An Amazon representative said earlier this week that its campus of nine data centers proposed for an industrial site in Schuylkill County is permitted to use up to 100,000 gallons of water daily for cooling its servers. However, the data centers will rely mostly on “ambient air” for cooling 96% of the year.
Becky Ford, an economic development executive from Amazon Web Services, and Jeff Wilhelm, a third-party attorney representing AWS, delivered a presentation about the company’s proposed data center project to Schuylkill County Commissioners at the board’s Work Session meeting on Wednesday.
The AWS representatives came to the meeting at the request of the commissioners. Chairman Larry Padora said he wanted to dispel what he called “misinformation” about data centers and the projects being developed or speculated about in Schuylkill County.
Padora, during recent Commissioners meetings, has encouraged data center projects in Schuylkill County – in what he says are appropriate locations like old coal lands and industrial sites – as a means of offsetting revenue the County government receives from residential property taxes. He says three data center projects here could generate the equivalent of 1 property tax mill.
The Commissoners, in recent weeks, have promised a more impartial public roundtable forum regarding data centers than what was presented last week at some point in the future, potentially moderated by the PA Chamber of Business and Industry.
AWS Discusses Schuylkill County Data Center Project Proposed in Kline Township
Prompted by questions mostly from Padora, Ford and Wilhelm spoke on Wednesday specifically about the AWS project in Schuylkill County. In January, AWS offered a sketch plan of its data center campus to Kline Township supervisors. And on July 1, the company plans to provide Kline Township Planning Commission with its major modification land development plan.
At the (June 17) Commissioners meeting, the AWS reps spoke to some of the most often voiced concerns residents have about data centers, namely water and power consumption and noise emanating from the property. Many of the specifics of the project, however, were not disclosed as the company said it’s still in the planning phase.
The data center campus is proposed to feature nine two-story buildings at a zoned industrial site. Those buildings would “probably be less than 80 feet” tall, they said. The first of the nine buildings likely won’t be completed until 2028 and all buildings on the campus would likely take up 2.2 million square feet, Ford said.
Water Usage
Wilhelm said that AWS has received a Will Serve notice for its planned data center campus in Kline Township that allows it to use 15,000 gallons of water per day for domestic use, like employee needs, and up to 100,000 gallons of “non-contact” water daily.
The “non-contact” water used for cooling would be treated with chlorine to prevent damage to pipes at the data center buildings.
Power Consumption
Ford said AWS will pay for all the equipment needed to serve the data center facility in Kline Township. That includes any lines or substation equipment needed to feed power to the data centers.
“We pay for all the equipment necessary to serve our facility,” she said.
Regarding whether the presence of its data center will drive up electricity rates, Ford said AWS has a ratepayer study showing the opposite is true and that a PPL representative will be on hand when its plan is presented to the Kline Township Planning Commission.
Noise
When asked about decibel levels emanating from AWS data centers, Ford said, “The low-voltage aspect is not unique to a data center.”
She said equipment at a data center is “just like” the equipment used at grocery stores, hospitals, schools, and manufacturing facilities.
“There are no unique aspects related to data centers,” Ford added.
She said sounds “sometimes” associated with data centers is based on where cooling equipment is located on buildings. AWS, she said, conducts studies and modeling to determine how to orient its campuses.
“We design buildings so that they are within or below ordinance requirements for the community,” Ford said.
When questioned later by Commissioner Boots Hetherington on the decibels expected from the Kline Township site, Ford said she couldn’t say specifically what the actual levels would be.
Wilhelm said the current ordinance at the Kline Township site, since it’s already zoned for industrial use, is between 60-70 dBA.
Jobs
AWS says as many as 500 jobs will be created from the project, not including the construction and pre-construction jobs. The average salary of employees at the data center campus would be between $80,000-100,000. People in HVAC, mechanical, electrical, and data center engineering would be sought for its data centers, Wood said. Ninety percent of the jobs at these data centers would only require an Associates degree or a certificate, she added.
“Most jobs do not require a four-year education,” she said.
Ford said AWS is working wiht Luzerne County Community College to establish training and programs to develop employees with skills to work at its data center. She said AWS is also working with the state departments of Labor and Education to ensure schools in the area get training programs in place for students and that teachers have skills to provide that training.
More From Coal Region Canary
See all stories ›
Flood Watch Issued for Schuylkill County on Thursday
5 hours ago
Nabholz Has Allowed Just 1 Earned Run in 5 Appearances Since Promotion to Eugene
12 hours ago
Schuylkill County Man Used Brother’s Name During Traffic Stop Because He’d Been Sentenced to Jail for Driving on a Suspended License
13 hours ago
Barton Cards Sub-70 Round to Pace Haven; Blue Mountain Sweeps Tri-Match
15 hours ago
PennDOT to Host Winter Job Fair in Schuylkill County
17 hours ago
Schuylkill County Man Wanted After Police Say He Traded Nude Photos With 16-Year-Old
18 hours agoSubscribe to Coal Region Canary
Get email updates from Coal Region Canary by becoming a subscriber today. Just enter your email address below to get started!Support Coal Region Canary
Like our reporting and want to support truly local news in Schuylkill County? Your small donations help. For as little as $5, your contribution will allow us to cover more news that directly affects you. Consider donating today by hitting the big yellow button below ...
Chase McCane
June 22, 2026 at 8:51 am
100,000 gallons of water allowed daily? That’s a lot of water when we’re often told to conserve water due to lack of rainfall? Non-contact water? Itll end up coming into contact some how? Don’t we still deal with the aftermath from mining days? Just because we aren’t bathing in it doesn’t mean it hasn’t affected the area & land for us? Using ambient air? Isn’t that just a clever way of saying “FANS” so using more energy & noise? Other than temporary jobs to build it doesn’t make up for the lasting effect it’s going to inflict on everyone. It’s not going to make this place appealing. Instead of trying to ruin the area for money why don’t they do an audit to find & eliminate the wasteful spending or fraud? Or useless jobs that arent necessary? Or maybe listening to what the people who are being directly affected by this to see what they want, since it’s decided for the peoples benefit. Not just greedy peoples pockets. It’s being deemed ok because it’s on coal lands doesn’t say much since this whole area is built on coal mines. Under every town has been dug under for the coal. Lucky that the ground hasn’t collapsed. Why now that it’s been passed for funding to fix up land of places that have been mined. However much funds were passed to do it. Why wouldn’t we want that done in our areas than having data centers built. Unless that money is going to someone else instead or missing?
Pappy T
June 23, 2026 at 4:08 am
Sounds like a lot of lip service. I’m sure local politicians are getting sone type of “kickback” or form of payment. Sketchy
Pingback: OPINION: Let’s Freeze Data Center Development for Three Years … - Coal Region Canary