Despite the perceptions that data centers operate in somewhat of a regulatory “gray area,” they are subject to regulation. Unfortunately, the legal frameworks surrounding this industry remain fragmented, site-specific, and quickly evolving as our various bodies of government attempt to respond to the industry’s rapid growth.
Electricity bills around the United States are skyrocketing. (CNN). In Pennsylvania, household electricity prices have shot up nearly 50 percent over the past five years. (Inside Climate News). Ratepayers in Ohio and West Virginia have also experienced dramatic price increases. Low and middle-income households have had a hard time keeping up. (Pa. Capital-Star). In 2025, nearly 290,000 Pennsylvania households had their electric service disconnected for falling behind on their payments — a 14 percent increase from 2024. (Pa. PUC).
Losing electric service can harm physical and mental health. (ABC News). In the most extreme cases, disconnection can result in homelessness or death. (Nature). To “keep the lights on,” families may forgo food, medicine, child care, and other basic needs. (Pa. Capital-Star).
Given the stakes, it’s important to understand how electricity prices are set, why costs are going up, and, most importantly, what we can do about it.
When I moved to Virginia after college in 2016, I wanted a quiet neighborhood to call home, close to work and family. After the data center arrived, everything changed. I can’t bring myself to leave, even though I no longer see myself starting a family here. Over the past decade, I’ve built a support network, advanced my career, and remained close to relatives who depend on me. Every weekend, I watch my nephews, who go to the local elementary school just down the road. They notice the changes too, though they cannot comprehend their implications. Now, I feel stuck and unsure what to do.
Environmental justice exists because Black communities have always organized for clean air, safe water, healthy homes, and dignity. From fighting toxic dumping to defending land, housing, and public health, Black environmentalists have shaped the movement—often without recognition. We must thank Black leaders for addressing the interconnection between civil rights, labor safety, housing, and environmental health—their advocacy continues to shape how environmental law understands equity, participation, and accountability today.
Check out this blog for some fun resources, including a zine to print and share with your community!
Residents throughout Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, are raising the alarm as new data centers, warehouses, and industrial facilities move in rapidly leading to public concerns surrounding noise, water, and power-usage. How is this happening so fast? Too often, municipalities approve these developments through quiet but completely legal rezoning processes. Many communities are left wondering: Can zoning rules really be changed that easily? Why don't we know about it? How can we get involved before final decisions are made? How does this work, and is there anything I can do about it?
Here's how the zoning process works, how municipalities change their zoning maps and codes, what the legal requirements are, and how you can better advocate to protect your community from these unwanted changes.
To counter the market forces favoring development, the Pennsylvania Farmland and Forest Land Assessment Act, often referred to as “Clean and Green” or Act 319, provides preferential tax assessments for qualifying farmland and forestland. The question is: Can a landowner maintain Clean and Green status while also implementing a renewable energy project on the property?
I have to stretch my memory to recall a time when I have heard the word “jurisdiction” used outside of the realm of legal beagles. The best I can do is to think of various times when a police or fire vehicle appears in a completely different city or town than the one displayed on the side of the vehicle. When that happens, we’ll often say: “I wonder what she’s doing outside of her jurisdiction?” As a general matter, most people seem to understand, then, that jurisdiction refers to the area where that governmental actor has power to do something.
Over the weekend, the American Red Cross and other volunteers distributed water to the residents of Sebring, Ohio following concerns about elevated lead levels in the Sebring Public Water System. In response to the concern, Sebring’s schools cancelled classes on Friday and held a lead screening clinic for children under 6 and pregnant and breastfeeding women on Sunday. Pregnant and breastfeeding women, infants, and children receiving water from the Sebring Public Water system remain advised to use bottled water for cooking, drinking, and formula preparation, and the Mahoning County Emergency Management Agency continues to distribute water through the Sebring Community Center.
