Gaughan contends the rush for data centers and power plants is \u201cexploitation to a degree that we have never seen before in Lackawanna County.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a line between economic development and exploitation,\u201d the Democratic commissioner said. \u201cThey\u2019re not even approaching that line anymore \u2014 they\u2019re just stampeding right across it, and they\u2019re stampeding right over the people of this county.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Engaging transparently\u2019<\/p>\n
The joint venture between PPL Corp. and Blackstone will not move forward with a power plant unless they have a signed agreement with a large customer, Hill said, explaining the first step is to sign a long-term agreement with a data center.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we decide to move forward with the project, we\u2019re absolutely committed to engaging transparently with the local officials, stakeholders, the community,\u201d he said. \u201cOur focus is delivering reliability, affordability and local benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n
There have been no decisions about future projects or how the sites could be used, he said. Asked about the joint venture\u2019s request in April to build two Lackawanna County natural gas power plants and the coinciding timing with the west campus memorandum, Hill said, \u201cI wouldn\u2019t draw any connection on timing there. \u2026 We\u2019ve said publicly that we\u2019ve secured spots in PJM\u2019s Interconnection queue, but we\u2019re not getting into talking about specific locations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hill characterized the developments as very preliminary. He declined to comment on whether the 1,500-megawatt and 750-megawatt power plants are affiliated with the west or east campuses.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re filing PJM Interconnection requests to be in a position to support these types of joint venture projects,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re laying the groundwork that will be required when those agreements would be signed at some point.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 1,500-megawatt plant has a requested in-service date of Jan. 1, 2033, and the 750-megawatt plant\u2019s requested in-service date is Jan. 1, 2034, according to PJM data.<\/p>\n
The power plants would contract with a large customer rather than sell to the grid to avoid market volatility, though the power plants will still be connected to the electric grid, rather than behind-the-meter generation, according to Hill.\n<\/p>\n
PPL Corp. is distinct from PPL Electric Utilities, and utility ratepayers will not pay for the developments, he said.<\/p>\n
There are no agreements in place with any data center developers, nor has the joint venture submitted any applications to local municipalities, Hill said.<\/p>\n
Mayfield Mayor Al Chelik declined to comment due to ongoing litigation; Carbondale Mayor Michele Bannon declined to comment because she did not know enough about the developments. Andy Gorel, the chairman of Fell Twp.\u2019s board of supervisors, said he can\u2019t have an opinion until a project comes before supervisors.<\/p>\n
\u2018Real reckoning\u2019<\/p>\n
Data center speculation fueling projected demand is a self-fulfilling prophecy, said Sierra Club Pennsylvania Chapter Director Tom Schuster, who is unrelated to the Scranton councilman with the same name. Demand goes up, driving up prices, and a joint venture forms to build new capacity to meet that projected demand, he said.<\/p>\n
While there is demand for more electricity generation beyond data centers, clustering the power plants in one place is not optimal, neither from a grid perspective because it can create congestion, nor from an environmental perspective because it concentrates pollution and other community impacts, Schuster said. It also promotes more fracking for natural gas.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is another indicator of just how crazy this data center development has become,\u201d Schuster said, addressing the possibility of power plants in east and west campuses. \u201cYou\u2019re seeing proposals that just wouldn\u2019t have made sense a couple years ago \u2014 like this \u2014 come to fruition because the data centers are hungry for all of the power they can get, no matter where they get it from, and the amount of gas generation they\u2019re proposing for these two locations in close proximity is unprecedented.\u201d<\/p>\n
His major concern would be the close proximity of multiple parcels to the Brownell Reservoir in Carbondale Twp.\n<\/p>\n
