The data center fight in Upper Burrell Township, Pennsylvania
As of September 27, 2026, Upper Burrell Township, Pennsylvania has a data center moratorium in force (documented end date 2026-11-02).
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 moratorium on new data center development, enacted May 2026, expires Nov 2. Does NOT apply to existing TECfusions permits (Building J already operational). Despite moratorium, commissioners approved a land development plan for TECfusions. 1,400-acre campus (Keystone Connect) could reach 3 GW. 50+ residents attended meeting opposing DC. Former Alcoa Technical Center site.
SourceNews
read 2026-09-06
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
Keystone Connect — In review
Operator: TECfusions
PA DEP has finished reviewing this project's environmental permits (4 issued). That is a permit milestone, not a local land-use approval.
Next: Application filed. Ask the planning office for the hearing date and request formal notice.
Latest in the record
- 2025-08-20 — Minor Source Operating Permit application submitted to PA DEP under Air Quality (65-01147 / eFACTS auth 1540303) — DEP status: Pending. · source
- 2025-02-19 — WQM Minor and Non-NPDES Industrial Waste Treatment Plants application submitted to PA DEP under WPC State Water Pollution Control (6570201 / eFACTS auth 1516950) — DEP status: Issued. · source
- 2025-02-19 — WQM Minor and Non-NPDES Sewage Treatment Plants application submitted to PA DEP under WPC State Water Pollution Control (6570401 / eFACTS auth 1516965) — DEP status: Issued. · source
- 2025-02-05 — Storage Tank Registration/Permitting application submitted to PA DEP under Storage Tanks (65-25233 2 / eFACTS auth 1515070) — DEP status: Issued. · source
- 2025-01-31 — Minor IW Facility without ELG application submitted to PA DEP under WPC NPDES (PA0000469 / eFACTS auth 1514997) — DEP status: Issued. · source
Full dated timeline on the project tracker.
Source. Read 2026-09-20.
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
- Allegheny County (16 mi) — Proposedterm not documented
- Center Township (20 mi) — Enactedexpires 2026-12-07
- Buffalo Township (22 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-02-08
- South Strabane Township (38 mi) — Rejectedterm not documented
- Brookville (52 mi) — Enactedexpires 2026-12-14
- Gregg Township (143 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-02-16
- Warrington Township (149 mi) — Enactedno fixed end — runs until a condition is met
- Lycoming County (149 mi) — Enactedexpires 2026-12-15
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.