On Wednesday, September 23, Sally Simpson of Unite Armstrong held a AI data center meeting in Kittanning, PA. It was at the United Steelworkers Local 159. Video of it is above. Panelists were:
- Kat Marquez of Penn Future on the relationship between fracking and AI data centers.
- Matthew Shorraw of Physicians for Social Responsibility on the health impacts of data centers and on local ordinances and what can be done to combat these centers.
- Nina Victoria of the Center for Coalfield Justice
- Sally Simpson on the economic impacts of the data centers.
- Kyle Dixon a local union leader on the power demands of these centers.
According to the website Cleanview, there are currently 15 operating data centers and 135 planned data centers in Pennsylvania. The map above is from the Cleanview site and shows operating or planned data centers. The orange dots represent operational data centers. The green dots represent proposed data centers. Only centers with electrical capacity in megawatts are shown.
Not shown on the map above is a proposed AI data center in Quemahoning township. Somerset County is considering an ordinance to regulate the noise that the center would create. Concurrently, a public meeting was on September 29 at the Somerset County courthouse.
Alexander Marsh attended the meeting a in Somerset. Participants could speak for 3 minutes. Many were unable to complete their statements. “The committee essentially said they can’t legally ban data centers and don’t think they’d be able to regulate it out of the county altogether,” said Marsh. There will be another public meeting on October 20 at 5pm at the Somerset County Courthouse.