The General Assembly has the Duty to Pass Legislation to Protect Virginia Citizens from Paying Billions for Data Center Infrastructure Costs: Those Costs Belong to Data Center Operators

Statement from Chris Miller, President, Piedmont Environmental Council

Warrenton, VA, February 10, 2025 – With the legislative session at “halftime,” the Virginia General Assembly has the opportunity to step up and do the right thing by passing legislation creating transparency, oversight, ratepayer protection and mitigation of the impacts of data centers on Virginia. 

Despite what you hear from the Data Center Coalition and some legislators, Virginia is in the unenviable position of facing more than $100 billion in infrastructure costs attributable to data centers. Plus, with 117 new data centers recently announced to be in the pipeline in Loudoun County alone, that price tag will be driven even higher. 

While taxation provides local economic benefit, there are no current data center policies and legislation to address the bigger statewide and regional picture. Virginia has become the “how not to” example that other states are using to avoid what has happened here. Ohio, Georgia, Texas, Washington, and Maryland are reviewing such data center impacts as land use, burden on ratepayers, power usage and environment, as they consider approving data centers. 

To do what’s right for Virginia, we must require transparent processes, state oversight and regulation, ratepayer protection, and action to mitigate the unprecedented negative impacts on communities and the environment. 

We cannot let the largest companies in the world enrich themselves on the backs of Virginia ratepayers. Data centers must pay for the investment in energy and water infrastructure and must ensure that the benefits of the investment are fairly distributed across the Commonwealth. This is particularly important to communities and conservation resources impacted by the tripling of the energy infrastructure. The amount of energy required in Virginia is more than 50 GW to meet projected peak load at a projected capital expense of $100-200 billion and will require additional electric transmission lines, gas pipelines, and power plants. All this comes at a heavy price that Virginia residents and other businesses should not have to pay. 

Media Contact: Mike Doble, (703) 579-7963  mdoble@pecva.org