Data centers in Virginia

"My own work relies on AI technology. And whether or not they're built here or another smaller town or community, somebody's gonna bear the cost and detriment to the environment."

"The prohibition is meant to give planning staff time to engage with other localities and residents, given the impact data centers have on communities."

Subramanyam expressed concerns that community members are seeing power lines run through their homes and schools, spikes in their utility bills, and environmental impacts from data center development

US Representative Suhas Subramanyam proposed a National Data Center Plan requiring data centres to pay for their own power needs and to establish guardrails on development to ensure communities are not subsidizing power infrastructure

Christina Anne Knight opposes the Dominion NextEra merger and argues that data centers should build their own electricity infrastructure and cooling sources, including using desalination plants near oceans rather than tapping regional fresh water sources

Lt. Gov. Ghazala Hashmi reported that NextEra intends to accelerate infrastructure for data centers regardless of whether it is the least cost option

Democratic candidate Beth Macy said Republican incumbent Ben Cline attended a weekend gathering with lobbyists from Google and Nvidia at an $800 a night winery resort in Napa Valley on October 10, 2026, instead of meeting constituents.

Buddy Rizer states the data center industry needs to move beyond simply hiring lobbyists and start cultivating genuine community advocates.

Cline last month called for a pause on data center construction until sufficient guardrails can be constructed at all levels of government

Macy supports a moratorium on new data centers until there are clear rules that will bring transparency to the process, protect water, keep energy prices in check, force companies to pay for renewable energy and contain AI

Warner argued the Ratepayer Protection Act does not go far enough and urged consideration of his Data Center Tax Accountability and Disclosure Act instead

Warner's Data Center Tax Accountability and Disclosure Act would require greater public disclosure of data centers' energy and water consumption, backup power systems and environmental impacts.

Little River District Supervisor Laura TeKrony said Loudoun County should limit data center development to industrial areas and stated she has not voted for any data center application since her term started in 2024.

Virginia Beach Mayor Bobby Dyer said large data centers are not good neighbors and he wouldn't want to live near one.

Warner stated his Data Center Tax Accountability and Disclosure Act would condition access to accelerated depreciation tax benefits on developers meeting standards related to energy, water, building efficiency, setbacks, and community transparency

Laura TeKrony, Loudoun County supervisor for Little River District, testified that data center demand, not general load growth, is the driver behind the Morrisville Wishing Star transmission project.

Senator Mark Warner called on Congress to enact mandatory protections for communities facing data center expansion, including enforceable requirements on energy costs, water usage, transparency, and community impacts

U.S. Senator Mark Warner called for stronger federal requirements for data centers, arguing the Ratepayer Protection Act does not go far enough to protect communities and utility customers.

Michael Turner, vice chair and supervisor of the Ashburn District in Loudoun County, Virginia, identified six factors with highest impact on communities: noise, power, water, emissions, setback, and appearance

Delegate Sam Rasoul said he would support a moratorium on data centers if legislation came before him

Delegate Lily Franklin called for a moratorium on data centers in Virginia

Lieutenant Governor Ghazala Hashmi said data center developers should be responsible for paying for their own water and energy use rather than putting those costs on taxpayers

Macy states data center growth is boosting stock prices of AI companies including Google, Meta and Anthropic.

Beth Macy, Democratic candidate for Congress, calls for federal moratorium on new data centers until clear rules established for transparency, water protection, energy pricing, renewable energy procurement and AI regulation.

Gov. Abigail Spanberger announced a new framework to regulate data centers seeking to review noise regulations and backup power generators and establish guidelines for grid reliability

Rachel Ellis, Gainesville District resident, argued the amendment did not go far enough and called it window dressing and smoke and mirrors

George Stewart, Supervisor, warned that the 90 day grace period would fire a starter pistol and predicted there would be a race to file applications

Letter writer Mike Host argues Virginia has absorbed far more than its fair share of data centers and that some localities have rewritten their zoning rules to grant essentially automatic approvals for new data centers, bypassing public input and side stepping their own elected leaders in the process

Macy argues Congress must establish national rules for data center construction, contradicting incumbent Ben Cline who voted for 10 year moratorium on state local regulation that fell short in Senate.

