Archbald, Pennsylvania knows hard work. This borough was built on anthracite coal — men and women who went underground so their families could have something better. The mines are gone now, but the memory of what extraction does to a community runs deep in Lackawanna County.
That memory should be front of mind right now. Because a new kind of extraction is coming to northeastern Pennsylvania — and it's wearing a much shinier suit.
Data Centers Are Moving Into Pennsylvania
The data center industry is expanding aggressively across the United States, and Pennsylvania is squarely in its sights. Proximity to major fiber networks, access to water, available land, and state-level tax incentives make the Scranton-Wilkes-Barre corridor an attractive target.
For the people of Archbald, Jessup, Carbondale, Olyphant, Dickson City, Blakely, and the surrounding Lackawanna County communities, that means decisions are being made right now — in Harrisburg and in corporate boardrooms — that will shape this region for decades.
What Data Centers Actually Cost a Community Like Archbald
- Water drawn from local sources. The Lackawanna River and the region's groundwater systems are not infinite resources. A single large data center can consume millions of gallons per day for cooling. In a region still recovering from the environmental legacy of coal mining, adding industrial-scale water extraction is not a neutral act.
- Energy demands the local grid wasn't built for. PPL Electric and the regional grid serving Lackawanna County were designed for residential and commercial use — not for facilities that consume as much power as a small city. Rate increases and reliability issues follow data center expansion everywhere they go.
- Jobs that don't match the promises. Northeastern Pennsylvania has been promised economic revivals before. Data centers employ skeleton crews of specialized technicians — not the broad local workforce that communities like Archbald actually need. Construction jobs are temporary. The permanent employment numbers are almost always far below what's advertised.
- Tax abatements that hurt local schools. Pennsylvania's data center tax incentive programs can shield these facilities from local property taxes for years. In Lackawanna County, where school funding is already stretched, that's not a gift to the community — it's a cost shifted onto everyone else.
- No community voice in the process. By the time most residents hear about a data center project, the permits are filed and the incentives are approved. Archbald and its neighbors deserve a seat at the table before the deals are done — not after.
Lackawanna County Has Given Enough
The anthracite region gave its land, its water, its air, and the health of its workers to fuel America's industrial revolution. The return on that investment — for the people who actually lived here — was poverty, pollution, and decades of economic decline after the mines closed.
The data center industry is offering the same deal with different branding. Extract the resources, capture the profits, leave the community with the consequences.
Archbald doesn't have to say yes.
What You Can Do
- Contact your Archbald Borough Council and Lackawanna County commissioners. Ask them what data center inquiries or permits have been filed, and what community benefit agreements are being required.
- Reach out to your state representatives in Harrisburg. Ask them to oppose data center tax incentives that don't include binding local hiring requirements, water use disclosures, and community benefit agreements.
- Connect with local advocacy groups. PennEnvironment and the Lackawanna River Corridor Association are active on regional environmental issues.
- Talk to your neighbors in Archbald, Jessup, Carbondale, Olyphant, Dickson City, Blakely, Scranton, and Dunmore. This is a Lackawanna County issue, not just an Archbald one.
- Wear the movement. Stop Data Centers gear starts conversations — at the diner, at the game, on Main Street. Shop our activist tees, stickers, and drinkware and show Lackawanna County where you stand at stopdatacenters.myshopify.com.
The mines took enough from this valley. The data centers won't take more without a fight.
Archbald stands. Lackawanna County stands.