EASTON, PA – Ken Krawchuk, the Pennsylvania Libertarian gubernatorial candidate, called for an immediate, indefinite moratorium on the planning, building, or operation of new data centers until the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code and related local ordinances are updated to address the concerns of local residents.
“Fortunately or unfortunately, data centers are in the immediate future here in Pennsylvania,” Krawchuk asserted at a local gathering during a statewide pub crawl. “But the blunt reality is that most Pennsylvanians do not want them built in their neighborhood. And it’s easy to understand why: The environmental impact can be immense, whether it’s spiking electricity demand, impacts on private wells and aquifers, increased vehicular traffic, elevated noise from cooling equipment and backup generators, loss of farmland and forests, strains on emergency services, decreased property values, local taxpayers bearing the cost of funding infrastructure improvements, and other, less-quantifiable issues. As I said, the impact is nothing short of immense.
“Currently, the bulk of these decisions are controlled by Pennsylvania’s statewide Municipalities Planning Code (MPC). Unfortunately, the MPC was written almost sixty years ago, long before communities were tasked with evaluating industrial projects that can span hundreds of acres, consume enormous amounts of electricity and water, and permanently alter the character of a community and its ecology. Obviously, the MPC must be modernized to give local governments the authority, technical resources, and legal tools they need to implement informed decisions based on the unique needs of their communities, not on outdated over-regulation from Harrisburg.
“Updating the standards to meet today’s technical challenges is one thing, but more importantly, local communities must retain the ultimate right to decide what belongs within their borders. A municipality should have the legal authority to say “NO!” whenever a proposed data center is incompatible with its comprehensive plan, infrastructure, natural resources, or the wishes of its residents. The people who live in the community, not Harrisburg, and certainly not a multinational corporation, should have the final say over the future of their hometown. But today that local option is not readily available; not because of technology or public sentiment, but because of the existing, flawed MPC.
“But the last thing we need are sweeping one-size-fits-none statewide regulations,” Krawchuk insisted. “That’s why I’m calling for an immediate, indefinite moratorium on new data center planning, construction, and operation. A moratorium would give state lawmakers and local planning boards a chance to catch up to the 21st century and update the statewide MPC regulations and local zoning codes to meet local preferences, either in support of data centers or in opposition, at each town’s option.
“There are many towns in Pennsylvania that would welcome the economic boost that data centers trigger, including extensive construction work, high-paying high-tech jobs, a long-term tax base, and more. Repurposing abandoned brownfields and underground mines are an added incentive to hosting a data center, especially for those towns caught in the ebbing tide of the steel industry. Those sites already have industrial scale utilities in place, making the transition easier. But it should be the towns that make that decision, and not have their hand forced by legal pressures based on an outdated MPC.”
Aside from a data center’s massive footprint and the resultant damage to the landscape, Krawchuk noted that two other key factors demand attention: Water and electricity use.
“Water is one of Pennsylvania’s most valuable natural resources,” Krawchuk observed. “Groundwater aquifers often extend across municipal and county boundaries such that any large groundwater withdrawal or contamination event in one community can affect neighboring communities many miles away. So one critical update needed for the MPC is to address how water is used.
“Specifically, before any proposed data center or other large industrial facility relying on evaporative groundwater can be approved, developers should be required to complete independent hydrogeologic studies that evaluate groundwater availability and recharge rates, plus impacts on neighboring private and public wells, stream baseflows, wetlands, and connected aquifers. These concerns deserve honest answers backed by sound science, transparent engineering, and comprehensive public participation, and subject to independent peer review at the developer’s expense.”
Another key concern is the potential for rising electricity rates. “Here, too, outdated regulations stand in the way of responsible progress,” Krawchuk noted. “Electric rates are controlled by the Public Utilities Commission, but the PUC currently maintains regulations that shift some of the burden of increased business use to individual users like us rather than that business user. We must work to update those outdated regulations to put the burden back on the businesses so that they pay the actual cost of the electricity they use, plus any related infrastructure improvements. Unfortunately, the PUC moves slowly at best, so the sooner we start, the better.
“All that said, and despite all the headaches and heartaches these data centers can and do cause, the bottom line here is that data centers are coming. The question is whether Pennsylvania gets the related jobs and revenue while protecting communities, or repeats the mistakes of other states with rushed, unbalanced development. Instead, let’s empower communities to decide what they want in their own backyards. This is pro-growth without being pro-corporation-at-all-costs. It’s pro-local control without being anti-progress. That is the balance we should strive for, and the promise we should make to every Pennsylvanian. Families and businesses both win when we get this right. And since no other candidates are focused on these win-win solutions, the only way to see responsible data center use is to vote Libertarian.”
Ken Krawchuk of Abington is an Information Technology entrepreneur, a patented inventor, a Philadelphia talk show host, an award-winning Toastmaster, and an author. He has previously appeared on the gubernatorial ballot three times, facing Tom Ridge in 1998, Ed Rendell in 2002, and Tom Wolf in 2018, setting consecutive Libertarian Party records for vote totals in each race.
John Thomas is a Cyber School educator. He was the Libertarian Party candidate for U.S. Senate in 2024, placing third in a field of five, and receiving more than enough votes to qualify the Libertarians as a political party in Pennsylvania.
Founded in 1971, the Libertarian Party is the third largest political party in the state and the nation, with over 200 elected and appointed officials currently serving in office in Pennsylvania alone, and many more nationwide. Libertarians believe that you have the inalienable right to conduct your life as you see fit, without interference, so long as you respect the rights and property of others. It’s the Golden Rule on a political level.
For more information about the Libertarian Party, the public is invited to contact the Krawchuk/Thomas campaign at KenK4Pa.com, Campaign@KenK4Pa.com, or (224) Krawchuk (224-572-9248), the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania at LpPa.org or (800) R-RIGHTS, or the National Libertarian Party at Lp.org or (202) 333-0008.