Upper Burrell residents remain unclear about data center’s project scope

Residents of Upper Burrell Township, Pennsylvania, are feeling uninformed about the scope and potential impacts of a data center being developed by TECFusions in their community. Sue Baxter, a longtime resident living next to the site on Seventh Street Road and White Cloud Road, voiced concerns about health, noise, environmental impacts, higher energy bills, and low-vibration frequencies affecting her migraine condition. While township officials, including Chairman Ross Walker, are working on an ordinance to establish zoning and permitting guidelines for future data center developments, progress continues on the TECFusions facility. TECFusions founder Simon Tusha stated that the center, located in the former Alcoa/Arconic Research Development campus, would not have negative environmental or noise impacts, emphasizing their commitment to the community. He noted that the site already housed a data center for years, making the current concerns seem sudden. The advocacy group Protect PT, led by executive director Gillian Graber, has extended its focus to include data centers due to the Upper Burrell site, arguing that TECFusions' planned hyper-scale center is vastly different from the previous Arconic data center. Residents like Russell Ciappetta are concerned about increased electricity costs, property devaluation, and air pollution from natural gas generation, despite TECFusions' plans to use on-site wells and potentially return power to the PJM Interconnection grid. Tusha maintains that operations will comply with all environmental standards. Township solicitor Steve Yakopec and code enforcement officer Scott Chermak confirmed that the supervisors are researching ordinances from other municipalities, including a model from PennFuture, but do not have a completion date. Chermak also noted that the TECFusions project, having already received a building permit for existing structures, would likely be grandfathered under current policy. Upper Burrell supervisors recently visited a TECFusions data center in Clarksville, Virginia, to gather information. A public town hall is scheduled for May 5 at Penn State New Kensington's theater to discuss the plans with TECFusions representatives and township officials.