Energy Costs
-- Report: Winter Heating Oil Costs Expected To Increase Over 31%, Electric By 9%, Natural Gas By 5.8% [PaEN]
-- PPL Electric Files Proposal With PUC To Make Electric Transmission Costs More Transparent, Establishes New Way To Assign Costs Incurred For Data Centers To Those Customers [PaEN]
Grid
-- PUC Study Warns Rapid Data Center Growth Will Cause PJM Electric Grid To Fail Reliability Standard In 2027, If No Further Actions Taken [PaEN]
-- PJM Interconnection Issues Maximum Generation, Load Management Alerts For Sept. 17 For Entire Service Area Due To Hot Weather, 35,000 MW Of Maintenance Outages; Requested DOE Emergency Order [PaEN]
-- PJM Interconnection Maximum Generation Alert Remains In Effect For Sept. 18; Emergency Demand Response Customers Activated On Sept. 17 To Increase Reserve Generation Because More Generation Went Offline [PaEN]
-- Natural Resources Defense Council Blog: PJM Interconnection Sets A.I. Data Center Rules, Now States Must Protect Ratepayers
-- PA Capital-Star: PUC Study Warns Of Electricity Shortages Unless Supply Keeps Pace With A.I. Data Center Growth
-- PennLive - Charles Thompson: PUC Report Warns Of More Power Outages As A.I. Data Centers Surge In Pennsylvania
-- WHYY - Sophia Schmidt: A.I. Data Center Growth Could Mean Blackouts In Coming Year, PA PUC Report Says
-- The Center Square: PUC Warns A.I. Data Center Demand Threatens Electricity Grid Reliability
-- WESA - Rachel McDevitt: Federal Energy Officials Praise Duquesne Light Efforts To Make Electric Grid More Resilient
Generation
-- PJM Interconnection Issues Maximum Generation, Load Management Alerts For Sept. 17 For Entire Service Area Due To Hot Weather, 35,000 MW Of Maintenance Outages; Requested DOE Emergency Order [PaEN]
-- PJM Interconnection Maximum Generation Alert Remains In Effect For Sept. 18; Emergency Demand Response Customers Activated On Sept. 17 To Increase Reserve Generation Because More Generation Went Offline [PaEN]
-- DEP Issues Section 401 Water Quality Certification For Restart Of Constellation Energy Three Mile Island Data Center Nuclear Power Plant In Dauphin County [PaEN]
-- Observer-Reporter: Hundreds Turn Out For NextEra Energy Open House On Fayette County 3.75 GW Data Center Natural Gas Power Plant
-- Tri-State Alert: PA Senate Republican Leader: Legislature Needs To Pick Up Slack From Prior Governors And Boost Energy Production [Nothing About Pausing Data Center Development Causing Spike In Demand]
-- PA House Republican Policy Committee Hearing: ‘Unleash’ Pennsylvania Natural Gas To Lower Costs, Strengthen Reliability [Nothing About Pausing Data Center Development Causing Spike In Demand]
Legislation
-- TribLive/AP: US House Passes Bill Recommending A.I. Data Centers Pay For Energy Needs, But States Aren’t Required To Protect Ratepayers
Land Use
-- Scranton Times: 22 Regional A.I. Data Center Projects And Where They Stand In NE PA
-- Scranton Times: Lackawanna County Commissioners OK Contract For A.I. Data Center Health Impact Study: ‘Facts, Science, Evidence’
-- Scranton Times Chris Kelly Opinion: It’s All Over But The Voting For Wildcat Ridge A.I. Data Center Proposal
-- Scranton Times: Archbald Boro To Continue Hearings On Project Green Mountain A.I. Data Center Complex On Sept. 30
-- The Citizens’ Voice: Newport Twp. In Luzerne County Issues Zoning Permits For 15 A.I. Data Centers, 3 Natural Gas Power Plants; Township Officials Declined To Reveal Many Details Because Landowner Is Still Negotiating With Developer
-- WNEP: Residents Voice Concerns After Zoning Permits Issued For 15 A.I. Data Centers/3 Natural Gas Power Plants In Newport Twp., Luzerne County [Residents Didn’t Know]
-- Scranton Times: Plains Twp. To Host Sept. 22 Hearing On A.I. Data Center Zoning Map Changes To Accommodate Data Centers In Luzerne County
-- Morning Call: Lower Mount Bethel Twp. Passes A.I. Data Center Ordinance In Northampton County
-- Republican Herald: Schuylkill County Commissioners Defend Early Nondisclosure Agreement With Amazon Data Center Developer
-- Reading Eagle: New Morgan Boro Approves Zoning Changes To Allow Data Centers Over Objections Of Area Residents In Berks County
-- Inquirer: A.I. Data Center Developer Sues Upper Merion Twp. Over Rejected Data Center Proposals In Montgomery County
-- WHYY: Philadelphia Activists Urge City Council To Pass A Data Center Moratorium
