Kline Township, Schuylkill County
A data center proposal in Kline Township, a few miles from Hazleton, described in reporting as up to 10 buildings across more than 300 acres. Residents say the process has moved quickly with limited public awareness, and have called for a municipal moratorium.
A data center proposal in Kline Township, a few miles from Hazleton, described in reporting as up to 10 buildings across more than 300 acres. Residents say the process has moved quickly with limited public awareness, and have called for a municipal moratorium. Unlike neighboring Hazle Township, which paused all data center applications in June 2026, the Kline Township proposal has shown no sign of slowing.
Up to 10 buildings across more than 300 acres in a coal-legacy landscape where residents point to polluted streams and hundred-foot waste coal piles as the region’s inheritance from the last extractive boom.
Inside Climate News / PA Capital-StarA campus of this scale adds load in a corner of Luzerne County already absorbing several large data center projects.
Inside Climate News / PA Capital-StarResidents describe a process moving quickly with limited public notice, which they say has prevented meaningful participation.
Inside Climate News / PA Capital-StarLeaders: Residents including Lynn St. George and former NFL player Nate Eachus, who has called for a statewide moratorium
Tactics: Public comment at township meetings, calls for a local and statewide moratorium, joint appearances with Hazle Township neighbors and Food & Water Watch
Kline Township residents watched neighboring Hazle Township win a 180-day pause in June 2026 and are pressing for the same. Their central complaint is speed and secrecy rather than any single technical impact.
In Pennsylvania, a data center on industrial land usually needs a special exception or conditional use, decided by a local Zoning Hearing Board after a public, quasi-judicial hearing. Neighbors can request party status, cross-examine witnesses, and build an evidentiary record. Municipalities can also write data-center ordinances with enforceable standards.
Know your rights →Organized community opposition is the single most effective check on these projects in Pennsylvania. Show up to hearings, submit comment when it is taken, support legal and expert-witness costs, and ask your municipality for a moratorium and a real ordinance.
How communities push back →