As Another Data Center Fight Continues In Montco, Gov. Shapiro's Influence Apparent

LIMERICK TOWNSHIP, PA — Just hours after Gov. Shapiro issued an executive order on data centers Tuesday, Limerick Township supervisors held a public meeting with backers of "Project Laurel" and a large swath of residents opposing the enormous development in the shadow of the Limerick nuclear power plant.

For more than four hours, residents grilled developers over the 192 acre project, which would clear some 38 acres of additional woodland and draw a toll on the local energy grid equivalent to powering half a million homes.

Subscribe

It's among numerous projects proposed in Montgomery County, including several in the Limerick area, whose early stages have benefited from the influence of the Shapiro administration.

A neighboring proposal, in Linfield, would not be possible without a dramatic land swap in January, in which the developers, MCD7, received 55 acres of Pennsylvania Game Lands. That land was immediately adjacent to the former Publicker distillery site, a property that was already owned by the developer.

The move, passed 6-3 by the Shapiro-appointed Game Commission, was met with shock and horror by local organizers and residents who felt that they had made their bipartisan opposition loud and clear to state officials.

That opposition continued to be demonstrated statewide over the coming months, as massive turnouts of residents to projects in King of Prussia, Plymouth Township, East Whiteland, and beyond joined the growing chorus in the Limerick region. Indeed, some 74 percent of Pennsylvanians oppose data center construction, and 84 percent show no support, according to the latest Quinnipiac University polling.

State level opposition took its most unified form in mid-May, when Muth and a group of Republicans and Democrats invited Gov. Shapiro to a data center town hall. Shapiro and members of his administration ignored the invitations and refused to publicly respond.

Amazon, however, has had much more success getting the ear of the governor's administration. Emails obtained by Concerned Citizens of Montour County show close communication between Shapiro's administration, major data center developers like Brian O'Neill, and Amazon. The three sides discussed wording and timing of announcements and policies, and seemed particularly concerned with hiding the identity of Amazon as the company behind major projects in Pennsylvania, the emails show.

The conversations came as Shapiro provided a 100 percent exemption on state taxes to data centers, which Food and Water Watch says could cost Pennsylvanians $2 billion in revenue by 2031.

"Josh Shapiro is Pennsylvania's governor, not Amazon's," Alex Beauchamp, Northern Regional Director for Food & Water Watch, said this week. "But throughout his tenure, he has courted the fossil fuel and data center industry and neglected the needs of Pennsylvanians."

Beauchamp, Muth, and leading Republicans like gubernatorial challenger Stacy Garrity and State Sen. Rosemary Brown say that a statewide moratorium on all data center construction is the only thing that will protect residents.

The Project Laurel hearing on Tuesday centered on the reliability of the developer's expert witness, a landscape architect whose credentials were so thoroughly questioned by attorneys for the township and Spring-Ford School district that the board ultimately declined to recognize her as a witness. Muth excoriated the MCD 7 for being unable to provide testimony about the project's public health risks.

Project Laurel's proposed site is a swath of land between the Philadelphia Premium Outlets and the nuclear plant.

"Will MCD 7 LLC present an 'expert' that can prove that building a massive AI data center, with dozens of backup generators, within a few hundred feet of a nuclear plant poses little to no risk to the public?" Muth said. "The people who live in this area are still eagerly awaiting a credible, qualified expert to provide a thorough risk assessment proving that adding a hyperscale AI data center just a few hundred feet from a 2,400 MW nuclear power plant, with more than 300,000 people living within the EPZ won't not create additional or unacceptable risks to the surrounding community."

With a moratorium of at least three years, advocates say, not only can thorough studies can be done on the impacts of hyperscale data centers, but also a more nuanced picture can be gained of their ultimate utility. It's what neighboring New York state has done.

But Shapiro's executive order Tuesday does not prevent hasty, potentially dangerous development from being forced through. Its chief feature is to roll back one of the juiciest benefits Shapiro was already offering data center developers: "fast track" permitting, which provided proposals with preferential treatment and rapid reviews and permitting.

The next township meeting on Project Laurel is set for Sept. 8 at the Limerick Township building. Opponents are organizing a peaceful demonstration outside the building at 5:30 p.m.

The first planning commission meeting reviewing the project in Linfield will take place on Sept. 10. A similar demonstration will be held at 5:30 p.m. before this meeting. A conditional use hearing on the project is slated for Sept. 22.

The locations of these meetings continue to be a point of contention, as data center opponents continue to call for a move to a larger venue to accommodate the massive crowds. Township officials say there are security threats, and that's why the meetings have been moved to the township building, where there are strict restrictions on the number of attendees. But opponents say it's an intentional move designed to limit public feedback.

Limerick police have refused to elaborate on the nature of the threats, leaving a notable administrative portion of the proceedings cloaked in mystery.

Editor's note: a previous version of this story misstated Project Laurel as the proposal connected with the land swap. The proposal in Linfield is connected with the land swap, not Project Laurel.