told<\/a> Times-Tribune Staff Writer Jeff Horvath.<\/p>\nFrustrated by their glacial response, Gaughan nonetheless praised his can-kicking colleagues for at least appearing to act in the public interest.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo they took the scenic route of getting here but I\u2019m glad that they finally arrived to the fact that we need to do something,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bottom line is something is going to get done, which is a good thing, and I just want it to move as quickly as possible because there\u2019s such a need for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Welby and Chermak said they see the need just as clearly as Gaughan, but want to \u201ctake the time to get it right\u201d and at a good price. To some, this sounds reasonable and responsible. To anyone paying attention, it\u2019s stalling.<\/p>\n
This is not a paving or garbage disposal contract; it\u2019s an emergency necessity we can\u2019t afford to delay. This is highly specialized work performed by an extremely small pool of experts. The idea that an RFP will turn up multiple firms as or more qualified than EmPower at a competitive price is wishful thinking at best, governmental malpractice at worst.<\/p>\n
If EmPower started a study today, it would take an estimated three or four months to complete. It could be January 2027 by the time residents receive the evidence they need to defend themselves against what\u2019s happening RIGHT NOW.<\/p>\n
Archbald is Lackawanna County\u2019s ground zero, but hyperscale data centers have also been proposed in Clifton Twp., Covington Twp., Dickson City, Jessup, Olyphant, Newton Twp. and Ransom Twp. Multiple natural gas power plants are proposed in Archbald and Dickson City. This is no time for kicking the can.<\/p>\n
Any proposals the RFP might attract are due by 3 p.m. on Sept. 11, a fitting deadline considering the federal government\u2019s failure to heed clear warnings in the 2001 run-up to America\u2019s darkest day.<\/p>\n
Chermak told Horvath that officials are looking for a \u201cquick turnaround\u201d on the proposals. Welby said he doesn\u2019t expect the RFP process to substantially extend the wait for a study that should have begun the moment the county was carpet-bombed with data center proposals.<\/p>\n
The belated RFP ensures there will be no \u201cquick turnaround.\u201d Any extension of the wait is inherently substantial.<\/p>\n
Understand this: The very last thing data center developers want is a comprehensive, scientific study on the health impacts of their toxic, resource-gorging industry. The resistance to the invasion is already widespread and growing daily, but a huge number of humans who would be negatively affected remain bystanders who still aren\u2019t paying the necessary attention.<\/p>\n
A detailed, data-driven illustration of the impacts would present a \u201cBig Picture\u201d impossible for even the most jaded bystander to ignore. The wheezing genie would be out of the bottle. The resistance would explode overnight. The more humans learn about the health, economic and environmental costs of invasive data center development, the more determined they become to keep it out of targeted communities.<\/p>\n
Lackawanna County\u2019s study would serve as a model for other counties across the state and the nation. No hyperscale data center developer wants the resistance to have hard evidence to use against them, or for such evidence to spread outside local boundaries.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s long been clear that the developers\u2019 best weapon is widespread public ignorance of the negative impacts of their ruinous, cartoonishly speculative industry. The RFP put forward by Welby and Chermak serves the interest of developers, not the people Welby and Chermak swore oaths to serve.<\/p>\n
Time is the best weapon of the resistance. The longer it takes for developers to clear the meager hurdles set by existing state and local laws, the closer we get to the collapse of the house of cards built by billionaire tech \u201cbroligarchs\u201d and the bottom-feeders lining up to sell out their neighbors and the basic freedoms that make life worth living.<\/p>\n
The \u201cAI Revolution\u201d is just the latest iteration of Wall Street kicking the can down the road while waiting for a payday with no hard evidence it will ever come.<\/p>\n
Welby and Chermak\u2019s can-kicking muzzles the resistance\u2019s best weapon and preserves the paper-thin veil developers use to hide the worst impacts of their sickening industry.<\/p>\n
The appearance of action is no substitute. In this historically dire instance, institutional inertia ensures catastrophic consequences.<\/p>\n
But hey, be sure to get your proposals submitted by 3 p.m. on the 25th anniversary of 9\/11.<\/p>\n
CHRIS KELLY, The Times-Tribune columnist, will see you at Wednesday\u2019s commissioners meeting. 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":"Like most Americans, I\u2019ve long been familiar with the phrase, \u201ckicking the can down the road.\u201d I was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250888,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[1590,2116,182,3052,139,1559,1560,178,180,179],"class_list":["post-268791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-chris-kelly","tag-data-centers","tag-local-news","tag-midvalley","tag-news","tag-opinion","tag-opinion-columnists","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268791","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=268791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}