A Proposed Decision and a Comment Period: The Pennsylvania DEP on a Data Center's Generator Engines

On July 13, 2026, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, DEP, announced in a release that it "will hold a Community meeting regarding a proposed air quality plan approval for" a data center in Falls Township, Bucks County. The approval concerns generator engines at that data center. This article reports parts of the release, not the application or the department's proposed decision themselves.

What the company asked for

The application went in during April 2026, when the company "submitted to DEP a plan approval application for the installation of 280 natural gas-fired generator engines and three diesel-fired emergency generator engines." The release then says what all of them are for. "These generator engines will only provide backup electricity to the data center in the event of a main utility power supply interruption and for other limited testing and maintenance purposes."

That sentence is the release's whole account of how the engines would be used. It gives no size for the engines, no figure for their emissions and no limit on how many hours they may run.

A reader of this release learns how many engines there are and what they are for, but not how much they may run. That is the number a neighbor, and a lender to the project, would want to see next.

The meeting

The meeting was set for the next day, July 14, 2026. There, "DEP will discuss its role as the reviewing and regulatory agency," and parties the release names are to give presentations. The release says time is set aside for questions from the community, and it tells the public how to ask for a copy of the application.

The comment period

In the release, the department's decision is still a proposal, and the public's say on it comes later. "The public comment period on DEP’s proposed decision on the air quality Minor New Source Plan Approval Application No. 09-0261A will be open for 30 days after publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin," the release says, and that notice "is expected to publish on July 18." Expected, in the release's word.

In the release, the approval is a proposal and the comment period has yet to open. For the data center, the timing of that approval is part of the project's own timing.