Data Center Debate Draws Crowd as Residents Demand Transparency, Local Control

A  crowd gathered in Warren County to voice growing concerns over the rapid expansion of data centers across Virginia, with residents questioning everything from water use and electrical demand to tax incentives, transmission lines, and the role local governments play in approving projects. Throughout the evening, speakers repeatedly returned to one central theme: communities deserve more information before decisions are made that could permanently reshape their landscapes.

Hosted by Rural GroundGame, the town hall brought together residents from Warren, Shenandoah, Clarke and neighboring counties alongside a panel that included environmental advocates and local organizers. While the organizations represented on the panel came from different political perspectives, speakers emphasized early that the discussion was intended to focus on the impacts of data centers rather than partisan politics.

“My organization is a partisan one. Typically, we support Democrats and progressives in rural areas,” moderator Lynlee Thorne said during her opening remarks. “But our commitment to you all is to have a conversation that is focused on this issue because I think the really compelling thing about this particular issue is that it really transcends partisan sides.”

She said residents often leave public meetings feeling they are “being talked at” instead of being allowed to engage in meaningful discussion.

“The majority of this evening is going to be committed to you all,” she said. “You’ll have the opportunity to raise your hand and have a say tonight and share what you know, what’s happening in your community, ask questions of our panel here, and get some real-time responses instead of kind of speaking into the void.”

Among the panelists was Delegate Irene Shin, who represents Virginia’s 8th House District in Fairfax County, an area adjacent to what has become known as “Data Center Alley.”

“Virginia is home to the largest number of data centers in the entire world,” Shin told the audience. “Even if it collapsed market number two, three, four and five, Virginia would still surpass them, which is kind of a crazy and staggering number.”

Shin said energy policy and consumer protection have become central issues during her time in the General Assembly. She noted that she introduced House Bill 1515 earlier this year, which would have imposed a temporary moratorium on new data center construction.

“Folks in this room probably aren’t surprised to know that that bill went nowhere during session,” she said.

Still, she argued that public opinion has shifted rapidly.

“I think it was Marquette that recently did a poll that showed that 76 percent of Americans today are opposed to data centers,” Shin said. “In just the last six months, that number has moved from 61 to 76. To see a 15-point margin within six months is sort of unheard of.”

Throughout the evening, residents raised questions about whether the benefits promoted by the industry justify what they see as increasing costs to local communities.

One audience member pointed to recurring drought conditions in the Shenandoah Valley and asked how the electric grid would handle additional demand while questioning projected water consumption.

“What is the overall benefit and does it outweigh what we’re going to have to do to make it happen?” she asked.

The question prompted one of the evening’s longest discussions.

Jarred “Parson Brown” Hill, representing the Alliance for Appalachia, said many of those questions remain difficult to answer because communities often lack complete information.

“Your concerns are the same concerns that everybody else’s are,” Hill said. “That’s why we need more transparency in this entire process because there are very complicated situations and facilities, and we really don’t always, we’re not always given accurate information when they’re proposed to us.”

Hill said even cooling technologies described as closed-loop systems still consume water.

“When we’re being told that there’s a certain amount of water being used and that’s all it will expend, it’s not true,” he said. “We need people from the industry to give more information every step of the way.”

Shin agreed, saying public debate often begins with conflicting claims about what data centers actually provide.

“I think it’s really important to get clear because I think there’s a lot of confusion or misinformation that is often perpetuated by the industry about the benefits,” she said.

According to Shin, supporters frequently cite construction jobs, permanent employment, and increased tax revenue.

“They say jobs are benefits. They say the revenue that they’re generating for the locality is a benefit,” she said.

But she argued many of the costs are borne by Virginians rather than the companies themselves.

“The costs, which are land preservation and energy costs that are soaring, our water systems that are being drained and depleted, the personal costs that some landowners bear in having to give up land because of new transmission lines that are being built specifically to serve one industry,” Shin said. “The new infrastructure that’s coming into place is not because there are more humans or small businesses. It’s because of data centers.”

“There is an enormous amount of cost to us as Virginians when data centers come here,” she added. “I would say that is a fair question and I think lots of us are in agreement that the costs outweigh the benefits at this point.”

