Mid Valley residents this week questioned a data center developer and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection about how a proposed seven-building campus in Archbald will impact their water, power and quality of life.
But some also had a more basic question: Whether Archbald 25 Developer LLC will even have a tenant to fill the buildings at what's dubbed Project Gravity.
So far they don't, and that has resident Amanda Russell concerned.
“Does that mean construction and basically destruction of our nature and everything happens, and then you might not have a tenant for it, or you don't know who's going in there, not sure I understand that,” Russell asked.
“We would not construct unless we have a tenant,” said local attorney Raymond Rinaldi II, who spoke on behalf of the developer during Tuesday's meeting at Valley View High School.
Rinaldi said the developers are in negotiations with tenants and he couldn't comment on specifics.
Russell submitted 31 questions ahead of Tuesday's meeting.
Archbald 25 plans to construct Project Gravity on about 186 acres of mine-spoiled land in Archbald. The group is one of at least five developers proposing data center campuses in the borough.
Archbald 25 applied for a water obstruction and encroachment permit and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Section 404 permits with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). They are still pending.
Many residents asked DEP if they were considering the other potential developments while reviewing the permits for Project Gravity.
That varies by department within the agency, the DEP representatives said.
DEP hosted Tuesday's meeting, which was open to anyone to with questions about the permits and the plans involved. More than 100 people attended the event, which lasted for about two hours.
Project Gravity: Site, background, officials
Project Gravity is bordered by Business Route 6 on its northwest side and Eynon Jermyn Road on its east side. A high-powered transmission line separates the property from neighboring properties.
Valley View Estates mobile home park, where people still live, is also within the Project Gravity site. The project area also borders state game lands 307, and 18 homes in the borough.
Archbald 25's plans for the campus include a parking area, substation and two access roads, according to the application. A utility line carrying petroleum products would also be built.
The group's application says the site "has a unique combination of features that makes it a practical data center location."
"The site was available, has access to major transportation corridors, has access to utilities (including public water and sewer), is adjacent to an electrical transmission line, has a relatively level topography, and the site is previously disturbed land. The site conditions satisfied Archbald 25’s goals for a data center development in the Scranton area,” according to the application.
Archbald 25 purchased the land from Five Up Realty, owned by James Marzolino, the president of Kriger Construction. D&L Realty, the realty firm owned by Dominick and Louis DeNaples, sold the land to Five Up, according to deeds filed in Lackawanna County.
Archbald 25 is based at 80 Broad St., 18th Floor, New York, N.Y., according to Pennsylvania Department of State records. Those records also list Allen Bram as the LLC’s governor and list the LLC’s office as Dauphin County.
A client contact is listed as Abie Kassin, who has an email address associated with Western Hospitality Partners, according to the DEP application.
Archbald 25 was formerly known as Western Hospitality Partners - Jermyn LLC, according to Lackawanna County deeds. Western Hospitality has been linked to data center developments in Kentucky, Illinois and Indiana.
Kassin is listed online as a founder of Meridian Investment Sales where he currently serves as a managing director. Kassin is also listed as the managing partner for Archbald 25 Developer LLC in the application. Rinaldi, a local attorney, is associated with the project, according to the application.
WVIA News called and emailed Kassin, who did not respond.
Site includes wetlands
The area for Project Gravity contains seven wetlands, two streams, and 31 open bodies of water, according to the application.
The total wetland area is around 2.25 acres. None of the wetlands were determined to be of Exceptional Value, the application states. That is a category of wetlands which merit special protection under the law due to characteristics such as serving as a habitat for endangered species or being in proximity to a public or water supply.
The wetlands are a result of mining, said Matt Bixler, a professional wetlands scientist from engineering and science firm ARM Group, who sat at the developer’s table at Tuesday’s meeting.
The developer worked with the Army Corps of Engineers to determine that the wetlands are isolated, and the water does not leave the site, Bixler said.
DEP regulations state that if a project impacts more than 0.05 acres of wetlands, a developer must replace those wetlands said Michael Tarconish, the agency's permitting and technical services chief for waterways and wetlands.
Under Pennsylvania code, if DEP determines the wetland cannot be replaced on site, then it goes into a “bank,” which is set up to establish wetlands around the state.
Coal mining past
Archbald resident Tamara Healey asked about groundwater.
DEP said the developer’s research focused only on surface water, since that is federally regulated, and the permits only apply to surface water.
However, mine maps on DEP’s website show that at least four layers of coal were mined beneath the area of Project Gravity. Coal companies pumped water out of the mines. Now the caverns are full of groundwater.
The application with DEP states that the area was both surface and deep mined.
Another resident asked what would happen if the developer encountered an issue with the mines beneath the surface. He asked if they would stop digging.
