Upper Burrell Township, Westmoreland County
A Florida company is turning the 1,395-acre former Alcoa research campus into an AI data center it says could reach 3 gigawatts, and one building is already running on gas turbines. The township's moratorium ends November 2, a land use appeal is pending, and DEP is taking comments on an air permit.
TECfusions closed on vacant buildings at the former Arconic Technology Center in December 2024 and announced the 1,395-acre Keystone Connect campus on January 14, 2025, with plans for 3 gigawatts of natural gas-fired capacity over six years and 12 MW available right away. State Rep. Jill Cooper and Sen. Joe Pittman welcomed it, and the company was awarded a $2 million Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program grant. In 2025 DEP transferred the site's existing wastewater permits to TECfusions Keystone LLC, and in September 2025 it received the company's application for a state air operating permit. TECfusions has leased space to the AI cloud company TensorWave. After residents pressed for a pause, supervisors voted 3-0 on May 6, 2026 to start a 180-day moratorium on new data center applications, which didn't cover work already underway in Building J. July 2026 reporting found officials still seeking answers: the company says cooling will be closed-loop and filled mostly with glycol, with power from on-site gas wells, and it told TribLIVE that township officials describing water use 'must have been mistaken.' The planning commission approved a draft ordinance on July 21, and on July 22 TECfusions announced it would go public through a merger with Apex Treasury Corp. Supervisors approved a land development plan for Building J upgrades on August 5. Protect PT and two residents appealed that approval in county court on August 25, and two days later TECfusions announced the site was live and running on turbines. The township posted a revised draft ordinance on September 18 that adds a 5 to 10 year master plan requirement, and DEP published its intent to issue the air permit on October 3, 2026. Without a data center ordinance, current operations have been treated as a research and technology park, an allowed use in the industrial zone. Full build-out could take decades.
Update, October 26, 2026. On October 20, 2026 the Upper Burrell planning commission voted 5-0 to recommend the data center ordinance, and on October 22, 2026 the supervisors adopted it unanimously. WESA reported that the ordinance requires new or expanded data center buildings to be at least 1,000 feet from homes, caps noise at 75 decibels by day and 65 overnight, requires closed-loop cooling, limits each diesel backup generator to 120 hours a year, requires data centers to provide their own power and requires a community benefit agreement with the township, with $500 a day fines for violations. Supervisors said they'll work next on an ordinance for power plant construction.
TECfusions plans to grow the campus to as much as 3 gigawatts using dual utility power and on-site microgrid generation, drawing on two well pads and a gas drying plant already on the property, according to its August 2026 release.
GlobeNewswire (TECfusions and Apex Treasury Corp.)DEP estimates the equipment in TECfusions' proposed air permit, two 24 MMBtu/hr gas boilers and seven emergency generators, could emit up to 29.45 tons of nitrogen oxides, 28.32 tons of carbon monoxide and 25,414 tons of greenhouse gases a year. TECfusions separately says the site is currently powered by turbines, which the DEP notice doesn't list.
Pennsylvania Bulletin, Vol. 56, No. 40The township's draft ordinance would require any new data center to provide its own baseload generation and pay its own costs to connect to transmission and distribution lines, and any proposal using utility power would need a letter from the provider certifying the grid can handle it without hurting service to existing customers.
Upper Burrell TownshipThe draft ordinance would cap data center sound at 60 dBA CNEL at homes and farms in residential zones, require sound and vibration studies before and after construction, and limit construction to 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. with none on Sundays and federal holidays.
Upper Burrell TownshipFounder Simon Tusha told TribLive in October 2025 that the center won't use water for cooling and that cooling depends on each tenant's needs, with earlier TECfusions sites using air cooling, fan walls and direct liquid-to-chip cooling.
TribLiveThe draft ordinance would require a water feasibility study for any data center relying on wells or other private water, including the effect on nearby wells and streams, plus closed-loop cooling where it applies and a wastewater disposal plan.
Upper Burrell TownshipFor new development, the draft ordinance would set a 45-foot height limit including rooftop equipment, a 500-foot setback from property lines, a 1,000-foot buffer from residentially zoned land or occupied homes, and a planted buffer of trees and shrubs at least 100 feet wide.
Upper Burrell TownshipThe Westmoreland Conservation District approved stormwater construction permit coverage for a proposed TECfusions sewer line, according to the township's October 7, 2026 agenda.
Upper Burrell TownshipFounder Simon Tusha told TribLive the center would start with about 40 full-time workers and could support thousands of mechanical and electrical jobs at full build-out in about two decades.
TribLiveLeaders: Gillian Graber, executive director
Tactics: Filed a land use appeal in county court on August 25, 2026; holds monthly Upper Burrell community meetings at Penn State New Kensington on the last Wednesday of each month; urges residents to attend supervisors' meetings; distributes fact sheets and yard signs.
Its Upper Burrell page says the appeal will be costly and asks for donations to its legal fund.
Tactics: Weekly resident meetings in Springdale; a member urged Upper Burrell supervisors to regulate power generation together with data centers.
Its main focus is Springdale, but a member has spoken at Upper Burrell meetings.
Challenges the township's handling of TECfusions' Building J work, including the supervisors' August 5, 2026 land development approval. Protect PT says the former Arconic site was never permitted for use as a hyperscale data center, so TECfusions couldn't be grandfathered in; PublicSource reports the appellants argue the company should have had to get a special exception from the Zoning Hearing Board first.
Protect PT and two New Kensington residents v. Upper Burrell Township and its Board of Supervisors · Pending; no ruling reported as of October 22, 2026Initial permit for two 24.0 MMBtu/hr natural gas boilers, one 600 bhp diesel emergency generator and six natural gas emergency generators, with estimated potential emissions of 29.45 tons of nitrogen oxides, 28.32 tons of carbon monoxide and 25,414.23 tons of greenhouse gases a year.
TECfusions Keystone LLC · DEP intends to issue; comments or hearing requests due November 2, 2026In 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 →