L. Louise Lucas, Senate President Pro Tem, criticized the framework for ignoring the need to end tax exemptions for data centers.

Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger calls on Congress for federal AI rules addressing workforce impacts, data privacy and resource use for data centers.

Ryan McDougle, Senate Minority Leader, said the framework echoes concerns about energy generation dynamics and that Virginians across parties are experiencing higher power bills.

Grid connection requests take four to seven years in Virginia.

Governor Spanberger launching AI Task Force to tackle risks from rapid AI development

Juli Briskman, Loudoun County Board of Supervisors member, has led efforts to slow further data center development since 2020.

McGuire voted for HR 1 which included tax breaks that data centers have used; Perriello claims this was a $362 billion corporate tax break for data centers

Cline voted three times to let data centers pay no sales tax

Senator Mark Warner expressed concerns about AI agents potentially taking over banks, hospitals, or water systems and called for government safety testing of AI

Senator Tim Kaine advised voters to put local candidates on record to keep data center negotiations open rather than secret

Spanberger said wealthy companies should cover the full cost of infrastructure built solely to serve their operations

Virginia Department of Environmental Quality given 180 day timeline to develop proposals on regulations for data center noise and emissions from backup generation.

Spanberger said the industry has been rapidly expanding in the last few years without a clear or coordinated plan to address impacts on Virginians.

Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger unveiled a Data Center Accountability Framework that includes an executive order banning non disclosure agreements between data center projects and state officials or agencies.

Governor Spanberger said Virginia's Data Center Accountability Framework is the most comprehensive and aggressive data center accountability effort in the country.

The Framework bans non disclosure agreements for commercial projects and requires community benefits agreements.

The Framework includes five core requirements: Increasing Transparency, Strengthening Environmental Protections, Lowering Energy Costs, Bolstering our Clean Energy Economy, and Delivering a Better Deal for Virginia Workers.

Sen. Lashrecse Aird called the framework a critical first step in proper management of data centers with emphasis on protecting ratepayers and natural resources while strengthening local oversight

Virginia Chamber of Commerce raised concerns about portions of Gov. Spanberger's data center accountability framework, warning that additional restrictions could affect Virginia's ability to attract data center investment.

Louise Lucas said the plan ignores the sales and use tax exemption for data centers remaining untouched

Virginia legislative priorities for 2027 include eliminating by right approval and requiring local approval of any data center using more than 25 megawatts of power.

The Framework requires local permit approvals for any data center above 25 megawatts.

Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger announced a Data Center Accountability Framework aimed at increasing oversight of the data center industry

Louise Lucas, Senate Finance Committee chair, stated the proposal does not end the $2 billion in sales tax exemptions for data centers.

State Sen. Glen Sturtevant Jr. questioned what provisions take effect immediately versus going to the General Assembly for approval

Terry Kilgore, House Minority Leader, said the proposal is internally contradictory regarding data centers' power sources and grid support obligations.

Mike Doble of Piedmont Environmental Council said the framework does not address existing and pipeline data centers and called for a moratorium instead.

Chris Miller, president of Piedmont Environmental Council, stated the plan does not deal with what is already built and in the pipeline.

Kannan Srinivasan, Virginia State Senator, stated Loudoun families have borne costs of data center growth without sufficient protections.

John McAuliff, Virginia Delegate, called the framework an enormous step forward in protecting communities and putting Virginia as the national leader on data center regulation.

Sen. Lashrecse Aird, D Henrico County said the framework Spanberger proposed is a critical first step in proper management of data centers

Victoria Higgins of Chesapeake Climate Action Network called for a pause on all data center approvals until protections are implemented.

