Montour County, PA — Yesterday evening, following public pushback from a packed room of residents, the Montour County Planning Commission recommended against a Talen Energy request to rezone more than 800 acres of agricultural land to industrial. 

If approved by the County Commissioners, Talen Energy’s request would expand its existing fracked gas power plant and enable the buildout of controversial data centers. The Montour County Commissioners will cast a final decision after a public hearing on December 17.

In response to the vote, Food & Water Watch Eastern Pennsylvania Senior Organizer Ginny Marcille-Kerslake issued the following statement: 

“The Montour County Commissioners must reject this land giveaway and stand against corporate interests.These hyperscale data centers threaten our drinking water, pollute our air, and drive up energy bills, all while bolstering corporate polluter profits. As communities across the state are increasingly making clear — data centers have no place in Pennsylvania.”

“The unfettered spread of data centers is not a given. Communities are using their power through local zoning and ordinances to push back against these facilities that are meant to serve Big Tech and the fossil fuel industry. Meanwhile our state legislature considers bills like HB502 and SB939 that would steamroll public input by taking away this local zoning control for energy and data center projects. Bills like those threaten local decision-making, leaving residents at the mercy of people who do not have the community’s interest in mind.”