Data Centers

Archbald Borough Council has new leadership. During a meeting Wednesday, the president, vice president and president pro tem were ousted from their roles. In November, they voted in favor of a controversial zoning move to allow data center development in the borough.

Archbald Borough Council leadership was removed, and new leaders were put in place during a meeting on Wednesday, March 18.

The Penn's Northeast seminar focused on the data center industry, its utility usage and economic development opportunities.

Archbald Borough held the second of three conditional use hearings for a data center campus proposed in the municipality.

State legislators from Northeast Pennsylvania represent communities with the most amount of 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.

State Sen. Rosemary Brown, and state Reps. Kyle Mullins and Kyle Donahue have either supported or sponsored legislation to regulate the data center industry in Pennsylvania.

Wilkes-Barre police did not seek an Amber Alert in their search for deaf teen La’Niyah Clark, whose body was found at the end of last month. This has raised questions about other advisories and calls for new options.

Gaughan asked county solicitor Paul James Walker to research whether the county can adopt an air quality ordinance that is more protective than current state and federal minimum standards.

Penn Forest Twp. now has protections in place to regulate data centers. Supervisors unanimously amended its zoning ordinance during a meeting Monday.

Supervisors added an amendment to the township's zoning ordinance during a regular meeting Monday.