All Pennsylvania projects
Contested

Gouldsboro Data Center Campus

Clifton + Covington Townships, Lackawanna County

A 1,500 megawatt campus of roughly 9,400,000 square feet proposed for Clifton + Covington Townships, Lackawanna County, and the end user has not been named publicly.

ContestedMega scaleGreenfieldNEPA
At a glance

The project by the numbers

StatusApplication Filed
Capacity1500 MW
Footprint9,400,000 sq ft
Site1000 acres
Capex$ 14.25 B
First announced2025
Target onlineTBD

Filed and under review in Clifton + Covington Townships, Lackawanna County

The number that mattersAt roughly 1,500 megawatts, the load here is comparable to a mid-sized power station rather than a typical commercial building.
Tenant
Not disclosed. No end user has been named publicly.
Current stage
An application is on file and under municipal review.
Decision body
Clifton + Covington Townships
Top issues
Residents and officials have focused on the size of the electrical load and what it does to regional capacity costs, the sheer footprint of the buildings, the conversion of open land or farmland, how little has been disclosed about the end user, water use, continuous mechanical noise, and emissions from backup generation.
Key opponents
No Data Center Clifton/Covington TWPs (nodatacenter.net); rural residents
Key supporters
Landowner Judge Family Estates; developer tax/jobs pitch

Presented to Covington May 13 2025 (rep Tony Maras); preliminary land-development + validity challenge filed; ordinances under review with developer contesting height limits (2025–2026).

What is at stake

Documented community impacts

Environmental justice and site legacy

High

Clifton Twp substantive validity challenge; Delaware Riverkeeper concerns.

Energy costs and the grid

High

PPL feasibility report cites up to 1,500 MW transmission load, over half the peak load of Duquesne Light's entire territory.

Data Center Dynamics
Community response

Who is organizing against it

No Data Center Clifton/Covington TWPs (nodatacenter.net)

Cluster (Clifton+Covington) · Founded 2025

Tactics: Detailed document-based analysis of the Gouldsboro filings, township-meeting turnout, opposition to substantive-validity challenge and SALDO applications

Tracks the 1,000-acre, up-to-35-building Gouldsboro campus straddling Clifton + Covington (Lackawanna Co). Surfaced the PPL feasibility report citing up to 1,500 MW.

Website

Legal record

Filings and legal actions

  • Validity challenge Clifton Twp ZHB · (local)

    Substantive validity challenge to Clifton Twp zoning ordinance.

    Project opponents · Pending
  • 2025-12-01
    Substantive validity challenge Clifton Township ZHB / Lackawanna CCP · (Clifton Twp)

    Challenge claims Clifton's zoning ordinance is unconstitutional for failing to provide for data-center uses; seeks site-specific relief (the Gouldsboro campus).

    1778 Rich Pike LLC vs Clifton Twp · Pending
News

Coverage of this project

Sources

Know your rights

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 →

Take action

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 →