Concerned Residents of Western PA
For Immediate Release
Contact: concernedresidentsofwesternpa@protonmail.com
https://www.concernedresidentsofwesternpa.com
Concerned Residents of Western PA to host Community Gathering on the Homer City Power Plant and AI Data Center on Sunday, January 25, 1-3pm
Location: Indiana Theater, 637 Philadelphia Street, Indiana, PA
The newly formed regional group, Concerned Residents of Western PA, will host a community gathering on the Homer City Power Plant and AI Data Center on Sunday, January 25, 1-3pm at the Indiana Theater, 637 Philadelphia Street, Indiana, PA. This gathering will be an opportunity for residents across the region to come together and learn as a community about the Homer City project from invited panelists and then from each other. The event will consist of two parts: The first half is planned as a panel of representatives from statewide environmental groups, and during the second half, community members will be able to raise questions and concerns. Free parking is available on the street and in a nearby garage.
Your Right to Know! A project at the scale of the proposed Homer City Power Plant and AI Data Center will have massive economic, environmental and health impacts in our region, so residents have a fundamental right to the facts, including information about costs, and benefits of the project. Crucially, residents should have an opportunity to understand and debate the extensive environmental impacts of the project on our region’s air quality and water; its negligible economic impact on jobs and community development; its negative market impact on electricity and gas prices—and, finally, the implications of this proposed project beyond our region.
A project of this scope raises many significant questions, and this gathering will provide a forum for participants to raise their own concerns. Most supporters of the project focus on the short-term gains of temporary construction jobs but rarely mention the grave long-term effects, such as legacy pollution and adverse impacts on community health. Does this region want yet another boom-and-bust economy that extracts wealth from the area, while leaving residents with the burdens of toxic cleanup and devastating health outcomes? Does this region want to give up so much for so little in return? Will people want to move to the region if the area is environmentally degraded by the project? Were alternatives to fracked gas considered for generating power to an AI data center campus? Are there more lasting avenues toward economic development for our region, such as electrified railroads and mass transit? Just imagine investing the billions now directed at AI data centers into public infrastructure instead!!!
The three panelists are Nina Victoria, Community Advocate from The Center for Coalfield Justice; Jay Walker, Outreach Coordinator with Clear Air Council; and Katriana Marquez, Civic Engagement Mobilizer for PennFuture.
Concerned Residents of Western PA (CROW), formed in the Fall of 2025, is a grassroots group “uniting out of care and concern for our humanity, health, natural resources, and a sustainable future.” CROW is a recipient of a Direct Support Grant from the Mountain Watershed Association of Melcroft, PA. CROW is dedicated to exploring economic alternatives to extraction and exploitation funded by billionaires and believes “a better world is possible!”