State legislators from Northeast Pennsylvania represent communities with the most proposed data center developments in the state.
Some of those elected officials are now supporting or drafting laws that could pause the industry or put standards in place for local municipalities to follow.
"There has to be a bunch of different avenues that we have to try to explore and take legislatively,” state Rep. Kyle Donahue, D-Lackawanna, said.
On Monday, Donahue’s House Bill 2151 and state Rep. Kyle Mullins’ House Bill 2150 were both voted out of committee. Donahue’s bill provides guidance for local ordinances regulating data centers. Mullins’ bill would require developers and end users to report energy and water usage to the state.
Last week, state Sen. Rosemary Brown, R-Monroe County, announced she would cosponsor state Sen. Katie Muth’s anticipated moratorium legislation that would pause the development of hyperscale data centers in Pennsylvania for three years. Muth is a Democrat who represents Senate District 44, which includes parts of Berks, Chester and Montgomery counties.
Hyperscale data centers are massive structures designed for cloud computing and large-scale data processing.
Brown said after a year of research, listening to the community and attending meetings she still feels like she and her constituents still do not have definitive, consistent and accurate information about the data center industry.
"I understand there's economic development involved here, that there is the talk and the need for housing data, but I do think that the priorities and the safety of the residents and the resources that we have take first priority,” she said.
State protections for residents
Brown’s district covers parts of Lackawanna, Wayne and Monroe counties and has the most data center campuses proposed in Northeast Pennsylvania, according to a WVIA News analysis.
In the 40th District, Archbald has six pending projects, which is the most proposed in one municipality in Pennsylvania; Jessup has two; there is one campus proposed between Clifton and Covington townships; one in Tobyhanna Twp.; and one in Smithfield Twp.
"We need to make sure that the state does what it can to help protect the residents and do responsible development if it happens at all,” Brown said.
In February, Muth sent a memo saying she would soon propose legislation called "Protecting Pennsylvania Communities: Statewide Moratorium on Data Center Development."
In the memo, Muth says a three-year moratorium would allow “Pennsylvania decision makers to take time to do meaningful research and planning that should have been done before this data center development rush began.”
The pause would require state agencies to conduct impact studies and put clear rules in place that are based on health and safety standards, not industry standards, the memo says.
Brown said it’s important to know not only where the data centers will be built but how the local municipalities are deciding on locations.
"And I think that process has failed me and the people in many ways, and that is where I think a lot of this stems from,” she said.
Brown believes the centers should be in communities’ industrial zones.
She acknowledges that any moratorium could push back opportunities.
"But you also don't want to be the state that says ‘we should have done this’ or ‘we should have done that and we didn't’ and because of that, the impact can't be reversed or have even more impacts on top of it," she said.
Brown also introduced a “Residents First” legislative package, which would:
- Require data center developers to provide “will-serve” letters to confirm utilities can handle a project at full build-out before a formal application is submitted.
- Limit large-scale data center development to zoned industrial areas.
- Mandate independent, third-party water impact study and analysis at least 30 days before any formal application and require long-term follow-up.
- Direct the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee (LBFC) to study emerging data storage technology and evaluate its long-term viability, including whether current technology may become obsolete and whether emerging alternatives may reduce environmental and resource impacts.
Mullins wants transparency
Mullins also represents Archbald and Jessup. Dickson City is also part of his state House district. Dickson City Development LLC is proposing building a large-scale data center on Bell Mountain off Business Route 6 in the borough.
Mullins’ legislation is called the “Data Center Energy and Water Reporting Act.” He said residents are demanding more transparency from the industry.
"If the data center industry wants to expand here in Pennsylvania and avail itself of our precious resources like water and power and land, the very least among many things that should be required of them is transparency,” he said.
If passed, data center operators would have to submit an annual report to Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) on the facility's energy consumption and water consumption. DEP would be required to post annual public reports online on that consumption information by all data centers in Pennsylvania.
"There's clearly interest by the industry in Pennsylvania. If they want to come here, we deserve full knowledge of what impacts on our utilities they would have,” Mullins said.
