East Whiteland Data Center Expansion

A developer is pushing a plan to expand a data center in East Whiteland to more than 1.6 million square feet on 100 acres near Route 202. That's roughly the size of 28 football fields. The original plan was for two buildings totaling about 1 million square feet. The revised version increases that by about 61%, removes microwave towers and antenna yards, eliminates ground-mounted cooling towers, and switches to waterless chillers. The developer claims this cuts daily water use by roughly 3 million gallons compared to the earlier cooling-tower design. The facility would pull around 150 megawatts of power, hooked directly to PECO’s Planebrook substation with a new 230 kV line the developer will fund.

Data centers like this one are giant warehouses full of computers that store and process massive amounts of information around the clock. They're designed to handle big tech companies. The constant running of thousands of servers generates huge heat, which is why cooling is the biggest power draw, and why the switch to waterless systems is a key selling point. These facilities don't employ many people on-site (often just a handful for maintenance), but they support remote tech jobs and the digital infrastructure everyone relies on daily.

The site is on remediated land from the Foote Mineral Co. Superfund site. From the 1950s through the 1970s, the company processed lithium ore, and dumped waste like heavy metals, bromate, sulfate, and low-level radioactive material into ponds and soil. The EPA listed it as a Superfund site and removed contaminated soil, capped waste areas, and installed groundwater monitoring wells. The 2024 review said more information is needed to determine the protectiveness against groundwater contamination fully and if it can shift if the soil is disturbed. Construction won’t dig into sealed waste, but neighbors are worried heavy grading or equipment could crack caps or disrupt contaminants.

The township announced the amended plan presentation and invited public comments. Residents have raised concerns about grid strain and reliability. PJM warns data centers could take up 32 GW regionally by 2030

This fits a wider pattern. Similar projects in Plymouth Township, Montour County, and East Vincent faced opposition over grid costs and environmental risks, leading to withdrawals and denials.

Let’s move Pennsylvania forward.