The politics of data centers are dominating the Virginia General Assembly session.
Where and when can data centers be built? How much information should a local government consider before making a zoning decision? And should they be exempt from taxes? These are lingering questions dominating the final days of the Virginia General Assembly’s legislative session. Delegate John McAuliffe, a Democrat from Loudoun, has a bill to make sure future data centers are better for air quality.
"It requires that all new builds, anything coming online, has to use Tier 4 lowest emissions generators," McAuliffe says. "And that’ll be the first time we do this in Virginia, and it's not the only thing we need to do to make sure that the communities that are living next to these things are safe. But it's a great first step."
His bill is already on its way to the governor's desk, but another bill is still caught up in discussions between the House and Senate. That bill would require local governments to consider specific details about data center proposals, and it was introduced by Delegate Josh Thomas, a Democrat from Prince William.
"It requires data to be looked at before they make a decision at all. So, we didn't affect their ability to do zoning decisions," Thomas says. "All it says is they have to look at certain sound quality studies if there's a residential area nearby and then also where is the energy infrastructure going, which has been a big issue for those of us in communities with a lot of data centers."
And then there's the biggest unresolved issue involving data centers: a huge tax exemption worth more than a billion dollars. The Senate wants to get rid of it but the House is fighting to keep it, derailing the budget discussions heading into the final hours of the session this weekend.
