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After grantee reveals data center’s influence campaign in Pennsylvania, local officials oust town leadership

Aerial view looking towards the proposed site of the Wildcat Ridge Data Center Campus, January 2026. (Credit: NEPA Drone)

With support from the Fund, Edward Donnelly spent four months investigating efforts to build some of the world’s largest data centers in the borough of Archbald, Pennsylvania – and found that local officials let developers help rewrite zoning regulations in order to build the massive centers, outside the view of local residents. Spurred by the revelations in Donnelly’s reporting, local council members removed the town’s leadership from power, and new local leaders are holding public meetings on the zoning regulations.