OUR STANCE
L.C.O.P. is here to speak for the families in this valley who are tired of being treated like an industrial experiment and for those who are no longer here to speak for themselves.
Our community is riddled with cancer; our rates are significantly higher than both state and national averages. We have spent decades as a dumping ground for industrial negligence.
The Specialty Records/WEA/Cinram Toxic Legacy: For over 30 years, this facility averaged high amounts of VOCs annually, peaking at nearly 100 tons in 2001. They didn’t just poison our air either; they treated our ground like a trash can, burying toxic forever chemicals that stay in our soil and seep into our basements. The building has been gone for years, but the funerals haven't stopped. We are still losing loved ones and neighbors to late-stage cancers and organ failure caused by this toxic debt.
We have already endured the lead-saturated soil of the Marjol Battery site, and we currently live in the shadow of the Largest Landfill in Pennsylvania which looms over our landscape as a constant reminder of environmental negligence. Add to that the legacy of Mine Fires, smoldering beneath the ground and symbolizing yet another chapter of environmental harm our region continues to bear.
We have carried more than our fair share of the state’s toxic burden. To now propose massive data centers that strain our resources is an insult to a community still coping with the poisons of our past. Data centers are among the most energy-intensive buildings in the world. To manage the heat generated by thousands of processors, many data centers use evaporative cooling systems. This process involves consuming millions of gallons of water daily.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. OUR HEALTH IS NOT FOR SALE.
Our history is a timeline of industrial tragedy, and we refuse to add another chapter. For over a century, Northeast PA has been a place where companies with deep pockets break the rules and leave the local residents to bury the dead.
BY OPPOSING THESE DATA CENTERS, WE ARE FINALLY BREAKING THAT CYCLE.
STOP PRIORITIZING PROFIT OVER PEOPLE.
Get to know
Senator Katie Muth
When Senator Katie Muth was asked about the possibility of becoming governor, she responded:
“𝐈𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐚 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞-𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐧, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐆𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐨𝐫, 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦.”
Here are some of her accomplishments.
𝐅𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐄𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 - Senator Muth introduced SB 1359, calling for a mandatory three-year statewide moratorium on hyperscale data centers and associated infrastructure, including new power plants. She has also introduced SB 453 and SB 454 to close Pennsylvania’s hazardous oil-and-gas waste loopholes and require stronger testing, tracking, and disposal protections for potentially toxic and radioactive drilling waste. She also introduced SB 455 to close the leachate loophole, addressing radioactive drilling waste disposed of in landfills and helping prevent contaminants such as radium from entering wastewater and drinking water.
In 2021, Senator Muth was one of only four Pennsylvania senators who voted against the legislation that established the current sales-tax exemption for data center equipment.
𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐬 - A Superfund site is a severely polluted location that poses a major health risk and is cleaned up under a federal program.
Did you know a developer can build on contaminated land without first removing all the contamination? That should alarm every community: digging could expose workers and neighbors or spread pollution if the risks are not identified and controlled before construction begins. Senator Muth says she is preparing proposals that would require water availability studies and address cleanup requirements before contaminated Superfund sites are developed.
Her concern is that development can move forward without a requirement to fully remediate every contaminated site before construction begins. Muth wants stronger safeguards before developers disturb contaminated land.
𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐏𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐬𝐲𝐥𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐚 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐬 - Senator Muth introduced SB 1114 as part of an effort to require large data centers to pay the infrastructure and energy-system costs they create rather than shifting those costs onto Pennsylvania families and small businesses.
On data centers directly, Muth introduced SB 1385, which would prevent data centers from obtaining public utility status.
𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐔𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 & 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 -Senator Muth introduced bipartisan SB 622 to improve direct reimbursement for emergency medical service providers, helping ensure ambulance and EMS agencies are paid more directly for the services they provide and SB 623 to expand recognition and protections for emergency dispatchers and public-safety telecommunicators by including them within PA’s emergency responder framework. She introduced SB 563 and SB 564 and co-sponsored SB 565, seeking a long-overdue cost-of-living adjustment for retired Pennsylvania teachers, school employees and state workers.
