Community activists, elected leaders and residents of Northern Virginia got together Sunday night to share their concerns about the proliferation of data centers across the region.
Many of the approximately 120 people attending the meeting at the Best Western hotel on Balls Ford Road in Manassas expressed disappointment in some Virginia politicians, including Gov. Abigail Spanberger, who have pushed to renew tax breaks for the multibillion-dollar corporations behind the centers. Another major concern for those in the crowd was the centers’ impact on the environment.
State Sen. Danica Roem opened the meeting by telling those in attendance that she and two other state senators there, L. Louise Lucas and Russet Perry, wanted to hear from them and that they shared their concerns about the prospect of adding more data centers.
“It is time to stop the reckless data center sprawl,” said Roem as she invited members of the public to speak.
Tony Hernandez drove to the meeting from Spotsylvania County, where three data centers are already up and running and companies like Amazon and Powerhouse 95 are working to build 17 more active data center sites.
“This is a bigger problem than just the companies who are invading our state. 鈥� This is a failure of government,” Hernandez said, becoming emotional when discussing data centers’ impact on his community. Those effects include more noise and air pollution.
“Your plans didn’t take into consideration the people who you were supposed to serve,” he said. “I know about service. I served. My son serves now in the United States Navy. We serve.”
Studies have shown data centers’ massive environmental impacts: A single large facility can consume millions of gallons of water each day for cooling. Their demand for a constant supply of electricity places significant pressure on local power grids, increasing carbon emissions and driving up utility costs for the communities around them.
“Technology’s not bad,” said Sen. Lucas. “We’ve all benefited from technology. What is bad is our government has not done a good job of managing its impact,” she said.
The Virginia legislature remains at an impasse over the state budget, and the exemptions have emerged as a key point of contention. Spanberger has argued that reneging on existing agreements could undermine Virginia鈥檚 reputation as a reliable place to do business.
Lawmakers in both chambers are working to reach a budget agreement before the end-of-month deadline to avert a government shutdown, but the dispute over data center tax incentives remains the biggest obstacle to a deal.
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