Given all the talk about advancing technology and what’s needed to make that happen, data centers have popped up as the engine to drive that progress.

Add to that the assets that Pennsylvania has to offer these mainframe monsters and it’s almost a foregone conclusion that the northeastern part of the state is a prime location for many of these large computer server facilities.

And national developers have plans to locate some in Carbon County.

NorthPoint Development, of Kansas City, Missouri, recently purchased 1,400 acres atop Tresckow Mountain — a parcel adjacent to McAdoo Industrial Park in Banks Township that stretches east to Spring Mountain Road in Packer Township.

A second data center is proposed for the Panther Creek where Canada-based owner Bitfarm LLC plans to expand the current bitcoin mining operation.

To do so, developers are being offered a basketful of benefits.

At the state level, they may be eligible for breaks that include faster permitting, sales tax waivers for equipment and local tax breaks offered at the county, school district and municipal levels that last for years.

In return, data centers promise jobs and “economic development.”

But after they’re built — when the construction workers move on to their next project — the average data center employs between 50 and 100 people, maybe a little more depending on its size.

In the long run, the potential impact of long-term employees is limited. So is the concept of “economic development.”

Adding to the economic issues, data centers have been under fire in many of the communities where developers plan to put them.

They use huge amounts of electricity, some say.

PPL, the local electric supplier, is working to solve some of that problem, upgrading lines that will stretch into Banks Township in the northern part of the county. From there, they’ll extend to a substation in Hauto. Another line will run to the Panther Creek facility in Nesquehoning.

An open house to outline the plans is planned for Oct. 2, beginning at 6 p.m. in the Nesquehoning Recreation Center.

Just a few days earlier, North Point plans to hold a town hall to discuss its proposal for a data center in the McAdoo Industrial Park. It is scheduled for Sept. 30 at 6 p.m. at the Tresckow firehouse.

Maybe the locals who are directly affected by all these proposals can use the gatherings to effect change in their communities.

It’s not often that projects the size of the data center trend fully deliver on the promises made in the approval process. Too often, local governments are lured by these proposals that rarely match reality.

Maybe it’s time for the locals to insist on a fair exchange: data center approval should be given only with a binding partnership, services agreement or a payment in lieu of taxes that benefits residents.

It’s not outside the realm of possibility. It’s not antibusiness or anti-progress.

But it is pro-community.

Limited jobs that data centers create limit economic benefits. If a community is giving up land and tax breaks, it deserves something in return.

A partnership or PILOT can fund workforce training for high-tech jobs. It can help pay for upgrades to local emergency units that may have to respond to specialized hazards. It may help provide reliable broadband service in rural areas.

A working, binding agreement can be tailored to almost any need, its provisions paid for by a tiny fraction of the billions being spent and any future income of any one of the centers.

Consider mandating the use of local contractors in the construction phases. And ponder assistance with helping fund affordable housing initiatives in a county where the need is already in dire straits.

To quell concerns about water consumption, require that whenever possible, acid mine water or gray water be used, then treated and put back into the ecosystem.

Foremost in any of these partnerships is transparency, so that residents can make sure what’s being promised is what’s being delivered.

The intelligence these data centers serve may be artificial, but the brick, mortar and steel that make it happen are in real places — like Carbon County.

Allowing them to locate here should bring something more than a high electric bill.

Any good businessman will tell you that something’s value isn’t automatic. It’s negotiated.

And at all levels of local government, it’s up to them to make certain that data centers are managed and their benefits are shared.

Otherwise, they’re just wires and lights in a big box.

ED SOCHA | tneditor@tnonline.com

Ed Socha is a retired newspaper editor with more than 40 years’ experience in community journalism.