‘I don’t want you’ say residents fuming over data center farm takeovers

(The Center Square) – Yard signs reading “NO DATA CENTERS ON OUR FARMS” are spreading across Pennsylvania’s Slate Belt region as residents mobilize against a proposed project in Northampton County.

Data centers are now drawing the same scrutiny that warehouses once did, and although developers promise economic benefits, residents are questioning local impact. Increasingly, proposals are surfacing in rural communities where concerns over farmland, water use, power demand, and the industrialization of the landscape are fueling opposition.

Community opposition is being organized by the group No Data Center in the LMBT, which uses a Facebook page and a website to post updates.

Last week, developers behind a proposed 1.2 GW data center in Lower Mount Bethel Township held a three-hour town hall to address community concerns and g...