The Data Center Coalition opposes the bill, he said. They argue that the reporting measures are not required of other industrial users. The coalition did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"I go back to the fact that this is a very new industrial use. And depending how many are developed, or, you know, are authorized throughout Pennsylvania, they could be an unprecedented user of power and water,” he said, acknowledging that the bill does single out one industry.
According to Mullins' proposed bill, the report would include:
- The name, address and nature or purpose of the facility.
- Total energy consumption for the previous calendar year.
- The average amount of energy usage per hour during peak load.
- Total water consumption for the previous calendar year, along with the maximum day demand, specified by month, water source and whether the consumption was intended for cooling or another application.
- Any measures undertaken in the previous calendar year to improve energy or water efficiency and reduce energy or water consumption.
- Any measures undertaken to protect the environment and public from polluted water.
- Any measures undertaken to generate electricity onsite to reduce carbon emissions or impacts on the electric grid.
- Total amount of waste heat produced on-site.
- Any measures undertaken to recover waste heat to power the data center, or to recover waste heat for purposes relating to general building heating, cooling systems or coolant systems specifically for the capture of waste heat from processors.
- The projected total energy and water demand for the following year.
- Any other information required by the department.
State guidance for communities
Donahue's house district represents Covington and Clifton townships. Doylestown-developer 1778 Rich Pike LLC plans to construct Project Gold, an 11-building data center campus between the two municipalities.
He attended a Covington Twp. meeting in July where supervisors voted to add data centers to its zoning ordinance. The meeting lasted 3 hours. Supervisors listened as more than 30 North Pocono area-residents, landowners and taxpayers addressed their concerns about allowing the industry in their rural community.
Donahue and Mullins began working together after that to figure out what can be done at the state level.
Donahue’s bill, Community Standards for Data Center Developments, would direct the Center for Local Government Services, which is part of the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED), to create a model zoning ordinance to help municipalities regulate data centers and mitigate community impacts within their boundaries.
"We don't want to, as a state, come in and say ‘municipalities should do this, this or this.’ It's an optional tool to really just give them the options of what might work best for their situation,” he said.
In Pennsylvania, and most of the United States, municipalities have to allow for every possible use. Elected officials cannot deny a data center project because they or their residents don’t want a campus in their community. That is illegal in Pennsylvania and backed up by case law.
What municipalities can do is regulate data centers, and all land uses, through zoning ordinances. That includes allowing data centers in industrial, manufacturing or commercial areas.
But many communities have been caught off guard over the past year by data center proposals and developers who are quick to challenge ordinances for excluding data center uses even when municipalities don’t yet have the language to regulate the industry.
Elected officials across Northeast Pa. are amending zoning ordinances to provide for data centers and all the industry’s uses, like power generation, according to Pa. Public Notices.
Donahue’s bill would also financially help municipalities, who he said are often paying a lot to develop ordinances.
The model ordinance would include:
- Dimensional standards, including height and size limits.
- Setback distances from homes.
- Landscape buffers.
- Screening or fencing for data centers near homes.
- Require documentation of water, sewage and power usage.
- Noise and vibration limits.
- Emergency response planning.
- Aesthetics and parking.
Donahue said the model ordinance would be developed by certified planners at DCED alongside environmental groups and municipal associations.
A bill's path to law
Donahue said the process to get a bill passed begins with releasing a memo that outlines the broad idea. Then drafting legislation begins. Different groups give feedback on legislation. Then it gets referred to a committee who decides to take up the legislation or not.
House Bill 2151 and 2150 were voted out of the House Energy Committee on March 2.
The bills will now go back to the full house who can amend them, if needed. Then the legislation goes to a vote.
If a bill passes the house, it's sent to the state Senate, who also has the ability to amend the legislation. If the Senate amends the bill, it goes back to the house to either approve those amendments or edit it again.
Donahue called it a “tennis match.”
Once the house agrees on those terms, it votes. If the bill is approved then it's sent to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s desk for his consideration.
