Across the U.S., data center development is expanding rapidly, with clusters of facilities sometimes proposed near one another and raising questions about their combined effects on air quality and public health, The New York Times reports.
In Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, where more than a dozen data centers and fossil-fuel-burning power plants are proposed, officials are taking an unusual approach by studying the cumulative effects of the projects before approving them individually.Â
An independent study by EmPower Analytics Group, expected to be completed by the end of the year, will examine how much pollution the facilities could add, where it could go, who could be exposed and the potential health effects, while also identifying ways developers could reduce harm through generator types, operating limits and facility placement.
The study comes as opposition grows in communities concerned about pollution from data centers and the power plants needed to supply their electricity demands. EmPower previously studied the proposed Wildcat Ridge data center in Lackawanna County, which would include 588 diesel backup generators.Â
The firm estimated $14 million in annual health-related damages under relatively limited operation, potentially rising to $124 million and as many as eight additional premature deaths annually if dirtier generators were used more frequently. Wildcat Ridge representatives disputed the analysis, saying the project would comply with state and federal emissions requirements and arguing that the study did not account for permitting limits.Â
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