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In the Highlands at Archbald where the Nudelman\u2019s home is, located in the center unit in the bottom right, the 620,000 sqare-foot Project Boson is proposed to be built on the land of the former junkyard on Eynon Jermyn Road in Archbald Friday, September 18, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n
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The tree line behind the homes at the Highlands at Archbald is what separates the property of the homeowners and the proposed 620,000 sqare-foot Project Boson to be built on the land of the former junkyard on Eynon Jermyn Road in Archbald Friday, September 18, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n
Show Caption<\/p>\n
1 of 2<\/p>\n
In the Highlands at Archbald where the Nudelman\u2019s home is, located in the center unit in the bottom right, the 620,000 sqare-foot Project Boson is proposed to be built on the land of the former junkyard on Eynon Jermyn Road in Archbald Friday, September 18, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n
Expand<\/a><\/p>\n With a footprint larger than 10\u00bd football fields, Project Boson borders the Highlands Archbald housing development off Eynon Jermyn Road on two sides. Just across the street, the same developer is seeking approval<\/a> from Archbald for a 400-megawatt Essential Energy LLC natural gas power plant near Archbald\u2019s Staback Park.\n<\/p>\n \u201cI feel it\u2019s going to be the death of me,\u201d said Meg Nudelman, 66, a two-time breast cancer survivor with bad asthma. \u201cBut where do you go? We\u2019re not young.\u201d<\/p>\n Archbald resident Meg Nudelman questions Essential Energy LLC\u2019s sound engineer during a conditional hearing on Monday, June 22, 2026, at the Valley View High School in Archbald. (FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY \/ STAFF PHOTO)\n<\/p>\n Archbald resident Meg Nudelman applauds during the special meeting on data center applications at the Archbald Borough Building in Archbald Friday, March 27, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n Show Caption<\/p>\n 1 of 2<\/p>\n Archbald resident Meg Nudelman questions Essential Energy LLC\u2019s sound engineer during a conditional hearing on Monday, June 22, 2026, at the Valley View High School in Archbald. (FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY \/ STAFF PHOTO)\n<\/p>\n Expand<\/a><\/p>\n Meg and her sister, Kim Nudelman, 75, moved into their townhouse nine years ago to settle into in their older years, enjoying the peace of a largely retirement-age street. That changed last year when Archbald Data & Energy Center LLC filed land development plans and a zoning permit application for Project Boson, initially proposing three data centers before merging them into one giant building. Other companies tied to Kriger Construction propose four data centers and three natural gas power plants across Bell Mountain<\/a> in Dickson City.\n<\/p>\n \u201cIt never even entered our mind,\u201d Meg Nudelman said, discussing the prospect of a massive data center and power plant near their home. \u201cIt\u2019s so peaceful. \u2026 We got it because it was one-floor living for our older years that we could navigate.\u201d<\/p>\n While Project Boson does not need conditional-use approval from Archbald council, it still requires final land development approval from the borough, as well as permitting from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n In its review of Project Boson\u2019s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit application, otherwise known as its stormwater permit, the DEP identified technical deficiencies<\/a> across 23 categories. The Aug. 26 letter provided about 140 comments ranging from minimizing stormwater to existing soil contamination and lack of investigation into potential groundwater contamination from a junkyard that had operated for nearly 70 years.\n<\/p>\n There are 51 data centers proposed in Archbald across six projects, with another developer considering at least two more<\/a> data centers in the Valley View Business Park.\n<\/p>\n \u2018Reduce stormwater volume\u2019<\/p>\n PDC Realty LLC, 99 Power Blvd., Archbald, purchased the former junkyard in August 2025 for $1.575 million. Kriger Construction President Jim Marzolino most recently signed a corrective deed for the property in August as a member of PDC, according to Lackawanna County recorder of deeds filings.\n<\/p>\n Kriger Construction is listed as the equitable owner of the property in its Aug. 18, 2025, major land development preliminary plan filed in Archbald; Kriger Construction Vice President David Stiles signed Project Boson\u2019s subdivision\/land development application the same day.<\/p>\n Data center developer Jim Marzolino answers a question during a question-and-answer session at the Blakely Borough Building on Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. Kriger Construction Inc. Vice President David Stiles, who signed Essential Energy LLC\u2019s conditional use application, looks on during a conditional use hearing in the Valley View High School auditorium in Archbald to consider the 400-megawatt natural gas power plant on Thursday, May 21, 2026. (FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY \/ STAFF PHOTO)\n<\/p>\n Show Caption<\/p>\n 1 of 2<\/p>\n Data center developer Jim Marzolino answers a question during a question-and-answer session at the Blakely Borough Building on Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. Expand<\/a><\/p>\n Marzolino declined to comment when reached by phone Friday. Emailed requests for comment from Stiles were unsuccessful.