Diversified Energy Rumored to Plan E. Kentucky Power Plant for AI
Diversified Energy and real estate firm Maverick Holdings have secured an option on 100 acres at Letcher County’s Gateway Industrial Park near Jenkins, aiming to use an existing natural gas compressor station to fuel an off-grid, 100-megawatt power plant that could attract data centers or manufacturers. The Appalachian Industrial Development Authority signed an 18-month joint development agreement in March, though some board members were asked to sign NDAs. Local officials remain cautiously optimistic, citing potential tax revenue and infrastructure funding, but stress the project is still in early, unproven stages. Read More “Diversified Energy Rumored to Plan E. Kentucky Power Plant for AI”
In June, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro took credit for brokering a really huge deal for Amazon to invest $20 billion in three data center locations across the state (see 
New York Governor Kathy Hochul yesterday had the ignominious distinction of signing an Executive Order establishing the nation’s first statewide moratorium on new hyperscale data centers, temporarily pausing state environmental permit issuance for up to 1 year. New York is CLOSED for business. We wonder if this decision jeopardizes a $100 BILLION project in the Syracuse area: a new chip-making plant by Micron. The Micron plant will build the chips used by hyperscale data centers — the same data centers Hochul just banned. How’s that for a kick in Micron’s teeth? 
Northeastern states outside established data center hubs are positioning for major growth that could reshape regional natural gas demand. Surprisingly, blue state Maryland is emerging as a secondary data center hub, supported by large hyperscale projects, new gas-fired generation, and transmission upgrades. Delaware is constrained by coastal regulation, while Massachusetts, Connecticut, and even the Communist state of Rhode Island are seeing proposals (although there is stiff opposition in all of those states). Maine is weighing large-load rules as a mill conversion advances, and New Hampshire and Vermont remain limited. 
Following its May merger with Coterra Energy, Devon Energy is positioning AI as central to integration efforts while targeting $1 billion in annual pre-tax synergies by the end of 2027. The combined company—valued at over $60 billion with 1.6 million boe/d production—is concentrated in the Delaware Basin (70% of oil output), recently bolstered by a $2.6 billion New Mexico acreage acquisition, and includes Coterra’s 190,000-acre Marcellus position, which reportedly drew an $8 billion offer. 
A rare bipartisan backlash against AI data centers has emerged, with more than 70 state and local governments passing restrictions or moratoriums due to concerns about water use, electricity consumption, noise, and utility rate hikes. Critics span the political spectrum, from Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to conservatives like Pennsylvania State Treasurer (and Republican candidate for Governor) Stacy Garrity. Public relations experts blame the industry’s failure to build trust, communicate transparently, and engage communities early, comparing tech companies’ top-down approach to the tobacco industry’s playbook. The consequences are mounting: 25 data center projects were canceled in 2025 — quadruple 2024’s total — while roughly 99 of 770 planned projects face local opposition. Pennsylvania is at risk of forfeiting some $92 billion in private investments (see 
Pennsylvania radical green groups, including PennFuture, the Center for Coalfield Justice, and the Sierra Club Pennsylvania Chapter, continued a full-court press against AI data centers in the Keystone State yesterday. Just yesterday, we reported that Food & Water Watch had assembled dozens (perhaps one hundred at most) protesters in Harrisburg on Tuesday to support a bill (Senate Bill 1359) that would (if signed by Governor Shapiro) ban new data center development in PA for three years (see 
Last week, MDN told you about a group of landowners in Salem Township (Luzerne County), PA, near Wilkes-Barre, who had banded together to offer their land for sale to a data center project and potentially become very wealthy (see 
Earlier this month, Homer City Generation announced the early completion of demolition and excavation work at its Indiana County, Pennsylvania, site, marking a major milestone in transforming the former coal-fired power plant into a gas-fired power plant and AI data center complex (see 
In March, we told you about a deal made by Maryland Eastern Shore developer TeraWulf to acquire the retired Morgantown Generating Station in Charles County (on the Potomac River), proposing to transform the site into a massive natural gas-powered data center campus (see 
Last week, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) launched a sweeping investigation into how power grids and utilities divide the soaring costs of supplying electricity to data centers. FERC issued six “show-cause” orders directing regional grid operators—PJM, SPP, MISO, CAISO, ISO New England, and NYISO—to prove that data center connection rates are “just and reasonable” and shield ordinary ratepayers from cost-shifting, or face federal fixes. FERC wants regional grids to speed up data center connections while protecting residential ratepayers. And they WILL do it, or else. 
Pennsylvania has become a hotspot for data center proposals, prompting community backlash, writes Penn State law professor Michael Helbing, whose hometown is Archbald, PA, a suburb of Scranton. You may recall that last week we wrote about another Scranton suburb (virtually next door to Archbald, see the map) by the name of Olyphant, and how the leaders of that borough had developed zoning regulations to protect residents yet allow data center projects to proceed (see 
Three months ago (March 2026), MDN reported on a northeastern Pennsylvania landowner from Luzerne County who sold his farm to an AI data center project and overnight became a multimillionaire (see