Citizens Alliance Mobilizes Opposition Against Data Center-Linked Hydroelectric Project in Lackawanna County
Local citizens in Old Forge and surrounding townships are actively opposing a proposed pumped storage hydroelectric power plant intended to power AI hyperscale data centers on Bald Mountain in Ransom Township, Pennsylvania. The Lower Lackawanna Valley Citizens Alliance (LLVCA) highlighted severe environmental concerns, including massive excavation, water contamination, and slope instability. While data center plans have not been formally filed, the hydroelectric plant project is proceeding through federal permitting.
The Lower Lackawanna Valley Citizens Alliance (LLVCA), a new nonprofit, recently hosted an informational open house in Old Forge, Pennsylvania, drawing approximately 50 citizens. The meeting focused on a proposed pumped storage hydroelectric power plant project, which is explicitly intended to power future AI hyperscale data centers. This project gained controversy after news broke in July about a developer's plan for a data center campus across hundreds of acres on Bald Mountain in Ransom Township, near residential areas and the Old Forge School District. Although the developer's websites detailing the data center plans have since disappeared and no formal applications for the data center project have been filed, the 1,300-acre pumped storage power plant project remains in the federal pipeline.
Renewable Energy Aggregators Inc. of Pittston, Pennsylvania, and Sullivan's Island, South Carolina, has applied for a permit from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for the hydroelectric plant. LLVCA Vice Chairwoman Michelle Wadika presented a detailed analysis, drawing from the project's "Pre-Application Document" (PAD), to outline significant environmental risks. These include the excavation of 5.5 million cubic yards of soil and rock (equivalent to the Hoover Dam), potential slope instability, mine subsidence, deforestation, flooding, water contamination from acid mine water laced with heavy metals, and plummeting property values. Citizen Frank Scavo further emphasized the long-term toxicity of the acid mine water, suggesting the site could become a Superfund site.
The article, an opinion piece by Chris Kelly, highlights the broad community opposition to the project, noting that even individuals with differing political views are uniting against what they perceive as a common threat of "industrialized annihilation." Kelly asserts that information, like that provided by LLVCA volunteers, is crucial for empowering an informed public to oppose such developments. Polls suggesting widespread American opposition to data center construction in their communities are cited as evidence of this growing resistance.