Penn Forest Township, in Carbon County, Pennsylvania, adopted a data-center zoning exclusion on March 3, 2026. Its status in this snapshot is enacted.
The record reads: "Penn Forest Township, Pennsylvania, supervisors approved a comprehensive data center ordinance at a well-attended meeting at Penn's Peak (proposed by Mele Brothers Realty). The ordinance creates a new zoning overlay district covering 750… (datacentertracker.org)."
Details
| Action | Class | Status | Date | MW threshold | Scope | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zoning exclusion | restriction | enacted | March 3, 2026 | not county-wide | datacentertracker.org |
Jurisdiction type: municipality. County: Carbon County. Dataset: datacentertracker. Snapshot August 15, 2026; documented actions, not a census.
Pennsylvania context
Pennsylvania has 50 documented local actions across 48 jurisdictions in this snapshot. There is no statewide restriction, incentive rollback, or large-load tariff on record for Pennsylvania in this snapshot.
A town that says no to a data center gives up local tax revenue, not jobs: one large campus pays $2M to $90M a year depending on the tax regime, against roughly 50 permanent jobs. The parent piece prices it and lists the conditions that beat a ban.