Dennis Huratiak was among dozens of people appearing at a recent public meeting questioning PPL Electric Utility’s plans to build transmission lines that would support a controversial data center proposed for a Union County site near his home.

“My hope is it doesn’t go through,” he said. “Living in Allenwood, I’m particularly concerned about noise.”

PPL officials conceded that any one of the five transmission lines of up to nine miles being considered between Allenwood and Elimsport will traverse private lands, a sticking point with various property owners.

“We have not selected a preferred option,” Horst Lehman, a consulting engineer told the Sun-Gazette. “We will work with landowners.”

Construction would include installing environmental controls and access roads, clearing trees, erecting steel transmission towers, as well as a substation, and switchyard infrastructure.

The 230 kV transmission structures will range from 90 to 180 feet with an average height of about 140 feet.

Heights of the towers will depend upon land elevations with the structures built a couple of 100 to 1,000 feet apart, according to Trevor Luna, an engineer.

“We are trying to put in a route with less impact on landowners,” he said. “Nothing is set in stone.”

Lehman said, “We will stop the project if the data center doesn’t go through.”

Public feedback as that generated at the meeting in Clinton Township is part of the siting process.

“We are still in the preliminary stages, Catherine Gallagher, associate siting specialist, said.

That prompted one person to ask, “I wanted to know how much impact we really have.”

PNK Group is reportedly proposing to build four data centers at Great Stream Commons just north of Allenwood and has submitted an amendment to Gregg Township’s zoning ordinance allowing for their location in a commercial manufacturing district.

In the meantime, the project has received its share of pushback from township and other area residents opposing the plan.

Brett Taylor, a Washington Township supervisor, said he was not necessarily against PPL’s plan to build transmission lines, but after seeing some of the proposed routes, he’s changed his mind.

“Four of the five lines would go through my properties, said Taylor, who owns hundreds of acres of farmland.

Lehman said PPL will work with landowners to minimize impacts to properties.

Ingrid Callenberger, of Williamsport, said she fears the “loss of community” with the location of the data center.

“Local farms are more important to life than data centers,” she said.

Data centers, she noted, pose health concerns and consume vast quantities of water to operate.

“Data centers are very noisy,” she added.

Construction of the transmission project is contingent upon Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission approval.

PPL customers will not pay for the transmission lines, according to one PPL official.

“The data center bears the costs,” he said.

Questions or comments about the project can be submitted to allenwoodproject@pplweb.com.