Pennsylvania residents reject $10,000 each to support a data center
“It’s like bribery.”
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- Hazle Township residents oppose a proposed AWS data center despite a promised $10,000 payment per eligible household.
- NorthPoint Development says Project Hazelnut includes a $165 million community benefits package.
- Residents worry the project could lower property values and strain electricity, water, and local infrastructure.
- Pennsylvania removed artificial intelligence and large data center proposals from its permit fast-track program in August.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
Every household in Hazle Township, in Pennsylvania, was about to receive $10,000. There was only one string attached – the recipients had to back a hyperscale data center in their community. They refused.
Roughly 17% of residents of this former Pennsylvania coal community live below the poverty line, so easy money would certainly have helped.
But data centers are by now a hot potato in the US. Americans, convinced that these huge facilities are massively driving up their energy costs, despise them – and Hazle Township is no exception.
According to a report by PennLive, the community is ignoring the offer of a $10,000 direct cash dividend and mobilizing to reject a huge Amazon Web Services (AWS) facility, named Project Hazelnut, by the developer NorthPoint Development.
Already in June, the project announced a landmark $165 million community benefits commitment as part of its proposal to residents of Hazle Township.
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“Every eligible household in Hazle Township will receive a $10,000 grant, paid upon the issuance of the certificate of occupancy for the first Project Hazelnut building – anticipated in late 2027,” the press release claimed.
“Residents may use these funds at their discretion, including home improvements, energy upgrades such as solar installation, landscaping, or other household priorities.”
But the community isn’t swayed. As per a PennLive report, people feel like someone’s trying to buy them off. In short, the money on offer is a bribe, they think.
Our property values are going to drop. Dramatically,said Ed Negra, a homeowner and small business owner.
“If that’s not a bribe, I don’t know what is.”
The fight isn’t over, of course. Popular Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, for example, signed an executive order in 2024 to fast-track the process by which developers can build data centers across the state.
However, this August, Shapiro signed another executive order (PDF) which formally removed all AI and large data center proposals from Pennsylvania's Permit Fast Track Program.
Big tech companies are actively trying to turn the tide in favor of data centers. In late August, a heavily backed pro-AI non-profit launched a multimillion-dollar ad campaign to counter growing opposition to the facilities.
Local communities across the country oppose these developments due to electricity costs, grid reliability, power outages, and water consumption.
Some of the worries aren’t grounded in facts, however. Even though electricity prices rose by 30% in the US over the last 5 years, data centers are not the main reason why.
As we explained a couple of weeks ago, household bills reflect a combination of fuel, transmission, distribution, taxes, and regulatory decisions. They also reflect investments approved years earlier.