IBEW Local 26 President Thomas Myers wrote that Virginia's data center boom is creating high paying skilled trades jobs, strengthening communities and giving electricians upward mobility.

Piedmont Environmental Council calls for moratorium on new data center development, arguing state lacks comprehensive plan for massive new power demand.

Bert Mizusawa, U.S. Senate candidate (R Virginia), says he will support local community veto power over data centers and advocates for nuclear reactor deployment for energy

Virginia Senate President pro tempore L. Louise Lucas said data centers are paying $100,000 to $150,000 a year and appear to be drawing workers away from other jobs including residential construction.

Mark R. Warner, U.S. Senator (D Virginia), says he introduced legislation to require transparency about data center energy and water use, make data centers pay for grid upgrades, and condition tax benefits on efficiency standards

Governor Abigail Spanberger announced a data center accountability framework and signed an executive order to regulate data centers

Representative Morgan Griffith said he supports 'responsible federal guardrails' while preserving local autonomy on data center regulation.

More than half of data center operators report difficulties finding qualified candidates for vacant roles

Rep. Suhas Subramanyam warned the data center industry that if they do not address community concerns, a national moratorium on data centers will likely pass state by state rather than at the federal level.

Representative Morgan Griffith said communities in Virginia's Ninth District should not 'foot the bill' for data centers' electricity costs and that costs should be passed on to data centers rather than household ratepayers.

Rep. Subramanyam reported that a data center using diesel backup generators in Loudoun County has caused respiratory problems in neighboring families.

Phyllis Randall, Board Chair, said the measure is not a moratorium but a way to give the county time to develop new laws addressing data centers and their effects on nearby communities

Subramanyam's Data Center Fair Share Act directs states to develop a tariff on data centers and other large load users to pay for energy infrastructure, with loss of federal highway funds if a state fails to adopt a tariff

Virginia Senate President Pro Tem Louise Lucas said the commonwealth has let the data industry run out of control and promised sweeping new changes

The board chair made clear the measure was not a ban or a moratorium, but a way to give the county time to craft new laws concerning data centers.

U.S. Rep. Subramanyam introduced the Responsible Data Center Siting Act, directing federal government to create comprehensive guidelines for siting data centers to protect residents and environment.

Deshundra Jefferson, Prince William County Board Chair, said change would require any new data center to get special approval from board

Juli Briskman, Algonkian District Supervisor, said data center development has moved faster than land use policies and raised concerns about noise, air quality, water, substations and power lines affecting schools and communities

Data centers in Loudoun County transform the tax base and help fund schools and infrastructure while keeping homeowners' property tax bills lower

Greg Riegle, McGuireWoods partner and leader of the firm's Data Centers Practice Area, said Virginia's sales and use tax exemption for data center equipment is a pivotal driver of the industry's rapid growth in Virginia

U.S. Rep. Suhas Subramanyam and U.S. Sen. Mark Warner introduced bills to create standards for siting data centers, amplify transparency about power and water use, and protect communities from international threats

Google and other tech companies voluntarily agree to pay for all new power delivery infrastructure upgrades required to service their data centers under the Ratepayer Protection Pledge

U.S. Senator Tim Kaine warned that the rapid growth of AI data centers needs to come with more transparency

Louise Lucas said there's bipartisan support on several new bills to implement sweeping new regulations on data centers

Project needed to address expanding customer demand for cloud platform services in the region

Warner and Subramanyam pitched bills requiring data centers to publicly disclose information about energy and water use, emissions, backup generation and other environmental impacts

Phyllis Randall stated the pause allows the county to craft new laws regarding data centers and their impact on nearby communities

Leo Rogers, Loudoun County Attorney, said a moratorium is not allowed under Virginia law but the board can pause consideration of legislative applications for good reason

Dominion Energy created a GS5 rate class requiring data centers to meet contractual obligations and payment percentages for generation, distribution and transmission costs.