“We would go ahead and find out what that problem was, address that problem and continue to build,” said Rich Scheller, principal engineer with ARM Group LLC.
Water to be drawn from Lake Scranton
The data center buildings are expected to be two stories high and 135,000 square-feet each, which is about two times as big as the White House. The industry is known to use tons of water to keep the many servers inside cool.
Rinaldi estimated that the campus will need 360,000 gallons of water per day to operate. They submitted a request to Pennsylvania American Water who confirmed that the utility has the ability to provide the campus with that much water per day. The water will come from Pennsylvania American Water’s Lake Scranton reservoir.
Spokeswoman Alana Roberts said the utility “does not expect any impact on our water supply from the construction of the Archbald 25 Developer LLC’s Project Gravity data center.”
“Any new water withdrawal, such as the one proposed by the project, must be reviewed and approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The DEP’s Water Allocation Program aims to safeguard current water users and preserve ecological health. This process ensures that new withdrawals do not disrupt our operations or reduce water access for our customers,” Roberts said.
Russell asked the panel if their water pressure would be lowered because of the data center.
“As part of this development, my client has to install a large water tank to increase the pressure that is not currently servicing for a large water and surrounding communities. So my client has to make a significant investment, which they committed to with Pennsylvania American Water, to install pump stations, because the water has to come from the Lake Scranton reservoir,” Rinaldi said. “Pennsylvania American Water will not commit to servicing us unless we make these significant and costly improvements, which, once again, not only benefit my client, but benefit the system as a whole.”
Roberts said the utility will monitor the project and “work closely with regulatory agencies to ensure the integrity of our water supply remains protected.”
Many residents asked if the data center would use a closed loop system to cool servers. That system reuses coolant or fluid and does not discharge it into the environment, using less water in the end.
The developer’s representatives say that is tenant-specific and without a tenant they cannot determine what system they will use.
The wastewater from the campus will be sent to a Lackawanna River Basin Sewer Authority treatment plant. The data center will be considered an industrial user and because of that will be monitored by both DEP and the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said Amy Bellanca, DEP Environmental Program Manager in the Northeast office.
Power
Data centers need electricity 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The industry uses heavy-duty, sometimes diesel powered, backup generators so that operations do not shut down if there’s a power outage.
Russell asked how residents’ electricity would be impacted by the data center.
“The Public Utility Commission (PUC) regulates rates for industrial, commercial and residential users,” said Rinaldi. “Those rates are regulated by the PUC. We do not have any control over what the utility rates would be, those are regulated by PUC, and any questions regarding our rates, electricity rates would be governed by the PUC.”
Air, light and sound
Resident James Timmons asked about emissions, including diesel emissions.
Rinaldi said the developers have yet to apply for an air permit.
“An air permit would be required for any emissions that we have, that is usually tenant specific. At this time, we don't have a specific tenant and what their requirements are. Once that's determined, any request for emissions will be submitted to DEP,” he said.
DEP has not received an air quality approval application yet for the project, confirmed Mark Wejkszner, environmental program manager for air quality for DEP. He said they’ll have to meet state and federal regulations.
“We can't really specify much more than that until we get an application,” he said.
Timmons also asked about lighting. Rinaldi said that’s part of the developer’s land development plan.
“Archbald borough has an ordinance with regards to illumination from the site. I don't have the specifics, but we comply with that local regulation,” he said.
And as for sound, DEP does not monitor noise, agency representatives and the developer said. That goes back to the municipality.
“We're committed to emit 55 decibels during daytime hours and 45 decibels a night,” another representative for the developer replied from the panel. “We end up having to basically design our systems to not exceed 45 decibels that we comply with the standards during the 24-hour period, so we're basically going to implement whatever noise abatement measures we need to to comply with our standards.”
Land development
Rinaldi told the audience that the developer did an environmental assessment to determine what kind of plants and animals were on the property.
“We concluded there would be no impacts on site, or to the flora or the fauna of the general area” Rinaldi said.
According to the DEP application, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service told the developers that the project is within the range of the federally listed northern long-eared bat.
A Pennsylvania state and federally permitted bat biologist with BioSurvey Group performed an assessment, according to the application. The assessment determined the development of the site would not negatively impact potential winter bat habitat.
Russell asked about the woodlands.
“We're not clear cutting in the entire 180 acres, there will be buffers. There will be additional trees and grass plantings located throughout the site,” Rinaldi said.
Next steps
In September, the Archbald Planning Commission gave Project Gravity’s preliminary plan conditional approval, according to meeting minutes.
DEP says the developer's Chapter 105 permit for water obstructions and encroachments was deemed complete and is under technical review. The Chapter 102, which is for earth disturbance activities and post-construction stormwater management, permit is in completeness review.
Rinaldi said Tuesday that construction on the campus could take one to three years to complete.