More than ever, for-profit businesses today are striving to highlight their ethical sourcing, environmental consciousness, and positive influence on society. For consumers, the question of whether they are supporting a true social enterprise or being misled by savvy marketing is sometimes difficult to answer. But, it is a question that businesses can take steps to address upfront. One way businesses do this is through Benefit Corporation designation. For clarity, there are two different types of B Corp designation. The first is a third party certification, similar to Fair Trade. The second is a state-created business entity that requires meeting environmental and social standards not required of a typical corporation. Both types of Benefit Corporation are explored further below.
Lately we have heard a great deal about the lead poisoning of children in Flint, Michigan, which may have some wondering about lead in their own communities. According to Ohio’s Department of Health, lead poisoning is the greatest environmental threat to children in Ohio, and in the past 15 years 40,000 children have suffered lead poisoning in Cuyahoga County alone.
In 2015, the toxic cyanobacterial algal bloom in Lake Erie was the worst in recorded history. You may not be aware of this, simply because the situation received much less press than in previous years, such as 2014 when enormous clouds of microscopic bacteria clogged Toledo’s public water treatment system. A lot has been done in recent years in Canada and the United States, as well as here in Ohio, to strengthen the laws and regulations designed to protect surface water, in an effort to slow the contributions of chemicals that feed these algal blooms. It is too early to say whether these efforts have succeeded; due to the pollution storage capacity in the lake, it will take years to understand how much effect these efforts have had.
Whether you are considering installing solar panels on your residential home, a wind turbine at your commercial manufacturing facility, or a biodigester on your farm, one of the biggest hurdles is often developing a plan for financing your renewable energy project. An attorney, accountant, or specialized consultant can help you develop this plan. To jump-start planning, this post outlines three major financial resources available for renewable energy projects in Pennsylvania, including: tax incentives, loan programs, and grant programs.
On November 9, 2015, we welcomed the first of our second corps of Resident Attorneys, Megan McLaurin Hunter. Even before news outlets were reporting on studies linking the close proximity of shale gas development to premature births, Megan had applied to the Fair Shake Residency Program proposing a practice that brings together her interconnected interests in environmental and reproductive justice. Like the start-up of Fair Shake and the work of the first set of Resident Attorneys in our program, Megan hopes to create a space where a diverse client base can affordably access necessary services, but Megan hopes to consistently practice at the crossroads of women’s health and environmental issues. We couldn’t be more excited that she’s up to the entrepreneurial challenge of forging (read “inventing”) a new access to justice path.
Few issues pit neighbor against neighbor more often, or more vehemently, than proper maintenance and care of their lawns. On one side, a manicured turf lawn is good for public health and neighborhood uniformity. On the other side, a natural yard cuts down on pollution, captures stormwater, offers wildlife habitat, and provides an expressive outlet for individual creativity. Around the early 20th century, many local governments sided with advocates of the uniformly mowed lawn by enacting “vegetation control statutes” or “weed ordinances” restricting the height of “weeds or similar vegetation.” Today, as the benefits of natural yards are popularized, outdated weed ordinances seem to limit a property owner’s choice to mow or to grow. The issue is so pervasive that the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals recently weighed in on the issue with an opinion, written by Judge Richard Posner, addressing the constitutionality of the City of Chicago’s weed ordinance. With proper research, planning, and maintenance though, the natural yard proponent can minimize risk of violating these ordinances and in areas with enough support and resources, may even be able to update the ordinance.
Many oil and gas leases are approaching their 5 and 10 year primary terms, and landowners in Pennsylvania and Ohio[1] may find themselves confused about the duration of their lease once the primary term expires. The habendum clause of an oil and gas lease separates the duration of the lease into a primary term and a secondary term. Understanding the habendum clause, or the clause that bridges the primary and secondary terms, is crucial not only when negotiating a lease, but also in understanding whether an existing lease has expired after the primary term instead of entering the secondary term. The primary term is set for a certain number of years, typically 5 or 10. The duration of the secondary term is often indefinite, but usually requires some continued action on the part of the lessee[2] in order to keep the lease in effect.