Greg Riegle said local governments don't have the requisite authority from the General Assembly to enact a moratorium on data centers in the traditional sense

U.S. Sen. Mark Warner and U.S. Rep. Suhas Subramanyam introduced bills requiring data centers to publicly disclose energy use, water use, emissions and backup generation impacts.

County attorney told the board that an indefinite moratorium would not be legal, while the proposed temporary pause would be limited to 12 months

Juli Briskman says data centers make up about 50 percent of Loudoun County's revenue

Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, Democratic representative from Virginia's 10th district, introduced four pieces of legislation to address data center impacts.

Andrew Power said pledges by Anthropic, OpenAI and xAI for a slowdown in AI development do not mean pencils down for AI and the real estate that supports it

Former Governor Youngkin inherited the vast majority of data centers from drum roll, the former Governor Glenn Youngkin who was Republican

Governor Spanberger came to office on January 15, 2025, less than 9 months before the September 2026 article date

The Responsible Data Center Siting Act would direct the Department of Energy to develop national best practices for deciding where data centers should be built

Rep. Suhas Subramanyam introduced a four bill federal data center plan on September 8, 2026

State utility regulators would have one year after enactment to begin considering the standard and two years to complete consideration

The measure ties implementation to federal highway money by directing the U.S. transportation secretary to withhold funds from states that have not implemented the large load standard

McGuire and Nash voiced their dissent in a joint statement, saying supporting growth and economic development does not mean approving every project or type of development

The Data Center Fair Share Act would require utilities to recover full cost of generation, transmission, and distribution upgrades from nonresidential electricity customers with combined peak demand of at least 100 megawatts at a single site or campus

Roanoke City Council gave consensus to the city manager, aiding the process in moving forward

investment expected to help train thousands of workers, including roughly 3,000 in the Richmond area

Roanoke Vice Mayor Terry McGuire stated vehement opposition to any data center construction in the Roanoke Valley

Google committed $50 million toward training electricians and skilled trades workers in Virginia

Construction can take 18 to 24 months for each building on a data center campus

Tax rate for the data center facility is unknown but guaranteed not the same as citizens of Pulaski County who will have property reassessed in 2027

The Data Center Fair Share Act would require states to establish utility rates to make data centers pay full incremental grid upgrade costs, with loss of federal highway funding as penalty for non compliance.

Each transmission line corridor has a minimum 300 foot wide right of way affecting rural and suburban communities

Data centers require thousands of miles of new transmission lines, hundreds of new substations, and dozens of new power plants

Virginia needs to immediately pause all data center contracts for interconnections to the power grid until a plan addresses six critical issues

If 85 GW of data center capacity were built out, Virginia's current power grid would quadruple in size

Rep. Subramanyam introduced bills directing government agencies to create official standards for measuring data center energy and water use

Residents report utility bills doubling due to data center infrastructure demands

Rep. Suhas Subramanyam introduced The Responsible Data Center Siting Act to direct the secretary of energy to establish best practices for locating new data centers

The Responsible Data Center Siting Act would direct the secretary of energy to establish best practices for selecting data center locations considering energy availability, effects on utility bills, water and electricity consumption, environmental consequences, community impacts including noise and workforce needs, and national security considerations.

Rep. Suhas Subramanyam introduced the Data Infrastructure Energy Measurement and Standards Act directing NIST to develop technical standards for measuring data center energy and water use

The Data Center Fair Share Act would require data centers to pay the full cost of the power generation and grid upgrades needed to serve them, with states adopting large load tariffs designed to ensure data centers pay for electricity infrastructure rather than residents, or lose access to federal highway funds.

Data centers have become subject of county hearings, political campaigns, and congressional legislation regarding environmental impact

U.S. Representative Suhas Subramanyam introduces National Data Center Plan on September 8, 2026, consisting of four bills: Responsible Data Center Siting Act, Data Center Fair Share Act, Data Infrastructure Energy Measurement and Standards Act, and Data Infrastructure Risk Reduction Act

Switchgear, transformers and generators have extended lead times of 40 to 60 plus weeks.