\n<\/p>\n Although data centers are no longer allowed in the general commercial land bordering the Highlands, the developer applied in Archbald before the borough restricted its zoning in November<\/a> to regulate data centers. By applying before Archbald amended its zoning, the development is grandfathered under a principal permitted use designation that forgoes the conditional-use hearings used to regulate other projects like Wildcat Ridge<\/a> and Project Green Mountain<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n Project Boson\u2019s zoning permit application describes just over 1.6 million square feet of impervious area, meaning buildings, parking lots, roads and other structures that water can\u2019t permeate, covering about 43% of the 3.75-million-square-foot site.\n<\/p>\n In its technical deficiency letter, which is part of a back-and-forth exchange where the DEP identifies issues and gives the applicant a window to address them in a response, the department notes that Project Boson would increase stormwater runoff by 210,439 cubic feet in the event of a two-year storm, which is a storm that has a 50% chance of happening in any given year. That means during a bad storm, Project Boson could generate nearly 1.6 million gallons of runoff.\n<\/p>\n \u201cThe Department recommends the applicant explore other options to reduce stormwater volume,\u201d the DEP reports, recommending that, \u201cDue to increase in volume coming from the site, easements from the downslope property owners are suggested.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Too close to residences\u2019<\/p>\n Bernie McGurl has spent the past 40 years working with Northeast Pennsylvania\u2019s waterways, including 32 years as the executive director of the Lackawanna River Conservation Association. Although he stepped down from executive director, he remains a senior project manager for the group.<\/p>\n After reviewing the deficiency letter and its recommendation to seek out easements from nearby properties, McGurl came to a simple conclusion: \u201cThere\u2019s no place to put the stormwater up there.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat the mining companies did 150 years ago was disrupt, disturb, destroy all of the drainage areas. The topography of the landscape was turned inside out to mine the coal, both underground and then surface strip mining activities, and that ruptured the flow of water across the surface of the valley,\u201d McGurl said. \u201cSome of the water will infiltrate down through the broken rock and soils into the subterranean mine pool into the huge complex of mine voids under the valley, but that\u2019s not something that we really want to encourage because it has to be treated. It comes out into the (Lackawanna) river as mine drainage.\u201d<\/p>\n While some abandoned mine lands could support data centers, McGurl stressed his opposition to the developments, especially Project Boson\u2019s location.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s a spot in the valley right now that\u2019s appropriate. One or two of them could have some potential, but the sites in Archbald are definitely not appropriate,\u201d McGurl said. \u201cThey\u2019re too close to residences. They need to be at least a mile away \u2014 preferably more.\u201d<\/p>\n Generating nearly 1.6 million gallons of runoff during a bad rainstorm is significant near neighborhoods, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to fill up the street in front of your house with 3-4 inches of flowing water really quickly, and maybe up to a foot and cause a lot of flash flooding around the facility,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think we ever anticipated any kind of development at this scale in the valley.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018That soil is toast\u2019<\/p>\n Beyond stormwater issues, the DEP\u2019s deficiency letter addressed the site\u2019s contamination from the longtime junkyard.<\/p>\n The review notes that a January 2025 environmental site assessment found benzene and other chemicals in concentrations exceeding residential concentrations near a former 275-gallon storage tank, but a remediation report submitted July 31 did not include that area of concern. Neither the site assessment nor report included a groundwater investigation, so it\u2019s unknown if groundwater contamination is present, according to DEP.<\/p>\n \u201cDue to the scale and historical usage of the site, remaining soil contamination may be present in areas not characterized or remediated in previous environmental investigations,\u201d the DEP wrote, recommending that workers wear personal protective equipment during remediation and construction.<\/p>\n Asked about whether he expects groundwater contamination, McGurl chuckled for about 10 seconds before saying, \u201cI hope your recording machine is picking up the laughter \u2014 yeah, that soil is toast.