Valley woman credit's the Lord for...

WORTH FIGHTING FOR When Kevin and Tara Cummings were looking for a farm to call their home, they knew they wanted to go somewhere where there was space to breathe and to grow. That meant leaving the Chester and Lancaster county areas, which have become increasingly populated over the years, and where farmland is getting harder to find, traffic is heavy, and the cost of living is steadily rising. After arriving in the Danville area, Cummings said she remembers driving down the road one day and realizing that this was their hometown — this was their dream they were building together. “I can’t really say I’ve ever had a ‘hometown,’” she said, adding, “the people here have been wonderful.” And so, when news began arriving of a potential data center by Talen Energy, with plans to buy up acres of adjacent farmland, they were devastated. Montour County officials and concerned citizen groups have taken steps to pass ordinances and safeguards to protect residents, but Cummings said there is only so much that local governments can do. “The ordinances are substantial, and that’s helpful,” she said. “But there is no limit to the ambition behind these data centers. They don’t care what they destroy.” She said Testament Farm shares a property line with Talen property, which has been securing contracts on large properties all along Route 54. “That is very much a threat to us right now,” she said, explaining that these data centers would contaminate or drain their private well, and the sound pollution alone has been proven to lead to poor health — especially so in pets and livestock. After having spent every last dime and ounce of energy to get here, with the hopes of this being a multi-generational property for their family, she said data centers would crush those dreams in one fell swoop. Property values would crash, and they likely wouldn’t get all of their invested funds back, if they were able to sell at all. And they wouldn’t even be able to live there themselves. The threat has been something that the Cummings have been praying hard about as they trust in God, who they believe brought them here for a reason. “It definitely feels like a David and Goliath scenario,” she said. But they don’t plan to give up. “This place is worth fighting for — to keep it as close to the way it is as can humanly be done.” — TRICIA KLINE