Dr. Mike Blyth, a retired military officer and Clarke County landowner whose property lies along a proposed transmission corridor, echoed those concerns.

“I’ve got a farm on Gun Barrel Lane, and if this power line goes ahead, I’ll lose 28 acres,” he said during introductions. “We’ve invested a significant amount of time, money, and energy into turning it into an environmental area. We planted thousands of trees. We put in riparian buffer zones.”

Later, he argued that the employment benefits often cited by developers are relatively small.

“The average staffing of a data center is between 50 and 300, which is not many,” he said.

An audience member compared that figure to Micron’s expansion in Northern Virginia.

“They hired 1,000 people within the first five years,” she said. “The benefit from that is not going to be anywhere equal to what’s coming in with this.”

Blyth said the scale of the electrical infrastructure being proposed makes the comparison even more difficult.

“You’re going to disrupt 260 miles of farmland, agricultural land, conservation, homes and so on and so forth with sporadic data centers that offer marginal employment opportunities,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a positive.”

Much of the discussion centered on electricity, with residents questioning why additional power generation and transmission projects appear to be moving forward before long-term infrastructure is in place.

One resident asked why data centers are permitted to begin operations before the electrical system can support them.

“Build it, let it sit there,” he suggested. “And when electricity is there, and it’s paid for hopefully by the data center investors, then activate it.”

Shin explained that some companies have begun pursuing an alternative approach by constructing their own generating facilities instead of waiting for grid connections.

“Some of y’all have heard our president talk about it … ‘bring your own generation,'” she said. “That sounds like a good idea, but it’s actually a terrible idea.”

She pointed to a Loudoun County project where natural gas turbines were built near residential neighborhoods after transmission upgrades were delayed.

“The neighbors didn’t have a chance to weigh in,” Shin said. “They feel a little bit like they’ve been duped, which is a fair sentiment to have.”

She questioned whether sufficient oversight exists when private companies construct their own generating capacity.

“When any other utility wants to build new generation, they have to go before the State Corporation Commission,” she said. “But if you are a data center and I’m just going to build gas turbines, there’s no one who has oversight over that except for DEQ.”

Hill argued the speed of development is itself part of the problem.

“This rapid expansion is being rushed, being pushed forward by design,” he said. “Every study shows that the demand for AI will grow much faster than the infrastructure that can support it. But we’re being told in every front yard and every municipality to pave the way.”

As questions continued from the audience, the conversation shifted from environmental concerns to the financial incentives that have helped make Virginia the nation’s data center capital.

Delegate Irene Shin said one of the biggest issues facing lawmakers is Virginia’s long-standing sales and use tax exemption for data centers.

“In Virginia we have sales tax exemptions for data centers,” Shin said. “Data centers are enjoying something like $1.2 billion worth of sales tax exemptions.”

She questioned whether taxpayers are shouldering too much of the burden.

“Who’s paying the tab on the application costs of the transmission, the substations and the generation that’s being built?” she asked. “It’s the ratepayers.”

Shin explained that when lawmakers first approved the exemption in 2008, they believed it would cost the Commonwealth only a few million dollars annually while attracting investment and jobs.

“When you fast forward, and you see in 2023 that was $1.1 billion, 2024 was $1.5 billion and 2025 estimates show as high as $1.8 billion in savings, that’s revenue that the Commonwealth is leaving on the table,” she said.

One audience member asked whether the exemption could simply be repealed.

“We should figure out how to claw back,” Shin responded.

Rather than offering blanket incentives, she argued lawmakers should require companies to meet higher standards.

“If you’re a data center and you want these sales tax exemptions, we should maybe say you have to disclose how much water you’re using. You have to tell us how much energy you’re using. You have to be willing to pay for your own infrastructure,” Shin said.

“The data center industry has been unwilling to make negotiations with us.”

Non-disclosure agreements become a focal point

As the evening progressed, moderator Lynlee Thorne devoted significant time to a topic that repeatedly resurfaced throughout the discussion: non-disclosure agreements signed between developers and local governments.

“I want to focus in on this because this has been a personal pet peeve of mine,” she said.

She explained that local elected officials are sometimes approached months before the public learns a project is under consideration.