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a brownfield site, so you have to treat it like there\u2019s hazardous materials in the soil, and the hazardous materials in the soil when they get wet, they get taken up by the water \u2014 stormwater or infiltration into groundwater \u2014 and when they\u2019re dry, and they get kicked around, they become airborne,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n \u2018Needs to be addressed immediately\u2019<\/p>\n Tamara Misewicz-Healey, an industrial hygienist and mother of three young children in Archbald, has spent the past year fighting data centers after co-founding the Stop Archbald Data Centers movement with her husband, Justin Healey. Project Boson raises serious concerns next to the Highlands and across the street from the borough\u2019s Staback Park, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re looking at contaminants like that, those are carcinogens, neurotoxins, and with those, there\u2019s really not a safe limit,\u201d Misewicz-Healey said. \u201cIt\u2019s just the more you\u2019re exposed, the higher your risk gets.\u201d<\/p>\n If soil isn\u2019t properly removed from the site, strong winds can blow the dust into nearby communities, she said. Even if residents don\u2019t inhale it, the dust could coat playgrounds and yards, exposing residents through their skin. Runoff from the rain can also carry it into streams and rivers, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a lot of questions that should be explored, and I think this needs to be addressed immediately,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Numerous studies have linked benzene exposure to blood cancers \u2014 lymphomas, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cChildren are especially susceptible to environmental carcinogens as their bodies are developing at a higher rate \u2014 higher rates of replication \u2014 and they don\u2019t have the full mechanisms that we do as adults,\u201d Misewicz-Healey said. \u201cThey also have different behavioral practices, so their heart rate is quicker, so they tend to breathe a lot more air per their body mass, so they have that higher route of exposure through inhalation. But they also generally have higher rates of exposure through dermal because they touch everything.\u201d<\/p>\n She contends Archbald\u2019s previous zoning, even when it principally permitted data centers in commercial zones without defining them, was intended for small-scale commercial data centers \u2014 not an industrial hyperscale building like Project Boson.<\/p>\n \u201cIt should just absolutely not be in the location it\u2019s being proposed in,\u201d she said. \u201cIt should be in a heavy industrial zone, well away from community everyday life.\u201d<\/p>\n Misewicz-Healey also worried about the impacts on the numerous older residents living in the Highlands.<\/p>\n \u2018This can\u2019t happen\u2019<\/p>\n Living next to a junkyard wasn\u2019t much of a disturbance for the Nudelman sisters. Sometimes they would see an old school bus through the treeline when the leaves fall in the autumn or they\u2019d hear a worker pulling parts from a vehicle, but it didn\u2019t really bother them.<\/p>\n Project Boson changed that.<\/p>\n Getting up from her kitchen table, Meg Nudelman picked up a black pouch with a decibel meter in it that she keeps next to the kitchen window facing Project Boson, explaining she and her sister monitor the noise next door. As Meg Nudelman demonstrated the meter, her sister flipped through a calendar, with decibel readings scribbled under each date.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen they were cutting down the trees, it got to 57 (decibels),\u201d Kim Nudelman said.<\/p>\n Archbald\u2019s zoning ordinance limits maximum daytime decibel levels to 55 dBA at residential property lines.\n<\/p>\n Noise<\/a> and air emissions<\/a> have emerged as two central concerns surrounding the bus-sized backup generators that data centers rely on during power outages.<\/p>\n When Archbald adopted its standards for data centers in November, it exempted backup generators from noise restrictions during testing and outages, but that waiver won\u2019t apply to Project Boson under the legacy zoning allowing it to proceed as a principal permitted use.<\/p>\n![\"Archbald](\"https:\/\/www.thetimes-tribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/STT-L-ESSENTIAL-0624-3.jpg?w=620\")
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\n(FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY \/ STAFF PHOTO)\n<\/p>\n![\"Kriger](\"https:\/\/www.thetimes-tribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/STT-L-ESSENTIAL-0523-17.jpg?w=620\")
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\n(FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY \/ STAFF PHOTO)\n<\/p>\n![\"Bernie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/STT-L-BERNIEMCGURL-080525-04.jpg\")
Bernie McGurl, former head of the Lackawanna River Corridor Association, at Sweeney\u2019s Beach in Scranton on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA\/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n
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Tamara Misewicz-Healey, co-founder of Stop Archbald Data Centers, asks questions during an Archbald Borough Council meeting at Valley View High School on Monday, May 11, 2026. (CHAD SEBRING\/STAFF PHOTO).\n<\/p>\n
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Residents of the Highlands at Archbald Kim Nudelman, Jim and Karen Timmons, Andy Jerome, and Meg Nudelman stand in front of the Kim and Meg Nudelman\u2019s residence in Archbald Thursday, September 17, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n![\"Archbald](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/STT-L-ESSENTIAL-0624-6.jpg\")
Archbald resident Karen Timmons questions Essential Energy officials during a conditional hearing on Monday, June 22, 2026, at the Valley View High School in Archbald. (FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY \/ STAFF PHOTO)<\/p>\n