Webinar: Data Centers — Assisting Communities in Understanding the Challenges and Opportunities
January 27, 2026
Data centers are becoming an increasingly visible part of local development, yet many community leaders and residents lack clear, practical information about how these facilities operate and what they require to function. The NERCRD is hosting a webinar on February 24 at 2:00 p.m. ET geared toward Extension professionals who are interested in assisting their communities in understanding the challenges and opportunities that data centers present.
Our speakers Jim Ladlee and Tom Beresnyak (Penn State Extension) will offer a grounded, non-technical introduction to data centers, focusing on the issues communities are most often asked to evaluate, including land use, water demand and discharge, energy needs, and potential jobs and economic impacts. Participants are encouraged to submit any questions they have about data centers using the form below, and our presenters will do their best to address them.
Scott Slattery, UNH Extension and NACDEP Northeast representative, helped plan this webinar.
Registration is required. Register here. To request an accommodation or for inquiries about accessibility, please contact Kristen Devlin, krd111@psu.edu, 814-863-7684.
Note (2/9/2026): This webinar had previously been planned as a regional meeting. Due to overwhelming interest in this topic, the organizers decided to convert the meeting to a webinar format. The webinar will be recorded. During the webinar, we will survey attendees about their interest in a potential follow-up regional meeting.