State lawmakers show up for data center tour and can’t go inside

(The Center Square) – State lawmakers who are associated with a taxpayer-funded agency gathering information on the controversial data center issue showed up Tuesday for a prearranged look at a high-profile site – and weren’t allow in the data center.

One of those refused entrance, Democratic Rep. Eddie Pashinski of Luzerne County, said lawmakers who are board members of the Center for Rural Pennsylvania were in a larger group that met at the site in Salem Township, Luzerne County on Tuesday. They got to see open ground, partly constructed buildings, and ones that appeared to be finished.

When it seemed to be time to enter one of the finished buildings – to see the sort of data center operation that is a research focus of the Center for Rural Pennsylvania – they were refused.

“We wanted to go inside the ones that were complete,” Pashinski said. “They wouldn’t allow us in.”

His own reaction, he said, was, “Hey, what’s the ...