Keel Infrastructure Scrubgrass data center, Kennerdell, Pennsylvania

About 40 residents of southern Venango County filled a courthouse annex meeting room in Kennerdell, Pennsylvania on June 16, 2026 to ask questions about a data center that Keel Infrastructure, formerly known as Bitfarms, is considering at its Scrubgrass power plant site in Scrubgrass Township. Keel stopped mining cryptocurrency at Scrubgrass on June 29, 2026, though the plant still earns money selling electricity, and as of the meeting the county planning department had not received any application or plans for a data center there, so its size and layout are not yet public.

In its August 2026 second-quarter results, Keel named a 110 megawatt data center in Sharon and a 350 megawatt campus at Panther Creek as its Pennsylvania priorities; Scrubgrass was not among them. Venango County Commissioner Tim Heffernan told the meeting there is "an incredible amount of speculation on data centers right now" and put the odds of the Scrubgrass project actually being built at less than 20 percent. Commissioner Ken Bryan said the county is "not for or against the data center" and is weighing power costs, environmental impact, water use and noise.

Resident Scott Gearhart asked: "Who knew about it? Why here? What is the impact going to be on area residents and the environment? How far along are the plans?" Sandra McStraw said she doubted the jobs benefit: "The data center would only generate a few jobs for technicians." Rockland lawyer Mallory Piercy told the commissioners: "We are concerned not hearing from you that you are against it, as we are."