-- WHYY - Zoe Read: Environmentalists Call Philly Mayor’s A.I. Data Center Task Force Insufficient, Demand Immediate Moratorium
-- PennLive Guest Essay: No Dollar Amount From A.I. Data Center Developer Is Worth A Lifetime Of Noise And Risk In Gregg Township, Union County - By Summer Gelnett, Unite Against Data Centers
-- WITF: $10.5 Billion A.I. Data Center Complex Proposed For 157 Acres In Swatara Twp., Dauphin County
-- PennLive - Charles Thompson: County Judge Hears Arguments Over PAX-1 A.I. Data Center Project In Middlesex Twp., Cumberland County
-- Salena Zito’s Middle Of Somewhere Dispatches: Shippingport’s Aligned Data Center/Natural Gas Power Plant Complex Rises In The Age Of A.I. Anxiety
-- TribLive: Allegheny County Council Committee Votes To Advance Ban On Large-Scale Data Centers On County Property
-- TribLive: South Huntingdon Twp. OKs A.I. Data Center Regulations Amid Opposition To Facilities In Westmoreland County
-- Observer-Reporter: Springhill Township Adopts A.I. Data Center, Fossil Fuel Power Generation Ordinances In Fayette County
-- Pittsburgh Media Partnership: Pennsylvania A.I. Data Center Proposals Map
Opposition
-- The Center Square: PA State Senator Art Haywood Focuses On A.I. ‘Threat To Humanity’ As A.I. Data Center Fights Continue In Cumberland County, Elsewhere
-- Centre Daily Times: Climate Watch - Growing Opposition To A.I. Data Centers In Pennsylvania
-- Republican Herald: Merits Of A.I. Data Center Development Presented By Chamber, Amazon In Schuylkill County; It Will Take 85% More Data Center Development To Meet Need For Information Processing
-- Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader Guest Essay: Pennsylvania’s Communities And Business Share A Destiny - Let’s Strengthen It - By Tom Wyatt, Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel [Data Centers]
Impacts
-- Capital & Main - Audrey Carleton: Pennsylvania’s Amazon Data Center Boom Fueled By A Lucrative Tax Break [Will Cost PA Taxpayers $2 Billion In Revenue By 2031]
-- TribLive: After Multiple Delays, Superload Delivery To Homer City A.I. Data Center/ Power Plant Complex In Indiana County To Begin Wednesday [Sept. 16]
-- TribLive Editorial: Big Equipment Loads Are Part Of Data Centers; These Impacts Should Be Addressed Before Projects Are Approved
-- WESA - Rachel McDevitt: Pittsburgh Region Should Look Beyond Industrial Megaprojects For Economic Growth, Report Says
-- The Times Of India: 2026 Study Found Abandoned US Mine Pools Could Cool A.I. Data Centers; One Pennsylvania Site Could Handle 30.6 MW Of Heat
-- The Guardian: Texas Governor Threatens To Penalize A.I. Data Centers Not Obeying Water Laws
Public Participation/Meetings
-- DEP Invites Comments On New Water Quality Permit For Amazon Data Services ADS Berwick Data Center In Salem Twp., Luzerne County [PaEN]
-- DEP Invites Comments On Stormwater Permit For PPL Electric JUNI-NEBU 500 kV Transmission Line Project In Perry County To Serve Large Loads [PaEN]
-- DEP Invites Comments On Stormwater Permit For PPL Electric Stonehouse Substation & Transmission Line Project In Middlesex Twp., Cumberland County [PaEN]
-- PA Data Center Hearings & Meetings - Physicians For Social Responsibility PA
A.I. Policy
-- TribLive: Shapiro Calls For Government A.I. Regulations On Use - It’s Not What Some In The Industry Want To Hear
-- Gov. Shapiro’s Remarks At A.I. Horizons Summit: Federal Government Needs To Step Up And Regulate The A.I. Industry, Adopt Guardrails For Deployment
-- City & State PA: Pennsylvania Politicians React To Calls For A.I. Development Slowdown
-- TribLive: ‘A.I. Is Inevitable’: PA US Sen. Fetterman, McCormick Back A.I., Balk At Calls For Regulation
-- TribLive: Can A.I. Really Destroy Humanity? Here’s What Pittsburgh Researchers Think
-- Post-Gazette/AP: President Calls A.I. Risks A ‘Hoax,’ Says There Is A ‘SICK Conspiracy’ Against A.I. And Data Centers
-- Republican Herald Editorial: Now Is The Chance To Make A.I. Work For Us And We Must Take It - Can’t Say We Weren’t Warned
-- Bloomberg: Google Joins OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta (Facebook) In Disclosing Incidents Of A.I. Agents ‘Inadvertently’ Hacking Systems
-- AP: New Warnings From A.I. Companies About Risks Of A.I. To Humanity Revive Long-Running Debate
-- AP: President Downplays Need To Check A.I. Development And Says He Doesn’t Want To Cede Edge To China
[Posted: September 20, 2026] PA Environment Digest