A coal power plant would be much more concerning, but even natural gas plants will change the contours of the soil and surface, which is \u201cdefinitely going to have an impact,\u201d Schuster said, calling for close scrutiny.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania American Water\u2019s 2025 annual water quality report<\/a> for its Brownell\/Fallbrook systems cites a 2002 study from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection that characterized the Brownell system as \u201cconsidered vulnerable to road deicing and spills along roads.\u201d\n<\/p>\n PAW spokeswoman Alana Roberts said Friday the Brownell system produces an average of 2 million gallons per day but is rated for 4 million. The water utility is not aware of any discussions with PPL regarding land purchased near the Brownell Reservoir, she said.<\/p>\n The power plants take abstract discussions about the impacts of artificial intelligence and data centers and make them real, Schuster said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt starts to get visceral when you look up at the surrounding hillsides that you\u2019re used to seeing forests on, and now you\u2019re going to see cleared land with large power plants,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re going to be hearing them, smelling them. This is the type of thing that\u2019s going to bring about a real reckoning on the future of this kind of development.\u201d<\/p>\n At 1,500 megawatts, the larger power plant has essentially the same generating capacity as the Lackawanna Energy Center natural gas-fired power plant in Jessup. According to federal emissions data<\/a> from 2023, the latest year available, the power plant emitted just over 3.7 million tons of greenhouse gases.\n<\/p>\n \u2018Living in a nightmare\u2019<\/p>\n A mother of three from Archbald, Tamara Misewicz-Healey and her husband, Justin, formed the Stop Archbald Data Centers movement last year, spearheading local efforts to oppose data centers and associated power plants. After learning of the plans, Misewicz-Healey, an industrial hygienist, had two words: absolute insanity.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I learned about this, I honestly felt like I might be sick to my stomach because the scale of this is already of such concern, and it just keeps growing,\u201d she said. \u201cHonestly, it feels like I\u2019m living in a nightmare, and I just am waiting to wake up from it \u2014 or waiting for somebody to come and stop this.\u201d<\/p>\n She compared the power plants to Lackawanna County\u2019s historic energy sector \u2014 coal \u2014 and cited the potential for the local topography to trap pollution, allowing it to sit over the valley. When it does travel, it generally travels down the valley, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe learned from the past to build a brighter future that wasn\u2019t monopolized, that was diversified, that held higher standards,\u201d she said. \u201cYet, why does it feel like they are just repeating history and not at all learning the lessons that we, ourselves, were preaching? Here we are again \u2014 becoming the leaders once again in exploitative energy production.\u201d<\/p>\n She advocated for residents to pressure county, state and federal elected officials to act.<\/p>\n \u201cThey need to do something, because there are so many projects at this point that us legally addressing every single one individually would just consume so much time and so much money,\u201d she said. \u201cThe biggest thing we need to do is to speak out to ensure everyone is aware that this is not what we want. This is not the direction we want to go.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Improperly attempt\u2019<\/p>\n A Delaware limited liability company governed by PPL Corp. executives signed an April memorandum with DeNaples, who co-owns the Keystone Sanitary Landfill in Dunmore and Throop with his brother, Louis DeNaples, for the west campus encompassing nearly 4,860 billed acres beginning above Business Route 6 in Carbondale Twp. near Mayfield and extending north into Fell Twp. beyond the Owego Turnpike.\n<\/p>\n A day after filing the west campus memorandum April 24, the joint venture \u2014 using the name Invitium Energy LLC \u2014 applied with grid operator PJM to build 1,500-megawatt and 750-megawatt natural gas power plants in Lackawanna County. PPL Corp. owns 51% of Invitium, according to an Aug. 7 earnings report.<\/a><\/p>\n Two months later, the venture secured just over 2,200 more acres for an east campus, beginning less than 1,000 feet from Lackawanna County\u2019s Aylesworth Park and extending north to the western border of the Brownell Reservoir.\n<\/p>\n The Sunday Times analyzed 36 parcels contained in the memorandums using Lackawanna County assessment data to determine the entire footprint represents about 7,177.2 billed acres spanning a mix of contiguous parcels and stand-alone pieces of land, representing 11.2 square miles, or about 2.4% of Lackawanna County\u2019s entire 459-square-mile landmass. The acreage is equivalent to more than 5,400 football fields, or nearly double the combined footprints of the city of Carbondale and Mayfield.\n<\/p>\n The parcels are woven throughout the Upvalley communities from a real estate portfolio of former coal mining properties amassed over decades, including west of Business Route 6, east of the Casey Highway and between the two major arteries, lining large portions of Carbondale and dotting residential areas.\n<\/p>\n![\"Stop](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/STT-L-GREEN-0620-4-1.jpg\")
Stop Archbald Data Centers co-founder Tamara Misewicz-Healey cross-examines a data center representative during a conditional use hearing at the Valley View High School auditorium in Archbald on Thursday, June 18, 2026. (FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY \/ STAFF PHOTO)<\/p>\n
![\"Lackawanna](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1788018611_75_STT-L-DATACENTERS-0328-05.jpg\")
Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan shakes the hand of a supporter after his remarks during the special meeting on data center applications at the Archbald Borough Building in Archbald Friday, March 27, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n