Data center opposition expands as groups organize state-wide effort

Nonprofit organizations, homeowners’ groups, and residents from all over Virginia have joined forces to form a coalition that is calling for industry-wide data center reform across Virginia

Today, FRIDAY, Dec. 1, at the Clearbrook Center for the Arts, 2230 Tacketts Mill Drive in Lake Ridge, Va., this Virginia Data Center Reform Coalition is hosting a press conference to demand accountability from this industry and to speak with the media about the data center impacts faced by their communities.

The Coalition is asking Virginia’s state government to step in — to require more transparency around land use decisions affecting the lives of Virginians and around energy and water usage that carries significant implications for both local communities and the rest of the Commonwealth.

The coalition is asking the state to require that data center developers mitigate the negative environmental impacts of this industry and to shift the cost of new transmission lines and power generation onto the industry players, rather than on the backs of Virginia’s ratepayers.

According to a news release, the Coalition is made up of more than 20 environmental, conservation, historic preservation, and climate advocacy groups, as well as representatives of communities and neighborhoods across the state.

Together, they are urging the state to study the cumulative effects of data center development on the state’s electrical grid, water resources, air quality, and land conservation efforts, and to institute several common-sense regulatory and rate-making reforms for this industry.

The press conference will highlight several ways that members of the newly formed coalition believe the data center industry in Virginia has failed to prioritize community concerns.

Among them: proposing mega-campuses in inappropriate locations, such as near historic battlefields and cultural resources, schools, and residential communities; consuming excessive amounts of water with little oversight; installing thousands of large diesel generators that threaten local and regional air quality; and compelling massive energy infrastructure upgrades paid for by ratepayers.

In addition, speakers will discuss the significant threats data centers are posing to Virginia’s clean energy progress.

As massive transmission line plans are released, water withdrawal permits filed, and numerous air permits for the operation of large diesel generators pile up all over the state, the volume of concerned organizations and communities continues to grow. More and more, land use decisions around data centers are occurring behind a veil of secrecy forged by nondisclosure agreements and VFOIA violations, according to the news release announcing today’s press conference.