The landscape for a proposed data center in Ransom Township is currently uncertain. Sinha Shatrughan, a developer from White Haven, has confirmed he no longer holds shares in the firm that acquired the land, leading to questions about the project’s future. Although a website outlining the data center’s specifications has been taken down, Shatrughan did not disclose the identities of the current shareholders.
Shatrughan expressed initial interest in establishing a data center, stating, “We wanted to do that,” but noted that plans changed due to local regulatory challenges following the Scranton Material ordinance. Mudiita Land Venture LLC, which Shatrughan incorporated and is listed as the sole name on the Pennsylvania Department of State’s papers, originally purchased the 500-acre site for $2.4 million on July 14.
In another development, Scranton Materials LLC faced a setback when their request for a data center zoning overlay on their 251-acre land off Newton Road was denied by township supervisors. This decision has been met with an appeal from the company’s legal team.
The region, particularly Northeast and Northcentral Pennsylvania, is witnessing a surge in data center projects, with over a dozen proposed in Lackawanna County. Despite this trend, many local residents have shown resistance, actively participating in public meetings and hearings to express their opposition.
Potential Hydroelectric Facility
Currently, Shatrughan has no definitive plans for the land Mudiita Land Venture LLC acquired along Ransom Road, near the Alliance Landfill. “Personally, I didn’t want to go ahead with any sort of data center there right now,” he remarked. However, there is potential for part of the property to serve as a hydroelectric facility.
Renewable Energy Aggregators Inc. proposed the Old Forge Pumped Storage Project to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on July 7, which includes using mine water from the Old Forge borehole. This project might encompass part of the Mudiita property, as per FERC documents. Interestingly, Mudiita’s land purchase occurred just a week after the FERC submission, raising questions about prior agreements with KF Real Estate LLC, from whom the land was bought.
Online Presence Vanishes
Websites linked to the Mudiita Group, which had operations in the U.S., India, and Singapore, have been deactivated. The now-defunct Mudiita Infra website had once advertised a cutting-edge, fully electrified data center campus in Lackawanna County, designed to be a zero-gas hyperscale ready site for AI, cloud, and multi-tenant deployment.
Efforts to contact David Bird, chairman of the Ransom Township Board of Supervisors, for comments have been unsuccessful.
Scranton Materials Setback
On November 25, Scranton Materials LLC, represented by attorneys Michael Mey and Justin Sulla, applied for a zoning overlay for a data center at 819 Newton Road in Ransom Twp. Their plan included building six data center buildings on a property that borders West Scranton.
After attorney Laura McGarry highlighted inconsistencies in the hearing process and the application, the zoning overlay was denied. McGarry represented her mother, Susan Magnotta, a Scranton resident living close to the site. Scranton Materials’ legal team has since appealed the decision, questioning Magnotta’s legal standing due to her residence outside the township. However, in June, Judge Margaret Bisignani Moyle ruled that Magnotta does have standing to contest the project.
