Lackawanna County Commissioner wants county to fund $165K study on health impacts of proposed data centers and power plants
Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan is urging the county to fund a $165,000 independent health impact study on proposed data centers and power plants, citing concerns about air quality and public health. This follows a previous study for an opposition group, which found significant health damages from backup generators at a proposed Archbald data center campus. Gaughan aims for a public vote and hopes the study's findings will influence state and federal officials regarding future development.
Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan is pushing for a county-funded independent health impact study, costing $165,000, to assess the cumulative air quality and public health effects of numerous proposed data centers and power plants within the county. Gaughan highlighted that 15 data center campuses are proposed for Lackawanna County, alongside four new power plants in Archbald and Dickson City to support their energy demands. He believes the county has a responsibility to its residents to lead on public health issues, especially given existing industrial presences like landfills and power plants in Jessup.
The proposed study would be conducted by Michael Cork, Ph.D., CEO of Empower Analytics Group and a post-doctoral research fellow at Harvard University. Cork previously completed a study for the "Stop Archbald Data Centers" group, which estimated that 588 diesel backup generators at the proposed Wildcat Ridge Data Center Campus in Archbald could cause $3 million to $124 million in annual health damages, including increased risks of death, heart attacks, hospitalizations, and lung cancer. Gaughan aims to use the findings to lobby Governor Josh Shapiro and other state and federal officials to reconsider widespread data center development.
Commissioner Thom Welby expressed support for the study's informational value but suggested that municipalities and the state should help cover the cost. He also questioned if Cork's earlier study could be replicated at no charge. Gaughan, however, is advocating for immediate action, proposing to reallocate $100,000 from the capital asset profiling budget and find the remaining $65,000 from unobligated funds. He plans to push for a vote on the funding during the upcoming commissioners' meeting, emphasizing the urgency of protecting residents from what he described as a "noose around our county" from "big billionaire developers."