Virginia advocates data center accountability for land and water

The Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) is calling for stronger planning, regulation, and cost accountability for Virginia’s rapid data center and energy infrastructure build-out to protect land, water, and communities in the Virginia Piedmont.

• PEC warns that up to a trillion dollars in private and public investment through 2045 for data centers and related energy and water infrastructure threatens the lands and waters of the Virginia Piedmont, and urges state leaders to leverage this investment to also conserve land, protect water resources, and strengthen communities, consistent with PEC’s long-standing vision to develop ~10% of land and permanently conserve 50% or more.
• PEC advocates policy reforms, including better zoning and site planning, underground transmission lines, distributed generation, agrivoltaics, battery storage, and dedicating state revenue from data centers to conservation and water strategies, while arguing before the State Corporation Commission that because data centers are driving no less than 90% of future energy demand, they should pay no less than 90% of the costs to provide that energy and mitigate its impacts on lands, waters, and communities; these issues will be central in upcoming General Assembly and local/regional policy debates.