US Data Centers News

The Piedmont Environmental Council is urging Fauquier County residents to oppose the Remington Digital Campus data center proposal before the July 16 Planning Commission hearing.

• The Planning Commission hearing is set for Thursday, July 16 at 6:30 p.m. at the Warren Green Building, First Floor Meeting Room, 10 Hotel Street, Warrenton, Virginia; PEC is asking residents to submit written comments and speak in opposition.
• The proposal, renamed from Gigaland to Remington Digital Campus, would include six data center buildings, nearly 1 million square feet, two municipal groundwater wells, a water treatment plant, a 125-foot water tower, two electrical substations, 136 backup diesel generators, and would require 600 MW of power.

PEC has released a study on the potential public-health impacts of the proposed on-site power system for the Remington Technology Park data center campus in Virginia.

• The report evaluates the Phase 1 on-site power system proposed for the Remington Technology Park Data Center and estimates impacts from PM2.5 and PM2.5-forming emissions.
• The analysis says the permitted-emissions scenario could cause 1.5–2.8 additional premature deaths per year, about 1,300 asthma symptom cases per year, and $25–42 million per year in health-related damages; the revised plan replaces 13 natural gas turbines with 488 natural gas fuel cells, while still including nearly 200 diesel back-up generators and a new natural gas pipeline extension plus a gas gate station.

ITIF has published a policy report arguing that data center water use can be managed through state-led regulation, standardized disclosure, watershed-based review, and targeted federal support.

• The report says states should require facility-level water disclosures, use watershed-specific performance standards, and establish joint water-energy review for large data center loads.
• It also recommends federal action on standardized metrics, procurement, and R&D rather than a national water mandate; examples cited include Nvidia Rubin liquid cooling and Microsoft zero-water cooling designs.

Piedmont Environmental Council is issuing an alert about a proposed transmission line project and an open house, rather than announcing a new project itself.

• Valley Link Transmission, a joint venture between Dominion Energy and two other utilities, has sent notices for the Amos-Rocky Point / “Valley North” project and is holding an open house on July 7, 2026 in Berryville, Virginia.
• The proposed line would run 260 miles at 765 kV from the John Amos coal plant in West Virginia to the Rocky Point substation in Maryland; Valley Link also plans a 2027 SCC filing for a certificate of public convenience and necessity.
• The article argues the project is driven by Dominion’s growing data center queue, which it says has reached 70 GW, and notes the project could require a 200-foot right-of-way and towers about 160 feet tall.

PEC is calling for reforms to Loudoun County’s data center policy and describing the county’s long-running data center buildout and upcoming 2026 planning decisions.

• The article urges a statewide moratorium, stronger county oversight, more transparency, and resident protections for data centers, including updated noise rules, screening and setbacks, limits on onsite generation, public inventories, and fair cost allocation for transmission and generation.
• It says Loudoun County has already begun a two-phase Data Center Standards & Locations process; phase one ended by-right approvals in March 2025, and phase two is ongoing. It also lists upcoming Planning Commission and Board actions in July and October 2026 for specific proposals.
• The piece provides historical context for Loudoun’s data center growth, citing the 1993 MAE-East hub, 1997 first data center, 2008 sales tax exemption, and county demand reaching 5.33 GW by 2025. It also says data centers generated 38% of General Fund revenue and that the state tax exemption cost $1.9 billion this past year.

PointOne has proposed a permanent natural-gas fuel cell power plant for the Remington Tech Park; the Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) is asking the Fauquier County Board of Supervisors to defer its July 9 hearing and seek more information.

• Project details & request: PEC asks the Board to defer the July 9, 2026 public hearing (6:30 p.m., Warrenton Town Hall) so PointOne can provide missing technical details; the revised proposal (submitted June 4, 2026) replaces 13 gas turbines with 488 natural-gas fuel cells, retains nearly 200 diesel backup generators with above-ground fuel storage, and requires a new gas pipeline extension plus a natural gas gate station and enough gas to power 125,000 homes across Fauquier, Clarke, Warren, Rappahannock, Culpeper, and Stafford counties.
• Background & governance concerns: PEC notes the Board has <30 days to review the June 4 filing (vs ~6 months for the earlier turbine proposal); the Planning Commission voted 3-2 to recommend denial (March 18) of the earlier turbine application; PEC requests the Board defer until it can evaluate fire/electrical/building codes, develop emergency management and risk mitigation policies for a private fuel cell utility, and create a zoning/ regulatory framework for private utilities and performance standards for large fuel cell arrays.

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) recaps Expo2026 panels and highlights recent policy developments.

• Main announcement: EESI summarizes the 29th annual Congressional Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency EXPO and Policy Forum (Expo2026), providing links to full recorded panels on topics including permitting reform, energy affordability, data centers, and building and grid resilience; the newsletter links to EESI’s YouTube recordings and lists speakers and organizations for each session.
• Policy and event updates: The newsletter reports the Senate Agriculture Committee’s draft Farm Bill (PDF link provided) and notes the House passed H.R.7567 in April; it also records recent congressional actions including passage of S.629 (Emergency Conservation Program Improvement Act) through the House, passage of S.4822 (Saving the Ocean Observatories Initiative Act of 2026) in the Senate, reintroduction of S.4867 (Small Farm Conservation Act), and introduction of S.4870 to reauthorize Earth MRI; it lists upcoming EESI briefings on July 16, 2026 (Nitrogen pollution research roadmap) and July 24, 2026 (drought impacts).

Dominion Energy has applied to rebuild and expand the Charlottesville-Gordonsville 230 kV transmission line into a double-circuit, driven by recent data center requests.

• Project details: Dominion Energy submitted an application on April 23, 2026 (SCC Case No. PUR-2026-00050) to wreck, rebuild and expand 15.8 miles of an existing single-circuit 230 kV line between Charlottesville and Gordonsville into a double-circuit 230 kV line; PEC reports the proposal is driven by 26 data center requests in Louisa and Culpeper counties and would install steel towers ~2–3x the height of existing wood structures.
• Background and next steps: PEC is advocating for consideration of alternatives and mitigation including undergrounding portions of the line, use of lowest feasible towers with dull brown weathering steel, minimizing construction disturbance, and submitting comments or requesting a public hearing to the SCC by July 8, 2026 (instructions and sample comment/hearing request letters provided).