March For A Moratorium Series To Kick Off Near Alexandria's Planned Plaza 500 Data Center

ALEXANDRIA, VA – Alexandria will be the first stop of a two-week series of marches in support of a statewide ban on new data center development in Virginia.

Organized by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network Action Fund, the first March for a Moratorium will kick off on Oct. 10 near the site of the planned Plaza 500 data center off Edsall Road.

“Data centers’ rapid, unchecked buildout is out of control and creating serious harms in our region,” CCAN writes of the event. “We’ll gather with local residents, community organizations, advocates, and elected leaders to demand that Virginia slow down and figure out how to protect our communities before approving any more data centers.”

CCAN noted that the Bren Mar community has been fighting the new data center planned on its doorstep for four years. As data centers can be developed without public hearings or full board of supervisors votes in the area because of how it is zoned, the Save Bren Mar Coalition has focused on fighting the electrical substation the data center would require. Because of mounting public opposition, a public planning commission hearing on the substation planned for September has been postponed until December.

Thousands of residents, as well as a Virginia congressman, the Alexandria city government, and some Fairfax County supervisors have already asked the Fairfax government to deny the substation permit for the project.

Opponents say the data center and planned substation would extend to within less than 100 feet of some residential property, far closer than any other data center allowed by the county. They also raise concerns about air and water pollution, threats to the neighborhood’s character and other issues.

“From its proximity to residences and metro, to cross-jurisdictional impacts, to its environmental harms, to lack of transparency, the Plaza 500 data center is a poster child for why we need more statewide protections in place,” CCAN says.

Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger in September released a new framework for what she called data center accountability in the state, but stopped short of implementing a full moratorium, which many activists are pressing for.

March attendees should plan to rally at the Aslin Beer Company at 847 S. Pickett St. and march to the planned Plaza 500 data center site nearby.

The next March for a Moratorium will be in Culpeper. See other March for Moratorium events here.

See more: Rep. Beyer Calls On Fairfax County Authorities To Deny Plaza 500 Substation Application