PA House passes two bills to regulate data centers
Reprinted from Delaware County Daily Times
By Zack Hoopes, pennlive.com
The state House has passed two bills intended to help the state and local governments grapple with the impacts of data centers, as communities across the commonwealth continue to deal with the proliferation of the sprawling computer farms.
The first of the bills (HB 2150) would require data centers to file annual reports with the state Department of Environmental Protection detailing the facility’s electric and water consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and other parameters.
The second (HB 2151) would instruct the state’s Local Government Commission to develop a model zoning ordinance, providing municipalities with a template to develop their own rules on where data centers can go, what setback and landscape buffers they’re subject to, what noise limits they must meet, and similar land-use issues.
Neither of the bills explicitly says the commonwealth should be making it harder for data centers to locate here. But pushback to the explosion of data center projects is clearly the motivating factor.“This is not some well-thought-out zoning, planning, and economic development process. This is a reckless gold rush, and people are angry and overwhelmed, and they are watching,” said Rep. Kyle Mullins, D-Lackawanna County, the author of the reporting bill.
There are now nine proposed data center campuses in his district, located just north of Scranton, Mullins said, six of them in a single municipality.
Similar surges of data center development have been seen in the Harrisburg region, particularly along the I-81 corridor in Cumberland County.
Monday’s bills come amid growing concern over data center operators’ seemingly insatiable appetite for land that many communities would rather see put to other uses, as well as electricity price increases that have been blamed on data centers’ power demand.
Last month, the House passed a bill to create a new regulatory and rate-setting system for data centers, designed to insulate residential consumers from price hikes and requiring the facilities to source increasing amounts of power from new clean energy sources.
But there is also some backlash to the backlash.
“We are talking about an industry that will bring jobs to this commonwealth, and in fact I believe under the right guidelines can actually help strengthen the grid in this commonwealth,” said House Minority Leader Jesse Topper, R-Bedford County.
Some Republicans were also skeptical of the model ordinance concept, fearing it would be a first step toward the state usurping local zoning control. Similar concerns have been voiced regarding Gov. Josh Shapiro’s push to create a state siting board for power generation projects.
“The question to consider is who’s providing the input and drafting the model ordinance,” said Rep. Martin Causer, R-Potter County, the ranking Republican on the House Energy Committee. “Keep in mind that this is an administration that has wanted to create a siting board that takes away local input from local officials.”
Nothing in the bill would require local governments to adopt any of the concepts in the commission’s model ordinance, Democrats stressed. “It does not mandate adoption. It does not override or diminish local control in any way,” said the bill’s author, Rep. Kyle Donahue, D-Lackawanna County. “In fact, the bill explicitly states that nothing requires a municipality or county to adopt the model ordinance, in whole or in part.”
The reporting and zoning bills passed on votes of 133-68 and 124-77, respectively, with all of the House’s Democratic majority and a handful of Republicans in support in both instances. The bills now head to the GOP-majority state Senate.
Chester County
In a matter closest to Delaware County, for the second time in as many months, the township planning commission voted again against recommending approval of the proposed data center at the former Pennhurst hospital site.
As was the case on Feb. 17, the developer, Penn Hurst Holdings DE LLC did not show up for the meeting.
“I understand attendance may not have been required this evening. But for a proposal of this magnitude and potential impact on the township it would have been appropriate and courteous to have a representative present to answer questions,” said planning commission member Nicole Keegan.
Just hours before the February meeting, during which the data center plan was the only thing on the agenda, the developers announced they would not attend and that they were submitting a revised plan for the data center, which now includes a natural gas powered power plant.
And, as was the case in February, the planning commission members spent the meeting pointing out all the “significant deficiencies” on the revised plan.
Planning Commission Chairwoman Rachael Griffith said the revised plan takes what was originally 1.3 million square feet among five buildings to 1.9 million square feet spread over three buildings.
Further, there are “no details about the substation” and the most recent revision has the data center 10 to 20 feet closer to the Southeast Pennsylvania Veterans Hospital next door.
“My view of this is this is a plan that looks like three big boxes have been dropped from Planet Zod on to Pennhurst,” said board member Lawson Macartney.
“The deficiencies are very obvious and this project would require multiple zoning variances. Further, there is no consideration for topography, like steep slopes and no details on noise, emissions or vibrations and no further details on water usage or required power usage,” said Macartney.
The square footage of the three buildings combined adds up to the equivalent of about 41 acres, he said. “You can just imagine the amount of power and cooling that is going to require.”
The maximum building size allowed in the zoning district is 45,000 square feet, but each of the proposed three buildings dwarfs that figure, said board member Elaine Milito. “Building A is 269,400 square feet; building B is 415,200 square feet and building C is 251,600 square feet,” she said. “This does not follow our zoning at all.”
State Sen. Katie Muth, D-44 and a township resident, said despite the developer’s physical absence at the planning commission, they are present in cyberspace.
“You have probably seen their paid advertisements throughout social media,” she said.
The firm, which made those ads, which used AI to make a fake Spring City, rather “than just walk down the street of the community they are trying to destroy, is being used to help data center plans throughout the Northeast.
“So there is a very coordinated plan. I know this feels overwhelming,” she said. “It truly is a David and Goliath battle.”
The next step for the project is the start of conditional use hearings before the township supervisors who will sit in a “quasi-judicial” capacity to determine if the plans meet the conditions laid out in the zoning ordinance.
MediaNews Group reporter Evan Brandt contributed to this article.
PHOTO/Wikimedia Commons
