Every Household in This Rural Town Receives $10,000 if a Data Center Gets Built
Many Pennsylvania residents in Hazle Township are pushing back against the data center, despite the lure of the cash payout
By Will Parker| Photography by Joe Lamberti for WSJ
HAZLE TOWNSHIP, PA.—The letters started arriving in June, from a big developer who said he would give $10,000 to every family in town. They could spend it on anything. “Really whatever you want,” the developer wrote.
To get the money, the township just needed to let NorthPoint Development build its data center, the first of 15 buildings the firm planned on 1,300 acres in the Pocono foothills. Then, $10,000 checks would go out to each of the 4,500 households there. It would be a $45 million payout, the developer wrote.