“Typically what happens here is that a member of the Board of Supervisors is approached by Big Tech… sometimes this is six months to a year before the community ever hears that there is any proposed data center.”

According to Thorne, those agreements often prevent officials from answering questions once residents discover a project.

“The answer they get is, ‘I can’t tell you, my constituents, because I entered into this contract with Big Tech,'” she said. “‘I am now no longer accountable to you.'”

She pointed to legislation introduced in other states that would prohibit local officials from entering such agreements.

“I’ve been working on this behind the scenes,” she said, noting that Virginia Sen. Mike Jones has expressed interest in introducing similar legislation.

“If we are successful in passing this type of bill… I’m hoping that it might have the impact of tapping the brakes.”

Thorne stressed that communities deserve complete information regardless of whether they ultimately support or oppose a project.

“Even in the best-case scenario, a community says, ‘We want this data center.’ Cool. Even in that community, they still deserve to have every single piece of information in front of them to make that decision.”

Residents question transparency

Several audience members echoed those concerns.

One longtime resident said companies appear reluctant to fully explain their plans.

“You don’t need an NDA if what you’re doing is so wonderful,” the resident said. “Why does their website focus on hospitals, jobs and industry and not focus on data centers?”

Another speaker criticized what he described as a lack of disclosure from the industry.

“I’m incredibly discouraged that the industry is unbelievably unwilling to take ownership of what they’re doing,” he said.

“These things are not mysterious. They know what they’re doing. The engineers know what they do.”

He argued that local governments often receive less information than they need.

“I would encourage Richmond to be more forceful about disclosure and more forceful about how this is being treated.”

Existing infrastructure raises additional questions

Residents also questioned whether Virginia’s existing electrical and water infrastructure is capable of supporting additional growth.

Environmental advocate Rob Arner pointed to aging public infrastructure.

“Our water infrastructure is D-minus,” Arner said. “Our grid system already… we’re almost in a third-world situation.”

“Before we invest in something that we don’t know what the repercussions are, we need the Marshall Plan already.”

Arner also questioned whether companies are accurately reporting projected usage.

“The U.S. Government Accountability Office found that AI centers actually do not report the accurate information most of the time,” he said.

Hill added that environmental impacts extend well beyond the communities where data centers are ultimately built.

“It is the massive amount of energy usage that is required that is a big problem,” he said.

“The infrastructure is being mostly targeted through communities that are Black, brown, poor, and there’s a system of exploitation all the way down.”

Audience members describe local concerns

Throughout the evening, residents from Warren, Shenandoah and Clarke counties shared personal concerns about projects proposed near their homes.

Blyth described how transmission corridors could permanently alter his property.

“My wife loves wildlife,” he said. “They will consume a fantastic amount of our land and ruin the view.”

Another resident said she worried about drought conditions in the Shenandoah Valley.

“We’re in a constant drought here,” she said. “Things need cooling. Heat needs to be transferred. Where’s it going to go?”

Others referenced previous environmental cleanup efforts, including the former Avtex site in Front Royal.

One resident warned against repeating past mistakes.

“I’ve lived in Front Royal for 25 years,” he said. “One of the things we have to consider is future generations.”

“What are the children going to inherit?”

Hill also referenced the Avtex property while discussing federal policy.

“The Avtex site… was a national priority Superfund site,” he said.

He warned that recent federal initiatives encouraging redevelopment of industrial properties deserve close scrutiny.

“Now it’s got a thumbs up,” Hill said. “That’s something to really keep an eye on.”

Calls for local engagement

Repeatedly, panelists urged residents to become involved before projects reach public hearing stages.

“If you’re showing up at the public hearing part of it, you’re probably a little bit too late,” Shin said.

“Start early. Your local supervisor… that’s the person they’ll listen to.”

She also encouraged residents to testify before the General Assembly.

“I look forward to seeing you all in Richmond,” Shin said. “Whether I’m seeing your face in person or on Zoom because you’ve dialed in to provide testimony.”

Hill agreed.

“It’s really the fight right now,” he said. “It’s only going to be defending your backyard today because it’s happening so quickly.”

