Talen Energy · Montour County data center, Montour County, Pennsylvania

Talen Energy's plan for a data center in Montour County, Pennsylvania, was stopped on February 10, 2026, when the three Montour County commissioners unanimously denied the company's request to rezone farmland in Anthony Township from agricultural to industrial. Talen says it still intends to build a data center in the county, and in 2026 it applied to add a 1,310-megawatt gas plant at its Montour power station, which state regulators say is meant in part for data center demand.

Talen first asked in August 2025 to rezone about 1,300 acres near its Montour power plant, saying the change could support future development "which could include data centers." The land included a 100-acre parcel next to the Montour Preserve, a wildlife reserve, and the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association warned of harm to its ecology and to Chillisquaque Creek.

Talen later dropped 25 acres in Derry Township from the request, and the Montour County Planning Commission voted against recommending it in November 2025. By the time of the February vote, the request the commissioners denied covered more than 800 acres, according to Inside Climate News.

Opposition grew at every stage: commissioners received a petition against the rezoning with 3,000 signatures and letters from two school boards and several municipalities, and some of the more than 50 people at the vote wore red shirts reading "Say No! Industrial Zoning." Commission chair Rebecca Dressler said the claimed jobs, taxes and economic benefits "were presented in general terms, without binding commitments, guarantees, or quantified physical analysis," and that Talen had been sparse on water use, noise and land impact. Commissioner Scott Lynn said the company never explained why it could not use land already zoned industrial elsewhere in the county, and Ginny Kerslake of Food & Water Watch called the result a "David and Goliath" moment.

Talen said the denial "allows us to take the time to listen, incorporate feedback from the Commissioners, engage with the community, and refine our plans so they reflect local priorities," and that it remains committed to "a path forward in Montour County." In June 2026 it told commissioners in a letter that it had applied to PJM to connect two new natural gas units within the footprint of its Montour plant in Derry Township, a request PJM is expected to validate through December 2026.

Its affiliate Montour CT Project LLC has applied to the Department of Environmental Protection for an air permit for two turbines of about 655 megawatts each, with construction expected to begin in 2028 and operation in 2031. DEP took comments on the air permit through September 21, 2026; no hearing had been scheduled, but one can be requested.

A future data center would still need rezoning, which goes first to the county Planning Commission for a recommendation and then to the Montour County Board of Commissioners for a final decision. The air permit decision rests with DEP's Northcentral Regional Office in Williamsport, and under Governor Josh Shapiro's data center executive order, DEP will not review permits for a data center until the developer has all local approvals.