Newport Township, Luzerne County
Fit Energy holds zoning permits for a $35 billion, 15-building campus on old mine land, and residents have sued to void the ordinance that allowed it.
On April 21, 2026, at a special meeting that lasted five minutes, Newport Township commissioners adopted Ordinance 1 of 2026, a comprehensive zoning ordinance and map, and Ordinance 2, a subdivision and land development ordinance, taking over zoning from Luzerne County. In June, Fit Energy and FuelCell Energy announced an agreement for up to 380 MW of fuel cell power for data centers. On Aug. 10 the township's third-party zoning officer issued permits for 15 closed-loop data center buildings and three gas generation facilities. Township Manager Joe Hillan read a statement disclosing them at the Sept. 8 commissioners meeting. Residents met at West Side Park in Nanticoke on Sept. 27. The developer's website went live around the start of October, and on Oct. 5 hundreds packed the Greater Nanticoke Area High School auditorium for the commissioners meeting, where commissioners also voted 5-0 to authorize the sale of the township sewer authority's system to the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority. On Oct. 6 Fit Energy announced engineering and permitting were underway, and on Oct. 7 Rep. Ryncavage outlined a possible challenge to the April notice. The Citizens' Voice reported the $35 billion figure from the zoning application on Oct. 8. Fit Energy announced its Oct. 28 open house in an Oct. 13 statement, and three residents filed a Sunshine Act suit around Oct. 14.
The Aug. 10 permits cover three gas generation facilities, and the zoning application describes an on-site natural gas-fired generating facility. Fit Energy says it will use FuelCell Energy natural gas fuel cells, which it says make electricity through an electrochemical process with very little smog-forming pollution.
The Citizens' Voice via newporttownship.orgFit Energy says the campus will use closed-loop cooling to minimize water use and will fund new water and sewer infrastructure to be owned by local utilities. It hasn't published a water demand figure.
Fit EnergyFit Energy says power would come from on-site fuel cells plus grid electricity and that on-site generation will reduce reliance on the regional grid. No total megawatt figure has been published.
POWER MagazineEight buildings of about 460,000 square feet each would sit south of Glen Lyon toward Kieler Lake, with seven more across Main Road toward the cemeteries near the Conyngham Township line. The developer says setbacks, landscaping and screening will limit views from homes and roads.
The Citizens' Voice via newporttownship.orgAt the Oct. 5 meeting, residents asked whether the township's sewer system could handle flows from the campus and whether a large high-volume user was considered when commissioners voted that night to sell the system to the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority. Fit Energy says it will fund new water and sewer infrastructure to be owned by local utilities.
Newport Township Board of CommissionersTactics: Community meetings, packing commissioners meetings, researching legal options, Sunshine Act litigation by members
The Times Leader reported on Oct. 7 that the group, created about three weeks earlier, had over 1,200 members. In late September, residents told the Times Leader they had not yet formed a formal organization.
Alleges the township failed to meet Sunshine Act newspaper notice requirements for the April 21, 2026 special meeting that enacted the zoning ordinance, map and SALDO, and asks the court to declare those actions defective and the ordinance null and void. It also alleges the Aug. 10 permits 'lack a valid legal foundation' and that any board action on them wasn't properly put on the agenda.
Three residents/taxpayers v. Newport Township and Commissioners Ronald Jones, David Saraka, John Zyla, Paul Czapracki and Michael Roke · Filed (reported Oct. 14, 2026); no hearing date reportedIn Pennsylvania, the local zoning ordinance sets the route. A conditional use is decided by the elected governing body (supervisors, commissioners or council). A special exception or variance, and an appeal of a zoning officer’s decision, go to the Zoning Hearing Board. Each is a public hearing on a record: affected neighbors can ask for party status, cross-examine witnesses, and appeal. Municipalities can also adopt 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 press your municipality for a real ordinance. Pennsylvania municipalities cannot simply freeze applications, but a curative amendment under the Planning Code gives them a defined window to fix a defective ordinance.
How communities push back →