The data center fight in Butler Township, Pennsylvania
As of September 27, 2026, Butler Township, Pennsylvania has a data center moratorium in force (action taken May 12, 2026; documented end date 2026-11-08).
Status is derived, not stored — a pause with a documented end date flips to Expired on its own — and the source is right next to the claim.
Status today
180-day curative amendment moratorium on data center applications; proposing 2,000-foot residential setback.
SourceNews
read 2026-09-11
An expiry date is the earliest a pause could have ended — extensions are common, so confirm with the clerk before citing it.
The project on the table
Highridge Data (NorthPoint Development) Project Nebius — In review
Environmental permits under review at PA DEP (1 pending, 2 issued).
Next: Application filed. Ask the planning office for the hearing date and request formal notice.
Latest in the record
- 2026-08-07 — Chapter 102 Individual NPDES Permit application submitted to PA DEP under WPC Erosion & Sediment Control (PAD540030-A1) — DEP status: Pending. · source
- 2026-08-07 — Chapter 102 Individual NPDES Permit application submitted to PA DEP under WPC Erosion & Sediment Control (PAD540030 A-1) — DEP status: Pending. · source
- 2026-05-18 — Chapter 102 Individual NPDES Permit application submitted to PA DEP under WPC Erosion & Sediment Control (PAD540030 / eFACTS auth 1570051) — DEP status: Issued. · source
- 2026-05-08 — Water Obstruction & Encroachment Pmt application submitted to PA DEP under WRM Water Obstructions & Encroachments (E5402222-003 / eFACTS auth 1569076) — DEP status: Issued. · source
Full dated timeline on the project tracker.
Source. Read 2026-09-20.
Recent news
- Butler Township Approves Data Center Ordinances, Expands Highridge Overlay for Nebius Proposal
- Butler Twp. schedules special hearing for proposed 600-acre data center
Automated news aggregation, not human-verified — follow each link to the original outlet. Part of the story tracker, 2 headlines archived.
What to do next
- Questions to ask at the hearing — force specific answers onto the record.
- Estimate the impact — electricity, water, and rate pressure for any facility size in Pennsylvania.
- Model CBA clauses — copy-paste language communities have actually won.
- Pennsylvania briefing — rates, grid carbon, PUC contacts, and every fight in the state.
Nearby in Pennsylvania
- Hazle Township (5 mi) — Enactedexpires 2026-12-05
- Montour County (35 mi) — Expiredterm ran to 2026-04-30
- Olyphant (36 mi) — Enactedfixed term, end date not recorded
- Muncy Township (44 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-02-01
- Smithfield Township (45 mi) — Enactedexpires soon — 2026-11-02
- Gregg Township (56 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-02-16
- Lycoming County (60 mi) — Enactedexpires 2026-12-15
- Pennsylvania (71 mi) — Proposedterm not documented
All 19 tracked actions in Pennsylvania are on the state page.
As of August 2026 · changes weekly — re-check before citing
Illustrative rather than exhaustive — dozens of localities churn weekly, and this tracks the ones we have read a source for. **Each row carries its own provenance.** Rows showing a verification date link to the ordinance, the enacting body's own page, or a datable report of the vote, and were read on that date. Rows marked *unverified* came from bulk compilation and have not been checked against a primary source — the locality, the year, and the status may all be off. Verify one of those with the town clerk before citing it as precedent. **Expiry is derived, not asserted.** A row with a documented end date flips to *Expired* on its own once that date passes. A time-limited moratorium whose start date was never documented keeps showing as enacted — that is a known gap, not a claim that it is still in force. Moratoriums are also routinely extended, so an expiry date is the earliest it could have ended, not proof that it did.
Part of the U.S. data center moratorium tracker — open data, CC BY 4.0.