A developer wants to build a hyperscale data center campus across hundreds of acres of conservation and agricultural land in Ransom Twp. near the border with Old Forge, bringing data centers and arrays of batteries to Bald Mountain.\n<\/p>\n
Mudiita Land Venture LLC, a Carbon County-based firm with a parent company in New Jersey, spent $2.4 million to buy nearly 530 acres south of Ransom Road and west of South Keyser Avenue, according to a deed dated July 14 and recorded with Lackawanna County on Monday. The company bought 528.6 acres from KF Real Estate LLC. James G. Keisling signed the deed as a member of KF.\n<\/p>\n
The land begins southwest of the Alliance Landfill, less than half a mile from the Austin Heights neighborhood in Old Forge and about a mile from the Old Forge School District.\n<\/p>\n
Mudiita Land Venture LLC organized as a limited liability company with the Pennsylvania Department of State on Sept. 9 using the address 658 State Route 940, White Haven. Shatrughan Sinha and Puneet Sinha, both at 673 Lawrenceville Road, Princeton, New Jersey, signed the certificate of organization, according to the document.\n<\/p>\n
Puneet Sinha is listed on Mudiita Group\u2019s website as the CEO; Shatrughan Sinha is its founder and COO.\n<\/p>\n
The Sinhas filed a certificate of organization Oct. 14 for Mudiita Infra LLC using the same White Haven and Princeton addresses, according to the filing. Mudiita Infra\u2019s parent company, Mudiita Group<\/a>, describes itself online as a globally minded business group with a presence in the United States, India, Singapore and other emerging markets. Another Mudiita firm, Mudiita Developers<\/a>, uses an address in Bengaluru, India.\n<\/p>\n Mudiita Infra<\/a> advertises two projects on its website: a 930-plus-acre site in Ransom Twp.<\/a> for a \u201cclean-energy, AI-ready data and energy storage campus\u201d with a 750-megawatt capacity, and a 43-acre \u201chigh-end residential enclave\u201d in Carbon County called \u201cReflections at Lake Harmony.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Battery storage<\/p>\n Unlike most data centers, Mudiita would use batteries and solar support, not generators, to keep its data centers online during an outage, according to its website.<\/p>\n Diesel generators have emerged as a core concern<\/a> in the data center debate due to their noise and air pollution. Battery energy storage systems, or BESS, pose their own risks, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Incidents involving the batteries \u201ccan present unique challenges for host communities and first responders,\u201d according to the EPA.<\/a><\/p>\n Those challenges are:<\/p>\n Fire suppression: Lithium battery fires are difficult to extinguish and may reignite hours or days later.<\/p>\n Emissions: Battery fires can release harmful gases that pose health risks to nearby residents and first responders.<\/p>\n Environmental impact: Proper cleanup and disposal of damaged batteries requires specialized procedures.\n<\/p>\n Though BESS failures have decreased since 2020, the EPA pointed to recent, high-profile fires in California. In January 2025, a BESS fire in Monterey County resulted in a 24-hour evacuation of about 1,200 residents, according to the EPA.\n<\/p>\n Zoning<\/p>\n Mudiita Infra\u2019s website appears to mischaracterize the zoning for its land. The website touts the land\u2019s \u201czoning flexibility,\u201d describing it as zoned C-1 with potential for I-1 rezoning. But the property is not near a C-1 zone in Ransom Twp., and I-1 zones \u2014 typically called light industrial \u2014 do not exist in the the township\u2019s zoning ordinance or zoning map.<\/p>\n Ransom Twp.\u2019s only C-1, or neighborhood commercial, land is on the opposite side of town from Mudiita\u2019s land. There is a small C-1 zone along Newton Ransom Boulevard and another on Spruce Drive.\n<\/p>\n According to Ransom Twp.\u2019s zoning map, the majority of Mudiita\u2019s land falls into a restrictive open space\/conservation zoning district (S-1), with the rest zoned for agricultural uses (A-1).\n<\/p>\n