Fracking rebirth powers more data centers

The big picture: AI is reshaping industries, including energy. Other regions are already facing power crunches due to data center growth, but Pennsylvania sits on top of a deep reserve of natural gas. The state is positioned well as an AI infrastructure hub, with support from industry groups and organized labor, but the prospect also raises the climate stakes and has revived Pennsylvania's environmental fight over fracking.

Catch up quick: Since January, Southwestern Pennsylvania has attracted three massive data center proposals — TECfusions in Lower Burrell, Fort Cherry Development District in Washington County, and a facility at the former Homer City Generating Station — and all are planned to be powered by natural gas.

• The Homer City project would generate up to 4.5 gigawatts — enough to power most of Manhattan.

What they're saying: Jim Welty, president of the Robinson-based Marcellus Shale Coalition, expects continued growth in the natural gas industry and sees it as a "major" opportunity to position the region as a global leader in AI.

• "We have one of the largest natural gas deposits in the world, so it just makes sense to build this here," he told Axios.

Context: Pennsylvania produced 7.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in 2024, the second-most of any state, trailing only Texas, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Natural gas is often produced by fracking, and the Pittsburgh area is home to heavy concentrations of fracking wells.

• There are over 220,000 drilled and proposed fracking and oil wells in Pennsylvania as of November 2024, according to FracTracker Alliance. The Marcellus Shale Coalition says there are about 13,000 unconventional fracking wells in the state.

State of play: A potential surge in natural gas data centers throughout the region is drawing support from organized labor.

• Shawn Steffee, business agent for the Boilermakers Local 154 union, joined shale gas executives and U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum this month at an event in Washington County and said organized labor is "ready to build the infrastructure of tomorrow."

The other side: Any natural gas expansion will worsen climate change, said David Masur, director of statewide environmentalist group Penn Environment, citing natural gas infrastructure's propensity to leak powerful greenhouse gases like methane.

• "As a society we have to make some big decisions. It is going to be hard because data centers use a lot of energy," he said.

Between the lines: Masur doubts a fracking rebirth will provide any long-term jobs to rural parts of the state that need it most. He notes that the natural gas industry promised a local manufacturing boom for Pittsburgh when it started drilling in the 2010s, but those jobs never materialized.

Friction point: Moving natural gas via pipelines or other methods to the new power plants, as well as the potential to frack new wells to produce more gas, could renew some of the same fights Pennsylvania saw a decade ago, said Masur.

• Other Pennsylvania environmental groups and residents have long pushed for expanded fracking setbacks from homes and schools, pointing to studies linking nearby drilling to serious health problems like cancer, hospitalizations, respiratory illness and neurological issues.

Welty didn't say if he believed new wells would be needed, but urged policymakers to "get out of our own way" to streamline the permitting process for natural gas infrastructure.

The bottom line: Pennsylvania held 106 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves as of 2022, the most of any state east of the Mississippi River and the second-most in the nation, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, so the fight over future data centers is likely just beginning.