More than two dozen bills aiming to address Virginia's rapid data center expansion were submitted to the legislature earlier this year.
Only one bill that aimed to improve planning for the projects survived. And, according to members of both parties, Governor Youngkin weakened it with an amendment that will be considered Wednesday.
It's likely to make the future of data centers in the Commonwealth a top issue during Virginia's 2025 elections.
The only surviving data center planning bill, which aimed to force localities to study impacts the projects might have on local communities, was already watered down. And Governor Glenn Youngkin’s amendment would make it optional among other changes that are likely to see the entire bill killed.
Those close to the issue think that means data center regulation will fall to next year’s session, with a freshly-elected House of Delegates and a new Governor.
Del. Ian Lovejoy represents parts of Prince William County, the heart of Virginia’s data center universe.
“Our transition zone where some of these are going up is 80 ft. and a bush and that’s not to the liking of the people who live there,” he said of the issues folks in his district had with the massive data hubs. He pitched a law that would have required a 1300 ft. barrier between projects and other properties but it was among those who failed to make it out of committee.
Now, with his own reelection at stake, he’s hoping to convince folks they can take care of the problem next year.
“This is becoming a statewide issue because the next issue is, anyone who has read the JLARC study and is honest and very clear about it, is 5 years from now we don’t know how to power these things,” Lovejoy told Radio IQ.
The JLARC study, released last year, painted a bleak picture for the future of power demand and cost if data centers continue to rapidly expand in Virginia. It's recommendations were used to write many of the bills that were killed this year.
He also wasn’t totally surprised with Youngkin’s amendment. The governor said during his State of the Commonwealth address at the start of the 2025 session that whatever the legislature wanted to do with data centers they needed to reserve localities’ authority in the end. Lovejoy said the effort was somewhere in the gray area in that argument.
The House version of the lone data center planning bill was patroned by Delegate Josh Thomas; he’s from the other end of Prince William County. He said the bill they sent to Youngkin took a year of compromises to complete and the governor’s amendments didn’t seem to reflect any interested party’s concerns
“In typical Governor Youngkin fashion, [he] didn’t consult anybody on either team and just made some decisions and this is where we are,” Thomas said.
And he feared what inaction could mean to legislators like him if they don’t agree to the amendments.
“We have some very tough decisions whether not to codify something that is completely permissive or refuse and try again next year,” he fretted. But he also hoped his constituents would think like him and blame the governor for his mistakes.
Elena Schlossberg has been advocating against data centers near her Prince William County home for a decade. Her group, The Coalition to Protect Prince William County, has been among the loudest voices asking for more planning before the projects are built.
“We’re being forced to subsidize the wealthiest industry in the world and all we have to do is give up our quality of life,” she told Radio IQ about predicted increases on energy costs that are likely to fall on all ratepayers if the legislature doesn’t do more to limit data centers.
Notably a pair of matching bills aim to allow coops to create new subsidiaries that could sell power directly to large consumers, such as data centers. And the Data Center Coalition, and advocacy group for the industry, said the billions in tax revenue and thousands of jobs the facilities create may become more important than ever to Virginia.
“This economic investment and tax revenue generated by the data center industry is critical to supporting local economies and public budgets across Virginia, especially during this time of economic uncertainty for the Commonwealth,” the group said in an email.
And while the DCC said Youngkin’s amendment would still meet some of the recommendations from the JLARC study, they didn’t offer a position on how officials should vote on it.
But as for planning future data centers, Schlossberg saw the lone surviving bill as a step in the right direction. After Youngkin’s amendments, she’s back to zero.
“The fact that our governor would veto or neuter any effort… at what point do the citizens come first?” she asked.
And Schlossberg, backed by the Coalition to Protect Prince William County, promised to make the future of data centers is an issue for anyone running in 2025.
“In western Prince William, if you are not on the right side of the data center issue you will not get elected,” she said.
All of Virginia’s 100 House of Delegates seats and the governor’s mansion are up for grabs this fall.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
