Pennsylvania data centers: what the public record shows.

These notes name selected records, say which kinds of public evidence were checked and show what remains missing. They do not add anything to the published counts.

• Economic development incentives — Checked
  • The Revenue reports name entities but no addresses, municipalities or counties, so most certifications cannot be bound to a site.
  • Certification-year reports before 2023 were not retrieved.
  • No DCED or county economic development award record was opened; the DCED data center planning toolkit was seen only in search results.
  • No list of projects previously in the PA Permit Fast Track Program was located.

  Selected records

  • Computer Data Center Equipment Exemption Program - Certification Year 2023 · Pennsylvania Department of Revenue
  • Computer Data Center Equipment Exemption Program - Certification Year 2024 · Pennsylvania Department of Revenue
  • Computer Data Center Equipment Exemption Program - Certification Year 2025 · Pennsylvania Department of Revenue
• Utility commission and large-load records — Partly checked
  • The PA PUC order, docket and party comments were never read (two timeouts and one connection refusal).
  • No PJM large-load or interconnection record was retrieved.
  • The FERC proceedings over the Talen and Amazon Susquehanna interconnection service agreement were not retrieved from FERC itself.
  • No electric distribution company large-load tariff filing was opened.

  Selected records

  • Interconnection and Tariffs for Large Load Customers, Docket No. M-2025-3054271 - Final Order · Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission
  • PA PUC docket M-2025-3054271 case file (Interconnection and Tariffs for Large Load Customers) · Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission
• Environmental and construction permits — Partly checked
  • The full 32-00457A plan approval PDF did not respond during review after 120 seconds, so emission unit and turbine details were not read.
  • No PA Bulletin air quality or NPDES notice was searched; the current review did not include a broad discovery sweep before that family could be worked.
  • DEP eFACTS was not queried for any other data center site.
  • No municipal building or grading permit was retrieved for any research lead.

  Selected records

  • Homer City Generation Site Redevelopment - permits and authorizations · Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Northwest Regional Office
  • PA DEP Air Quality Plan Approval 32-00457A - Homer City Generation LP (final plan approval PDF) · Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
• Local planning, assessor and map records — Checked
  • Only one county assessor system was queried; no other Pennsylvania county GIS was used.
  • No township or borough zoning hearing board decision was retrieved, including the Upper Macungie, Jessup and East Vincent denials which are known only from reporting.
  • Municipal files for Carlisle, Middlesex Township, East Whiteland, Limerick, Upper Merion, Archbald, Hazle Township, Salem Township and Muncy Township were not reached.

  Selected records

  • Falls Township news: NorthPoint Development at Keystone Trade Center land development plan approvals · Falls Township, Bucks County
  • Lawrence County Tax Parcel CAMA map service - parcel query for control number 26132000 · Lawrence County GIS / Assessor
• Tax abatements and development agreements — Partly checked
  • Only the City's summary was read; the full community benefits agreement was not retrieved.
  • No LERTA, TIF, KOZ or county development agreement was opened for any other Pennsylvania project.
  • The Clifton Township settlement agreement with 1778 Rich Pike LLC is known only from reporting.

  Selected records

  • Community Benefits Agreement Summary - Lancaster AI Hub · City of Lancaster, Pennsylvania
• Operator disclosures — Partly checked
  • Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Google, Meta, Oracle and Apple location pages were not checked for Pennsylvania sites, even though Oracle and Amazon entities appear in the state certification reports.
  • Flexential, TierPoint, Netrality, Iron Mountain, Expedient, Sentinel, Switch, PowerHouse and TECfusions operator pages were not yet reviewed directly.
  • the current review did not include a broad discovery sweep before operator pages could be located by search.

  Selected records

  • DataBank Pittsburgh data centers page (PIT1 and PIT2) · DataBank
• Open datasets and directories — Checked
  • Thirty-one Compute Atlas Pennsylvania records were read but not worked into research leads, including the Lackawanna County cluster entries Project Gravity and Triboro Industrial Park, the Upper Merion Renaissance Park applications, Switch Big Beaver, Aligned's Shippingport site and several operating colocation facilities.
  • No commercial directory was used.

  Selected records

  • Compute Atlas licensed directory, state extract · Compute Atlas
• Closures, withdrawals and former names — Checked
  • No municipal written decision, appeal filing or withdrawal letter was retrieved for any of these reversals.
  • Both Pennhurst articles could not be retrieved during review.
  • Older Pennsylvania data center closures, demolitions and renames were not searched at all.

  Selected records

  • Air Products abandons plan for data center at former Upper Macungie headquarters · Lehigh Valley Public Media
  • Future of Ransom Twp. property uncertain as Carbon County developer says no plans for data center campus · WVIA
  • Jessup denies Breaker Street data center · The Times-Tribune (via Yahoo News)
• News and other discovery — Partly checked
  • the current review did not include a broad discovery sweep partway through Pennsylvania, so the remaining families were worked only from URLs already in hand.
  • No advocacy or research tracker was opened.

  Selected records

  • Clifton Twp. supervisors settle with data center developer; residents promise litigation · WVIA
  • Legal notice claims deemed approval for Muncy Township data center · Williamsport Sun-Gazette