Pennhurst Data Center Ordinance Rejected As Controversy Intensifies

EAST VINCENT TOWNSHIP, PA — Officials rejected a proposed ordinance for the intensely controversial data center project in East Vincent Township, which would have created a specific zoning framework for data centers to be built.

The proposed ordinance came with some restrictions on data centers, too, but was widely rejected by local advocacy organizations that have marshaled more than 12,000 signatures in protest against the center.

While approval of the ordinance would have fast tracked the proposal on the Pennhurst state school grounds, the rejection means the project will continue to move slowly through the existing zoning laws.

Related: Vote On Controversial Montco Data Center Suddenly Halted Monday Night

A massive crowd packed the township building Wednesday night. The project still has not received formal approval from the township board, and there will be several more hearings in the new year that will surely field as large and vociferous crowd of opponents as Wednesday night.

State Sen. Katie Muth says developers, who plan to sell the data center to an undisclosed big tech buyer, represent for-profit interests, and that apparent sweeteners to the deal, such as kickbacks to the township, are irrelevant.

"Let me be clear: a one-time payout to the Township or token 'community fund' won’t protect the veterans living next door or the families who would bear the noise, diesel fumes, traffic, massive power and water demands, and the health impacts that come with them for years to come," Muth said in a statement. "Developers use CBAs to dress up a bad project, but the real costs stay local and permanent while the benefits are tiny and temporary."

More than 12,000 people have signed a petition to protect the community from the data center.

Beyond the frequently cited, unsustainable demands on water usage and electricity, opponents point to irreversible damage to the general character of the larger community.

"Once the land is cleared and industrialized it can never be restored," the petition notes. "The Pennhurst property also borders private homes, the Southeastern Veterans Center and the Schuylkill River Trail. Protecting this land means preserving a peaceful environment for residents and veterans and safeguarding the trail experience for thousands of walkers, runners and cyclists who use it year-round."

The proposal calls for five data center sites across 1.3 million acres of the property, along with a five acre electrical substation, and a "black carbon" plant that would burn old tires.

While developers and state politicians like Gov. Josh Shapiro have eagerly courted data centers as routes to quick economic gains, they have faced intensifying pushback as more public scrutiny reveals their consequences. Nearby, another fraught proposal for a data center in Plymouth Township, at the old Cleveland Cliffs steel plant, has been shelved.

Data centers, which are essentially just facilities that store computer servers and other IT infrastructure, have existed for decades. But their demand has skyrocketed in the past two years due to the artificial intelligence boom, as the supercomputers required to power the massive undertaking need more and more space.

Like East Vincent Township, the Plymouth proposal was excoriated for developers refusing to disclose exactly what big tech company would take ownership of the grounds.

But concerns over the data center extend beyond the simple environmental and financial concerns that appear on the surface, concerns that have been echoed across the country. There's now a deepening worry that developers and tech companies behind the push for data centers are working with state officials to strong-arm local municipalities and the established zoning and hearing process. Beyond Gov. Shapiro's outspoken and seemingly unconditional support for data centers, state legislators are advancing legislation that would remove local control over energy infrastructure projects and hand it over to a state "Reliable Energy Siting and Electric Transition (RESET) Board."