'Data Center Listening Tour' Draws Crowd Of Concerned PW, Loudoun County Residents: Report

MANASSAS, VA – County residents packed a conference room in a Manassas hotel Monday night to air their concerns about how data centers are harming the air, land and water in their communities, according to a report from the meeting.

The Dogwood reports that over the course of 2 hours, multiple county residents stepped up to a microphone to discuss their fears during the town hall organized by Virginia State Senator Louis Lucas (D-Portsmouth). State Senator Russet Perry (SD 31) shared photos of the crowd.

Lucas says Virginia officials have not done a good job managing the impact of the state’s booming data center industry. She's organized a series of town halls as part of a "Data Center Listening Tour." The next event is on Wednesday in Virginia Beach.

Speakers from Prince William County, where data centers are spreading west, as well as Loudoun County, where a bitter fight is underway over powerlines, spoke of noise pollution, air pollution and drought as burdens created or exacerbated by the industry.

Lucas, the Virginia Senate finance chair, has recently backed off efforts to end data center tax breaks early, Cardinal News reports, and is now supporting a new “impact fee” on the centers, part of efforts to finally arrive at a state budget.

Read more from the Dogwood here.

Read more about the activists opposing data centers here.