require improvements to infrastructure like broadband, electrical systems, and roadways, which may offer long-term advantages for local residents and businesses.<\/p>\n

But it’s also spurred debate over the data centers bringing increased noise for nearby residents, possible\u00a0decreased property values<\/a>, and high resource consumption, including water use and electricity strain.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0Newton County, GA<\/a>, Meta\u2019s $750 million data center guzzles about 500,000 gallons of water a day, roughly 10% of the county\u2019s entire supply,\u00a0the New York Times<\/a>\u00a0reports.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s left\u00a0some residents<\/a>\u00a0living with taps that spit out brown sediment.<\/p>\n

“As utilities race to meet AI-driven energy demand, infrastructure costs are rising and those costs are passed [on] to everyday ratepayers,” Aaron Wright, CEO of Solomon Group and Solomon e3, a climate tech company focused on equitable energy solutions for underserved communities, tells\u00a0Realtor.com.<\/p>\n

The state that\u00a0delivers the most electricity<\/a>\u00a0to data centers,\u00a0Virginia, saw a\u00a03.1% increase<\/a>\u00a0in electricity prices from May 2024 to May 2025, according to\u00a0the U.S. Energy Information Administration<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The other four states that deliver the most electricity to data centers are\u00a0Texas, with electricity rates up 4.4%;\u00a0California, up 1.9%;\u00a0Illinois, up 12.2%; and\u00a0Oregon<\/a>, up 5.5%.<\/p>\n

Tech firms vow to cover power costs<\/p>\n

In March, President Donald Trump unveiled the Ratepayer Protection Pledge<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Under this new agreement, Big Tech companies are committing to fully cover the cost of increased electricity production required for AI data centers\u2014and that would mean prices for American communities will not go up, but in many cases, will actually come down,” said Trump. Amazon<\/a>, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle, and xAI all signed the pledge<\/a>, vowing to secure dedicated new energy generation to meet the needs of their facilities\u2014and to pay for that capacity regardless of whether their data centers fully consume it.<\/p>\n

They also committed to covering the costs of any new transmission lines, substations, and grid upgrades needed to connect their operations, with the White House noting that these expenses will not be passed on to regular households.<\/p>\n

The agreement additionally requires companies to work out separate rate structures with utilities and state regulators, protecting typical customers from price increases driven by large industrial users.<\/p>\n

In return, the companies are expected to coordinate with grid operators and make their backup power resources available during periods of shortage, using on-site generation to support grid stability in emergencies and reduce the likelihood of blackouts.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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