More than 100 residents packed the Hanover Volunteer Fire Department to fight a massive data center project most of them never asked for. Prime Data Centers, a Texas-based company, wants Hanover Township's Board of Supervisors to approve two conditional use permits for seven data center buildings covering 1.7 million square feet, plus its own 450-megawatt natural gas power plant, at the Starpointe Business Park in Washington County, Pennsylvania.

Neighbors are worried about what living next to this complex will actually mean: constant noise, bright lights at all hours, and strain on local air, water, and electricity. "They sold off the whole community," said Patricia Cipa of Burgettstown, "just so we have to listen to the sound, the noise, the light pollution, the air pollution, the water pollution, electric pollution, all of it."

Lawyers representing concerned residents have already questioned whether the Board of Supervisors even has the authority to approve the gas power plant part of the project. The township has scheduled several more hearings before deciding, but each one gives Prime Data Centers far more time to make its case than it gives residents to be heard.

Hanover Township deserves a real say in what gets built in its own backyard, not a rubber stamp for an out-of-state developer. The Board of Supervisors should reject these conditional use permits until residents' concerns about pollution, water use, and power strain are fully answered.

Sign the petition to tell Hanover Township's Board of Supervisors to reject the Starpointe data center permits before this community pays the price.