NorthPoint Development’s Project Hazlenut Data Center Campus plans to use treated wastewater to cool down servers during the hottest months of the year.
That water will come from the Greater Hazleton Joint Sewer Authority, NorthPoint representatives said during a public meeting and hearing with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).
During an almost three-hour meeting at Hazleton Area High School, residents asked questions about water usage and disposal as well as details from the developer’s plans for a 15-building data center campus in the Humboldt Industrial Park in Hazle Twp. They also provided testimony, and critiques, for the DEP.
DEP held the meeting and public hearing on two of NorthPoint’s pending permits with the agency, which are:
- Chapter 105 water obstruction and encroachment permit, which regulates activities that affect streams, wetlands and flood plains.
- Chapter 102 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, which is an individual permit for storm water discharges associated with construction activities.
Denied but still moving forward
In November, Hazle Twp. supervisors voted 3-0 to deny NorthPoint’s land development plans for Project Hazlenut. The developer and the township are now in litigation over that decision.
Resident Christine Gardner asked if denial has changed their plans.
“No, the appeal is still underway, but as we're working through the process of the … land development appeal, we are still moving forward with DEP permitting process,” NorthPoint Vice President Brian Stahl said at the meeting.
Pam Kania is environmental program manager for waterways and wetlands in DEP’s Northeast Regional Office.
She said it’s typical for the agency’s permitting process to run “concurrent with final land development approvals.”
DEP does have a policy for land use conflicts, Kania said.
That policy states that DEP can suspend review of the authorization application, approve the authorization, approve the authorization with conditions or deny the authorization and offer to aid in the formulation of appropriate authorization conditions.
“In each case, the regional director, district mining manager or bureau director will decide how to proceed,” the policy says.
DATA CENTERS:
IN-DEPTH COVERAGE
WVIA News' reporting on data center developments in the region include a recent three-part digital series and a TV panel discussion:
● Potential Impacts on Water Supplies
● Potential Impacts on the Electric Grid
● Local Response to Data Center Developments
● Elected officials hesitant on data centers in region, want to keep decisions local
● Data Centers: Deal or Dilemma? Keystone Edition full episode
Project Hazlenut overview
NorthPoint officials began the meeting with a review of Project Hazlenut.
The total property is 1,300 acres. The campus will be built on 616 acres and the remaining 684 acres will stay undeveloped said Brian Stahl, the company's executive vice president of strategic initiatives.
The campus will include four ancillary buildings to support data center operations, a switch yard and substation for electrical service to the campus.
The land was previously strip mined and portions of it were timbered, Stahl said.
There will be two entrance points — one at North Park Drive, east of I-81, and another at Grassy Path Road for emergency access on the west side of the property.
Stahl said the closest residence is “five football fields” away.
NorthPoint will conserve two acres of land for every one acre of land of potential habitat that had been cleared for the campus, Stahl said. The conserved areas will be next to the site and just off site.
The developer is working with a land conservancy organization.
“NorthPoint will fund a stewardship plan so there's no cost to the community or to the organization for the monitoring of those sites, and will ensure that the property is held in trust for the community,” Stahl said.
Wastewater usage
Data Center Alley in Loudoun County, Virginia, has 20 miles of pipeline to cart reclaimed water to some of the 200 data centers in the region.
"In 2025, Loudoun Water delivered more than 750 million gallons of reclaimed water to customers, helping to save an equal amount of potable drinking water while reducing nutrients discharged to the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay," according to Loudoun Water.
Project Hazlenut will work with the Greater Hazleton Joint Sewer Authority (GHJSA) to create a smaller but similar system.
The max amount of treated waste water that the 15 data centers will use is 2.8 million gallons, NorthPoint Vice President Tom Williams said.
A pipeline will be constructed between the data center campus and the sewer authority. Project Hazlenut will fund that project as well as needed upgrades to the treatment plant, Williams said.
"The ratepayers of MAHT [Municipal Authority of Hazle Township] and GHJSA will not be financially responsible for any portion of this work,” he said.
The water will recirculate three times through the 15 buildings before its sent back to the sewer authority to be treated.
Residents questioned why the water will be sent back after three circulations.
Resident Ashley Bahrt asked if it’s because 70% of the water evaporates. She asked Williams if he agreed with that.
“Roughly,” Williams said.
Bahrt then asked if in the event of a drought during the hottest days of the year if the campus will be able to make up for water that might not be available from the sewer authority.
“I will say that the campus also has attenuation tanks to store quantities of water for cooling purposes in the event that water is needed at that time,” Williams said.
