Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan has called for an independent health-impact assessment to gauge the cumulative effects of proposed data center projects and their related infrastructure on local communities. Gaughan introduced the proposal on Wednesday as intense local opposition continues to mount over controversial plans to construct massive data center campuses and accompanying power plants in the Midvalley region and surrounding areas. The proposed study would specifically evaluate how these large-scale facilities impact residents, public parks, schools, housing developments, and other sensitive community assets.
The borough of Archbald has rapidly become ground zero for the debate in Northeastern Pennsylvania, currently facing six separate data center proposals that would total 51 buildings across the municipality. In response, a grassroots movement named "Stop Archbald Data Centers" has mobilized, with its membership recently surging past 12,000 members. To justify the need for the assessment, Gaughan pointed to a similar study conducted in Loudoun County, Virginia, which successfully evaluated the public health and economic impacts of fine particulate matter emissions generated by the on-site power systems at a major data center facility there