𝐅𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐏𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐬𝐲𝐥𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐚 𝐕𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬 - Senator Muth serves as Minority Chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs & Emergency Preparedness Committee and has consistently advocated for veterans to receive the benefits, services, healthcare, and support they have earned.
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 -Senator Muth's office has helped announce millions of dollars in state funding for fire and EMS services, public safety, parks, transportation, sewer infrastructure and other community projects throughout her Senate District 44.
Why We’re Choosing a Write-In
For L.C.O.P., this decision is based on the candidates’ records on data centers, not their party labels.
Governor Josh Shapiro spent much of his first term actively courting large-scale data center development. In June 2025, he celebrated Amazon’s $20 billion Pennsylvania data center investment and provided those projects with fast-tracked permitting. His administration also continued operating within Pennsylvania’s existing sales-tax exemption for qualifying data center equipment.
Shapiro’s position has changed considerably as public opposition has grown. His August 2026 executive order leaves us with some serious concerns. The new permitting framework applies going forward to new permit applications, meaning projects already substantially into the approval process are not simply stopped by the order. The administration’s GRID approach also embraces the concept that developers should bring or secure their own power, rather than prohibiting enormous new energy-generation facilities associated with data centers. And the executive order directs DEP to identify ways to expedite permitting and remove permit-related barriers for new energy-generation and storage facilities on certain previously developed sites.
Those are significant concerns for communities facing not only the data centers themselves, but also the massive energy infrastructure that can come with them. And “bring your own power” does not necessarily mean what many people assume. It means allowing data center developers to secure or build their own generation, including dedicated power plants, to serve these enormous facilities.
That is exactly why communities need to pay attention to what is happening in places like Archbald, PA, where the concern is no longer just the data center campus itself, but the additional power-generation infrastructure being proposed alongside it.
Campaign money also deserves scrutiny. Shapiro also accepted a $100,000 campaign contribution from NorthPoint Development, a company tied to the Amazon data center buildout in Pennsylvania.
And we do not view Stacy Garrity as the answer either. Garrity herself was initially just as enthusiastic about Pennsylvania attracting data centers, publicly argued that Pennsylvania needed to “deregulate,” and described rural parts of the state as potentially ideal locations for data centers.
She has since taken a more critical position as public opposition has grown. She has also criticized Shapiro for accepting money connected to data center interests while accepting $10,000 from an Archbald data center developer herself.
That is why L.C.O.P. is looking beyond the two major-party choices. Senator Katie Muth’s record on this issue gives us a fundamentally different option: someone who has challenged large-scale data center development rather than embracing it first and imposing restrictions only after communities began pushing back.
𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐝 vs 𝐛𝐥𝐮𝐞. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝.
𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫: 𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐊𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐞 𝐌𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐆𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐨𝐫.
How to Write-In Katie Muth Correctly
This is what the ballot will look like, although the layout may vary slightly depending on where you live.
If you choose to write in Senator Katie Muth, please make sure you 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐥 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞-𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 so your vote can be properly recorded.
Every vote matters, and with a write-in campaign, following the ballot instructions carefully is especially important.
National Attention on the Archbald Movement
Featured In National Coverage
The growing movement to stop the proposed data center project in Archbald continues to gain attention beyond Pennsylvania. Our community efforts, including the work of the Lackawanna Citizens’ Overwatch Project, were recently highlighted in an article by Indiana reporter Dave Rollo, who covered the strength, unity, and determination behind the Archbald Stop Data Center movement.
The article recognizes the passion of local residents and organizations who have come together to protect their neighborhoods, environment, infrastructure, and quality of life. What began as a local concern has grown into a powerful community-driven movement focused on transparency, accountability, and responsible development.
We are grateful that the voices of the people of Archbald and the surrounding communities are being recognized on a broader level as awareness of this issue continues to spread.
