Lawmakers and local residents grapple with data center 'gold rush'

(The Center Square) - Data center dynamics were a prime topic once again on Monday in both the state Capitol in Harrisburg and in a local municipality where residents facing a proposed major data center development have questions and are on edge.

The Democratic-dominated state House passed two bills related to data centers in bipartisan votes. Both bills will now go to the Republican-controlled Senate for consideration.

Meanwhile, residents in Middlesex Township, Cumberland County, prepared for a Planning Commission meeting where a major data center proposal - one with three, six-building campuses to be set on 700 acres - was scheduled for discussion.

"A reckless gold rush" is how the sponsor of one of the bills that passed Monday, Democratic Rep. Kyle Mullins of Lackawanna County, described a proposal happening in his own county.

His bill, he said, would require a water- and energy-consumption report to be filed with the state each year by a data center. Combined with other bills pending in the Legislature, he said, it would help "to put responsible guard rails on this fast-moving industry."

The other bill, sponsored by Democratic Rep. Kyle Donahue, also of Lackawanna County, would have an agency within the state Department of Community & Economic Development generate a "model ordinance" that could be used by municipalities dealing with the data center boom.

Meanwhile, flowers of yellow, red, white and purple speckled shrubs and trees on one side of sun-splashed Country Club Road in Middlesex Township while expanses of dirt, piles of stone, dump trucks and earth-moving equipment dominated one area on the other side. It was the location for the three-campus "hyperscale" data center development that was to be discussed at the Planning Commission meeting Monday evening.

"I know if we go to sell, nobody is going to want to buy the house," said Beth Eby, a disabled electronics-assembly worker who lives directly across the street from the site with her husband.

Eby said she is worried about noise and prolonged construction. "I'm used to looking over at the mountains with the sunshine, when it comes up. Now, I'll be looking at buildings," she said.

People associated with the proposal installed a "seismic" detection box on her property, she said. She believed it was intended to measure ground vibrations from blasting across the street.

Another resident whose property is close to the Middlesex site is Republican state Rep. Barb Gleim.

Interviewed in the Capitol on Monday, Gleim said she hasn't made up her mind whether she favors the proposal for the site, but residents should keep in mind that an alternate proposal for the area involved building more than 1,000 homes.

Given the multiple proposals in recent years, Gleim said the property "can never go back to agriculture." Her own sense of where township residents stand is that half favor houses, and half favor a data center campus.

Gleim voted in favor of the Mullins bill that called for the water- and energy-consumption reports. "We ought to get a handle on what data centers are consuming," she said.

The bill was approved with all Democrats and 31 Republicans in favor.

Donahue said his bill to have the state create a model ordinance on data centers would give municipalities "best practices" guidance on issues like noise, vibration, water use and electricity. "Municipalities need help navigating these complex facilities," he said.

Many Republicans disagreed.

Rep. Martin Causer, a McKean County Republican, said the state did not need a "one size fits all" ordinance because each municipality has its own circumstances. The House minority leader, Republican Rep. Jesse Topper of Bedford County, agreed that the bill could have an effect opposite of what was intended. Topper nonetheless said the data center industry will bring jobs to the state.

The Donahue bill passed on a 124-77 vote. All Democrats and 22 Republicans voted in favor.