The campus’ domestic water, for toilets, sinks, etc., will come from CAN DO, which provides water for the Humboldt Industrial Park and Humboldt North Industrial Park.
"There are no water wells on the site currently,” Williams said.
The GHJSA dispenses treated water into Black Creek.
Hazle Twp. resident Dave Moran asked about the temperature of water once it leaves the data center buildings and returns to the sewer authority.
Because, he said, Black Creek now supports trout and other aquatic life that depends on cool water to survive.
"Did your studies look at that, and what is the effect of the temperature going to be on the Black Creek?” he said.
Williams said the water will be 90 degrees when it leaves the campus and heads back to the sewer authority. The water is then cooled to ground temperature as it works its way back to the treatment plant.
"There's no thermal impact to the Greater Hazleton Sewer Authority or the water that goes through the process system and eventually is discharged into Black Creek,” he said.
Amy Bellanca is the clean water environmental program manager for the DEP’s Northeast Office.
She said there are regulations for water discharge from the sewer authority.
"They still have to maintain the current standards that they do have in their permit, which is to maintain the cold water fish,” she said.
NorthPoint studied the impact of using the treated wastewater on animal habitats, macro invertebrates and water quality.
The campus' water usage could reduce Black Creek by 5.5%.
"The aquatic life of Black Creek would not be impacted by this water withdrawal, and there will be a period of monitoring required once the project is up and running," Williams said.
From October to April, the facilities will be air cooled.
"The climate of Northeastern Pennsylvania helps to reduce the water need for data centers,” Williams said.
There are eight stormwater basins throughout the campus. No cooling wastewater will be introduced into the system, Williams said.
There are also 13 wetlands on the property as well as six ponds, four unnamed tributaries, five small ponds and 12 vernal ponds.
Williams said less than 0.18 acres of wetlands will be disrupted by the project.
Sound and air
Shannon Buster is NorthPoint’s director of engineering.
"The sound from a data center is a little bit different than a lot of projects where the primary sound generator is traffic at a data center. The primary sound is coming from equipment,” she said.
That equipment is emergency generators and cooling equipment, Buster said.
"The sound that comes from that equipment fluctuates over time and even over the course of a day," she said. "You'll have the highest sound level from the cooling equipment on the hottest time of day, on the hottest days of the year. And emergency generators are obviously for emergencies, but they do test them routinely."
Buster said noise from cooling equipment is 45 decibels at the property line.
The generators will be tested twice a month for less than a half hour and generally during the daytime, she said. The generations have a “housing” on them to dampen sound.
"During that generator testing, we'd estimate about 55 decibels at the property line," she said.
The closest property is at Eagle Rock Resort, a private community.
Buster said the generators are Tier 4 certified, which means that they meet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s strictest guidance for emission standards.
The air quality and fuel tanks have to be permitted. NorthPoint has not started that process yet, Buster said.
Residents expressed concern about the emissions from those generators.
Residents questions and concerns
More than one resident asked if NorthPoint has an emergency management plan in the event of a natural disaster.
"We have started those discussions about emergency management and emergency management efforts that could be required," Williams said. "There are early parts of those conversations, and the plan will be further developed as we move closer to construction.”
Mark Rabo from Hazleton spoke during the public meeting and the hearing. He asked DEP to consider the entire watershed that feeds the greater Hazleton Area throughout the permitting process.
"I am very concerned about the strain and stress on the water supply of the Hazleton area, and as a result of not just Project Hazlenut, but also other data centers that would apply that fall within our watershed,” he said.
Sherri Homanko from Hazle Twp. testified that the Hazleton region is not an untouched landscape.
"Beneath our feet are legacy mine workings and subsurface voids that still influence groundwater movement today, large scale grading and drainage changes without robust mine substance analysis can destabilize those systems creating long term risks that extend far beyond boundaries of a single permit," she said.
Homanko also asked DEP to look at the cumulative impacts of data center campus proposals in the region. She noted that during a meeting in Archbald in Lackawanna County on Jan. 7 that DEP representatives said that permits requested for projects are looked at per project and some departments do not consider other nearby developments in their decision making.
"The Hazleton area deserves development that respects our history, protects our water and honors the constitutional rights of the people who live here and not accept development that asks us to accept risks first and answers later,” she said.
DEP is accepting public comments on the project until March 3. Comments can be mailed to DEP Northeast Regional Office, 2 Public Square Wilkes-Barre, PA, or by emailing pkania@pa.gov. For more details, visit https://www.pa.gov/agencies/dep/dep-regions/northeast-regional-office/northeast-community-information.
NorthPoint is also accepting questions at info@projecthazelnut.com.
