Union County residents question PPL transmission line for AI data center

Union County landowners and neighbors are being asked to decide whether a new high-voltage corridor near Allenwood is worth the tradeoff. At a public meeting in Clinton Township, dozens of residents questioned PPL Electric Utilities’ plans for a transmission line tied to a proposed AI data center, with concerns centered on noise, property impacts and whether the project serves the people who live along the route or the companies that want the power.

PPL said the project would run about nine miles between Allenwood and Elimsport in Lycoming and Union counties, carrying 230-kV service on steel structures ranging from 90 to 180 feet tall, with an average height of about 140 feet. The proposal also includes a substation and switchyard. If the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission approves the project, PPL expects construction to start in winter 2027 and wrap up in winter 2029.

The utility told residents it has not chosen a preferred route and is considering five options. All five would cross private land, a point that sharpened objections from people who said the line could affect farms, property values and the character of surrounding neighborhoods. Washington Township Supervisor Brett Taylor said four of the five proposed lines would go through his properties. Allenwood resident Dennis Huratiak said, “My hope is it doesn’t go through,” and said he is especially worried about noise. Williamsport resident Ingrid Callenberger said she fears the “loss of community.”

The line is being planned in support of new customer facilities and to improve reliability, but it is also connected to a much larger development push just north of Allenwood. PNK Group is reportedly seeking to build four data centers on land it owns at Great Stream Commons and has asked Gregg Township to change its zoning to allow data centers in a commercial manufacturing district. That proposal has already stirred pushback over noise, water use, farmland and the scale of development in a rural area.

Gregg Township postponed a June 1 curative-amendment hearing to July so it could get more information from its acoustical engineer on noise levels and limits for data center uses. The delay gave residents more time to absorb how closely the transmission project and the data center plan are linked.

PPL’s own data show why the project is landing in the middle of a broader statewide fight over artificial intelligence infrastructure. In August 2025, the company said it had advanced-stage agreements to interconnect about 14 gigawatts of data centers in Pennsylvania, with signed agreements that could lift load from 800 megawatts in 2026 to 14.4 gigawatts in 2034. The utility also said it had a 60-gigawatt data-center interconnection queue. For Union County, that means the Allenwood line is not just a local utility project. It is part of a much larger buildout that could reshape where power infrastructure goes, and who bears the disruption when it gets there.