Rep. Suhas Subramanyam introduced the Data Infrastructure Risk Reduction Act to require development of a strategy to protect communities living around data infrastructure from adversaries

Sen. Russet Perry called for a statewide data center moratorium

Rep. Suhas Subramanyam's package of four bills focuses on the projects' energy costs, national security risks and impact on residents' quality of life

Rep. Suhas Subramanyam introduced the Data Center Fair Share Act requiring data centers to pay the full cost of grid and generation upgrades

The Data Infrastructure Risk Reduction Act would require the development of a strategy to protect communities near data centers and related infrastructure from adversarial threats.

Data center environmental awareness has focused on measurable impacts such as water consumption, electric rates, and thermal pollution

Virginia congressman proposing federal rules aimed at controlling where data center facilities are built and who pays for infrastructure required to support them

Subramanyam's district includes portions of Northern Virginia where data center development has become a prominent economic and community issue

Ike Broaddus, Fauquier County Supervisor, stated the company had no chance of approval for a data center for more than a year

Proposal would keep data centers and new power lines away from homes, schools and historic parks

Rep. Subramanyam proposed plan to require large data centers to cover costs of power grid updates

Steamfitters UA Local 602 represents HVAC and pipe workers in Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia data center alley

Proposal would require large facilities to cover costs of security upgrades around facilities and infrastructure

Rachel Peterson is Vice President for Data Center Strategy at Meta.

Donald Trump posted on September 7, 2026 on Truth Social criticizing communities seeking to curb or prevent data center development

A TRG Datacenters study found that Virginia is the state best positioned to facilitate AI infrastructure growth through data centers

Andy Cvengros, co lead of JLL's U.S. data center markets team, said demand levels continue to exceed industry insiders' expectations

Beth Macy came out against a proposed data center in Roanoke County in September, saying Big Tech will continue to run roughshod over communities until there are guardrails on data center construction

Drew Baglino, Vlad Troy, Michael Polsky and Varun Sivaram propose that AI data centers should do no harm to the grid, offer flexibility when stressed, and help bring new generation and storage into service

60 percent of LEO Construction's staff works on data center projects in northern Virginia

LEO Construction operates in Prince William, Loudoun, Stafford, and Fauquier counties

Dominion Energy Virginia proposed first base rate increase since 1992, adding approximately $8.51 per month in 2026, driven largely by data center infrastructure.

Virginia data center industry facing more organized opposition after years of explosive growth with relatively little public resistance

Virginia leads nation in planned data centers, with Northern Virginia accounting for largest concentration of digital infrastructure on Earth

Neil Osnato, founder of Persistence Analytics Group, stated data centers are becoming an active variable in bulk system operations, not simply another source of electricity demand

Senate President Pro Tempore Louise Lucas said a moratorium on data centers deserves serious consideration.

State Senator Glen Sturtevant asked for an immediate statewide moratorium on new data center development.

State Senators Richard Stuart and Russet Perry called for a special legislative session on August 3 to address groundwater strain from data centers.

Rick Smithers proposed a temporary moratorium on data center construction

Rep. Eugene Vindman introduced two data center related bills earlier in 2026

Rep. Don Beyer urged Fairfax County Planning Commission to reject a data center permit

Willie Shelton Jr., planning commissioner, expressed concern about desecration of cemetery and opposition to placing data center on graveyard

Cemetery on Potomac Creek Campus site includes four known Seddon family burials and indications of 12 or more unmarked burials believed to be enslaved individuals

Protect Stafford is a grassroots coalition working to ensure data center development in Stafford County is responsible, community informed, and sustainable.

Sue Dibble, Hanover supervisor, said site should be reserved for residential development