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The tiny legs of smiling, blue-eyed Gwen Sharkey propel her baby walker about the kitchen floor as her mother wonders about devalued property, electromagnetic fields, and a potential threat to her 'miracle baby.'
Tiffany and Erik Sharkey endured a long and stressful journey through in vitro fertilization before Gwen's birth in April, 2025. Now, they face another such journey with a less-appealing focus: A major utility company has started eminent domain proceedings against them.
PPL Electric Utilities wants to build a 500-kilovolt electric transmission line and towers about 200 feet tall, near the Sharkey home. The couple are among owners of 30 different properties in Luzerne County facing such filings by the company, which wants to expand an existing right-of-way to put in the line and towers, as part of a larger project.
"I would never take any of their money for any of this," said Tiffany Sharkey, keeping her eyes on Gwen as she speaks. "It is a danger to her."
The phrase "eminent domain" essentially means the taking of private property for public use. The filings are in a rural area of Luzerne that is a hotbed of planning for energy-hungry data centers that are on Gov. Josh Shapiro's "Fast Track" list.
Many residents agreed to terms with PPL, which says the project is safe and necessary. The eminent domain actions filed with the state Public Utility Commission involve owners who have said "no."
The case is ongoing – new documents were filed as recently as Wednesday – and participants expect PUC administrative law judges, lawyers, and perhaps others to make in-person visits to their properties.
This month, The Center Square visited or interviewed more than a dozen people along the proposed transmission line route. Most are on the eminent domain list.
Dollar amounts offered include $8,003 for about three-tenths of an acre to one owner; $12,409 for just over half an acre for another owner; and $88,483 for seven acres belonging to a third.
But the money, property owners say, means little. It's the land, the wildlife, the trees, the hills and valleys, and the memories that count. Children have been raised; golden years have been planned.
And life since the eminent domain threat arrived, some said, life has been unsettled and filled with anxiety and stress.
Erik Sharkey said, "We plan on fighting."
'Fast Track' data centers
State law allows a utility to exercise eminent domain for reasons that include the transmission of electricity. First, though, it must get approval from the PUC.
In online postings, PPL has not been specific about which customers will benefit from the proposed transmission line.
But one-third of the nine data center projects listed for "fast track" permitting status by the Shapiro administration are in Luzerne. One, dubbed "Project Hazelnut" by its backers, is located just southeast of the power line proposal.
Shapiro has been an enthusiastic supporter of using the artificial intelligence boom to build Pennsylvania's economy. And PPL – which maintains a website devoted to the "Sugarloaf Transmission Project" that includes the power line proposal – says the need for it goes beyond any one customer.
The company said it "will allow us to meet the growing demand for power in the region while enhancing reliability and ensuring that our system still delivers reliable power to all customers in this region and beyond."
Residents who expand the right-of-way will be "fairly compensated," the company said, and it has no evidence that such a project will affect long-term effect property values.
Current scientific evidence, PPL said, reveals no health consequences from "exposure to low-level electromagnetic fields (EMF), which are produced by things like appliances and wiring found in homes and power lines."
Some feel the odds are against the residents. Erik Sharkey called it a "David and Goliath" situation. PPL Corp., the parent company, earned more than $1 billion last year, and its CEO had a compensation package of more than $13 million.
But strong public sentiment against data centers has emerged.
Supervisors in nearby Hazle Township rejected an application tied to Project Hazelnut, and their decision was upheld in Luzerne County Court. The company has filed an appeal.
Last month, three state lawmakers wrote to the PUC to say Project Hazelnut faces "widespread and growing opposition from residents, landowners, and local officials." Many in the region believe a $10,000-per-household offer made by Project Hazelnut developers to township residents is nothing more than a bribe.
'Obscene' voltage?
The wife of Mark Clark, who is 69 and lives along the route, suffered a stroke last month, he said. Clark believes it was tied to stress caused by the eminent domain filing.
The couple, along with Clark's disabled brother, live just north of I-80 on property that is bisected by the proposed transmission line route. All of their nerves, he said, have been in "fight-or-flight" mode since they heard about the proposal.
"PPL is saying I can live here with 500,000 volts next to me. That is obscene," Clark said. "The human body is not supposed to be in that kind of environment."
Jill Groce said the stress of pending eminent domain is constant.
"It never leaves you. Twenty-four-seven, it is on your mind," said Groce, who is 60.
She owns more than 26 acres. She and her husband, Rod, bought their land nearly 30 years ago, cleared brush and felled trees themselves and sometimes stayed in a pop-up camper there with their kids. Ultimately, they had a white Cape Cod-style home and had a "hobby farm" with hundreds of peacocks.
Rod Groce died of leukemia in 2015. The power line proposal has cast a pall over Jill Groce's optimism about future visits there by grandchildren.
"It is kind of heartbreaking when you build your life around a place that you think will be peaceful and quiet," Groce said. "And then something comes along you never expected."
A short distance to the southeast of Groce's home, woods surround the deck jutting out from the log home of Bill and Cynthia Tressler. Sometimes, they hang stuffed bags on the deck to make carpenter bees think there are hornet nests around.
They have been married for 53 years. Bill Tressler drove forklifts for 43 years. He built the home – actually "everything but the block foundation and fireplace" – before he and his family moved in back in 1988.
The utility company wants to take a sliver at the corner of their property along Sugarloaf Mountain Road. The placement, the Tresslers believe, means they will be able to see the big utility poles. They think their property value will tank.
Cynthia, a retired accounting assistant, said, "We worked hard all our lives to have this, and they are just going to come and take it?"
John and Jill Zola live just down the road from the Tresslers.
"I am not interested in the money," said John Zola, a businessman. "My only interest is in preserving what we have here."
Mike Bereznak and his wife of 38 years, Deena Bereznak, bought a sloping tract of about 50 acres in the region in late 2024. The idea was to build their retirement home there, and give each of their daughters some land to build their own homes.
The advent of the power line proposal, Bereznak said, basically "took the wind right out of our sails."
Better than other routes
PPL said on the website that the proposed route was chosen carefully in order to minimize disruption to the community and environment. Other options, it said, would have "significantly larger impacts."
The project could start early next year, the company said.
It also described the project as part of a regional transmission plan belonging to PJM Interconnection, the regional transmission organization that coordinates movement of wholesale electricity in all or part of 13 states and the District of Columbia. Pennsylvania is among those states.
Besides the high-voltage line and towers, construction will include environmental controls and access roads. PPL said no outages will be required.
'Fighting for our life'
"As un-American as it gets" is how Tony Cook feels about the eminent domain situation.
He and his wife of 16 years, Erika Cook, make their own maple syrup on their wooded property. Tony is a self-employed bicycle frame builder and makes his own flies for fly-fishing, sometimes using feathers from the chickens they keep on their property.
There was some mayhem on a recent night when a raccoon got into the coop and killed three chickens. It's all part of life on their land, just across I-80 from where Mark Clark lives.
"You can't put a value on what I want to do with this place," Tony Cook said.
Erika Cook describes the legal struggle as "fighting for our life." A licensed insurance agent, she has kept meticulous track of every move leading up to the proceeding.
She said, "At the PUC is where we win or lose."