Homer City Redevelopment is seeking an NPDES permit to discharge 6.84 million gallons per day of wastewater from a new 4.4 gigawatt gas-fired power plant, built to serve a data center campus, into Blacklick Creek in Indiana County. That is 2.5 million gallons per day more than the old coal plant’s permit allowed.
Mountain Watershed Association warns the discharge could reach 110 degrees, could make up over 30 percent of the creek’s flow during dry summer months, and would carry chlorine, biocides, and scale inhibitors into a trout stocking fishery in an Environmental Justice community already burdened by industrial pollution. This permit covers only the power plant, so future data center discharges would add further impacts.
Deadline: Comments are due August 10, 2026. Send comments to RA-EPNPDES_NWRO@pa.gov. MWA is also urging residents to ask DEP for a public hearing and informational session.
