Western Pennsylvanians head to Harrisburg to support data center moratorium legislation

Over a dozen people boarded a bus in Monroeville on Tuesday morning to travel to Harrisburg and support legislation that would place a three-year moratorium on the construction of new data centers across Pennsylvania.

The trip was organized by the environmental advocacy group Food & Water Watch, which coordinated buses from western, northeastern, and southeastern Pennsylvania for a rally at the state Capitol. The group said hundreds of people were expected to attend the event in support of Senate Bill 1359, introduced last month by state Sen. Katie Muth.

Supporters of the legislation say the moratorium would give state and local governments time to evaluate the environmental, infrastructure and energy impacts of large-scale data centers.

“We’re all going to converge on the Capitol today together with a unified voice: no data centers in Pennsylvania,” said Megan McDonough, Pennsylvania state director for Food & Water Watch.

Channel 11 has previously reported on proposed data center developments, including a project by the company Switch in Big Beaver borough and a proposed facility in Springdale by Allegheny DC Property Co.

The company claims its proposed data center won’t tax the borough’s water system, “noise emanating from the data center will be less than the average road noise on the adjacent highway,” and “all lighting will be downward-facing and shielded—no light pollution spreading into residential areas or night skies.”

Opponents of the projects have raised concerns about water consumption, noise, light pollution, and energy demand. David Pfister of Food & Water Watch said communities may not fully understand the potential impacts before projects are approved.

“There’s a lot of impacts, environmental impacts in particular, water, like sound and light, that sort of thing that are not really being talked about or discussed that communities I don’t think they know what’s coming if they approve and build these things,” Pfister said.

The bill proposing a 3-year moratorium was filed last month.

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