Amazon Details Emerge: 2,200 Acres, 39 Data Centers at Homer City
New county documents show Amazon proposing 2,200 acres and 39 data centers at Homer City, with residents raising concerns over water and property.
Back in August, Amazon confirmed it was talking with Homer City Redevelopment about a data center campus in Indiana County, but the company would not say how big a footprint it wanted. Now we know.
Documents prepared for the Indiana County Office of Planning and Development show Amazon proposing to acquire roughly 2,200 acres across six properties, the Bruner, Helen, Green, West, Harvey/Gaston and Rura sites, in Center and Blacklick townships. The plan calls for 39 data centers, two stories each and 70 feet long, built out over roughly ten years starting with the Rura property. Amazon representatives told county officials the project would bring 1,500 to 2,000 permanent jobs, with salaries between $80,000 and $100,000.
The sites sit around the Homer City Energy Campus, where the old coal-fired power plant, once one of the largest in the eastern United States, is being replaced with a 4.5-gigawatt natural gas plant. Amazon says it would pay for the electrical infrastructure the data centers need, would not seek local or county tax incentives, and would offer what it called an “appropriate Community Benefits Agreement” to offset the impact on nearby residents.
Not everyone is convinced. At a recent planning commission meeting, residents raised pointed concerns about noise, water use and how the project would affect their own land. One resident said the AWS credit map showed dashed lines running through her property, and that she had never been contacted about it. Amazon says cooling water would come through existing withdrawal rights and be treated and returned to the Homer City station for reuse. The planning commission tabled the proposal to keep asking questions, and may bring in outside engineers to review it.
The project also lands against a new backdrop. In August, Gov. Josh Shapiro signed an executive order requiring data center developers statewide to secure local approval, cover their own power costs and meet strict environmental standards before the state moves any permits. A project this size, in a county this close to home, is exactly the kind of case that order was written for.
Nothing is final. But 2,200 acres and 39 buildings is no longer a rumor. It is a plan on paper, in front of the people who will live next to it.