Frank Arcoleo: They Cut the Deal, We Pay the Price
By Frank Arcoleo
Two artificial intelligence data centers are scheduled to be put in our backyard.
We didn’t vote for this. We weren’t even asked.
In February of this year, news broke that a trio of private companies was intending to bring AI-supporting data centers to my hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Like most voters, I expected a transparent public process with city council, the planning commission, and community input. Instead, in the dead of night, the city administration classified these facilities as “warehouses,” sidestepping a public hearing. We didn’t even get to question how this would affect our utility bills.
Here’s what they don’t want you to know: AI data centers do not cover the collateral costs of their operations – we do. Everyday working class Pennsylvanians will pick up the tab every month, indefinitely. And when electricity is scarce, guess who’ll be left in the dark while the data centers stay powered?
They cut a deal. And they expect us to pay for it.
An AI data center is not a warehouse. Beginning phases for only one site will consume enough electricity to power 85,000 homes. These centers also use large amounts of water and run deafening cooling fans 24/7. The heat they push out doesn’t disappear; it heats up the surrounding area, including downwind neighborhoods.
And when the electric grid goes down – because of a storm, excess strain, or any other reason – diesel fuel backup generators kick in, spewing exhaust that worsens respiratory conditions like asthma and bronchitis, and puts our communities’ health at risk. Lancaster County already has some of the worst air quality in the nation. All this to support technologies that will eventually force 40 million Americans out of their jobs.
We shouldn’t have to subsidize our own demise.
It’s not just the tech billionaires who profit from this nightmare. Corporations like PPL – my power company – are Wall Street-traded, for-profit entities. The Public Utility Commission supposedly regulates them, but our rates keep going up, and we working-class people have little say.
Grid operators like PJM Interconnection charge fees to operate the grid that delivers electricity from producers to ultimate users. Those fees are largely determined by “capacity auctions.” Governor Shapiro recently had to step in to save consumers $8.3 billion in a settlement with PJM over excessive rate hikes. In spite of that, Pennsylvanians still face steep and frequent increases.
If wind and solar account for 90% of new global energy capacity, why do we keep fracking and mining coal in Pennsylvania?
Because the status quo rewards dirty, unreliable, unaffordable energy.
Factor in the 225 to 450 terawatt-hours (TWh) of additional electricity needed annually for AI data centers in the United States, and we’ll be pickpocketed every billing cycle, while corporations make off with the profits. Meanwhile, we’ll continue to devastate the environment by burning fossil fuels to meet increasing electricity demand.
I’m a systems guy. I went to Wharton and helped companies implement ERP systems. I’m no Luddite. But I won’t drink the Kool-Aid on AI data centers because I’ve seen this movie before. In the 1990s, telecoms laid oceans of fiber for the “future,” then went bankrupt when a glut crashed the market — jeopardizing ordinary people’s retirement savings. Playing roulette with astronomical sums is bad enough, but forcing workers and retirees to pay for the devastation of our own communities without giving us any say in the matter is a new low.
When democratic decision-making is removed – when those of us who live here no longer have a say – it leads to a decline in accountability, the erosion of our constitutional rights, increased economic and social instability, and the further concentration of power.
This is not a left-versus-right issue. This is about whether or not our government is still of, by, and for the people. Or if our government seeks to put corporations and billionaires’ interests over ours.
We won’t let them gaslight us or turn us against each other. We do not suffer from scarcity. We suffer from the greed of corporations and billionaires. Americans know there is more than enough for all of us to thrive. There is a line in the sand. And the tech bros, greedy corporations, and corrupt politicians have crossed it.
We still have a voice. And we need to use it to say, “NO!”
That’s why, as a member of Lancaster Stands Up, I’m joining Americans across the country on September 20, 2025 in calling for action.
It’s time to Make Billionaires Pay – pay back the public dollars they’ve stolen from us, pay what they owe in taxes, pay to clean up the pollution, health care, housing, and other crises they’ve exacerbated by profiting off of the pain of people living paycheck to paycheck.
We the People are organizing and uniting. They’re going to learn that they can’t shove AI data centers – or anything else – down our throats. They’re going to find out that our power to demand the country we deserve is stronger than their greed.
Frank Arcoleo, a member-leader of Lancaster Stands Up, Pennsylvania Stands Up, and People’s Action Institute, is a CPA with an MBA from the Wharton School. He has led enterprise transformation projects across multiple industries, helping companies improve efficiency and accountability. More recently, he has also assisted small business owners with selling their businesses. Frank brings a systems-focused mindset to grassroots organizing, connecting strategic planning with people-powered change.
