Chris Kelly Opinion: Marzolino’s experts ‘at a loss’ for answers

The article describes a contentious "conditional use" hearing before the Archbald Borough Council concerning a proposed 400-megawatt natural gas power plant by Essential Energy LLC. The plant, intended to power a nearly 620,000-square-foot data center called "Project Boson" developed by Jim Marzolino (president of Kriger Construction Inc.), sparked significant public opposition. Approximately 300 residents attended the hearing at Valley View High School, expressing frustration over the lack of transparency and detail in the developer's application and presentation. Essential Energy's expert witnesses, including Jennifer Leonard of KCI Technologies, were criticized for their inability to provide firm details on public health, environmental impact data, emergency response plans, or the site-selection process. Tamara Misewicz-Healey, co-founder of Stop Archbald Data Centers, and opposition attorney Justin Richards pressed the experts on these omissions, arguing they were required for the conditional use process. A consultant, Randall Holmes, attempted to frame the power plant as a solution to a looming energy crisis managed by PJM Interconnection, but failed to convince the skeptical crowd about local benefits. Misewicz-Healey also invoked the "fair share doctrine" to argue against Archbald bearing an disproportionate burden of industrial development, given its history and the six other data center proposals already under consideration. The developer's experts were unable to articulate a specific benefit for locating the power plant within the community rather than in a more remote area, further fueling public frustration. The article, an opinion piece by Chris Kelly, highlights what he perceives as a pattern of "sloppy, self-owning rollout" for data center projects in the region.