One of the evening’s most detailed discussions centered on the proposed gas-powered data center in Strasburg, where residents have organized a grassroots campaign opposing the project.

Zach Walters, a Strasburg resident and member of Protect Shenandoah, described how quickly his own life changed after learning about the proposal.

“Sixty days ago I was in my happy little cocoon on my homestead, raising my sheep and my chickens,” he said. “Then suddenly my world came crashing down.”

He explained that he first learned about the proposed development during a conversation at the Strasburg community pool.

“I was told, ‘He’s against the Strasburg data center.’ I said, ‘What are you talking about? Strasburg data center?'”

“I follow the news every week, and I had no idea they wanted to build this.”

Since then, he said, hundreds of volunteers have become involved.

“Our group is a completely 100 percent nonpartisan group,” he said. “Our single focus is stopping data centers. Hard stop.”

According to Walters, Protect Shenandoah has grown from roughly 800 online members in June to more than 2,200 by the time of the town hall.

“We don’t care where people fall on the political spectrum,” he said. “We just don’t talk about it.”

He described the proposed project as a data center paired with a large gas-powered generating facility.

“They don’t want to wait for grid connectivity,” he said. “They’re going to build their own and pollute Strasburg and the surrounding area so they can get money in their pockets that much faster.”

He urged those attending to help educate neighbors.

“A lot of people don’t know that a data center is going to be built a mile and a half from downtown Strasburg,” he said.

“They don’t know that you’ll be able to hear the hum from it from downtown Strasburg on a quiet night.”

Walters emphasized that Protect Shenandoah bases its outreach on verified information.

“We are very strongly in support of not saying anything that isn’t true,” he said. “We don’t want to blow anything out of proportion.”

Instead, he encouraged residents simply to help inform others.

“The more people know, the more they can make their own decisions.”

Public opposition already influencing projects

Throughout the evening, panelists repeatedly argued that organized public engagement has already begun influencing projects across Virginia.

Walters pointed to studies showing that numerous proposed data centers have been delayed or canceled following public opposition.

“People say, ‘Well, we can’t change anything,'” he said.

“But if you make enough noise and people say, ‘We don’t want this here,’ these companies don’t want the bad PR.”

Delegate Shin agreed.

“I was on a panel yesterday talking about data centers, and we had a representative from the data center industry,” she said.

“He said it used to be they chased financial incentives. Then they chased electrons. Now they’re chasing community input.”

According to Shin, the industry itself recognizes the importance of public opinion.

“He said, ‘If there’s public outrage, we don’t want to go there.'”

“So yes,” she continued, “your voices matter.”

Local victories highlighted

Several Warren County residents pointed to recent local actions they viewed as encouraging.

Kris Nelson noted that Warren County supervisors had previously removed by-right data center development, requiring additional review.

“As of yesterday, the application that we had actually canceled,” she said. “They withdrew it.”

Although she called it encouraging news, she urged residents not to become complacent.

She also praised Front Royal officials for examining possible restrictions before any applications have been filed.

“Our Front Royal is actually being proactive,” she said. “They don’t even have an application, but they’re exploring a ban right now.”

Organizers outline next steps

As the nearly two-hour meeting drew toward its conclusion, organizers shifted from discussion to action.

Thorne encouraged residents to stay involved long after the town hall ended.

“There are folks on the ballot this year, next year, the year after, who are taking positions on data centers right now,” she said.

She encouraged attendees to monitor candidates’ positions and verify their voter registration before upcoming elections.

Rural GroundGame also announced an upcoming statewide organizing workshop focused on data centers.

The event, scheduled in Richmond, will bring together community organizations from around Virginia to share organizing strategies and legislative updates.

Thorne also invited residents to participate in the organization’s storytelling project documenting how proposed developments could affect local communities.

“As much as we have data and facts—and I love data and facts—they’re great,” she said.

“But really, it is everybody in this room sharing what personally impacts you that is the most persuasive case that you can make.”

Renee Ding of People Over Monopolies encouraged residents to submit public comments regarding the proposed Dominion Energy and NextEra Energy merger currently under review by the Virginia State Corporation Commission.

“We are extremely concerned this is going to drive up prices for everyday Virginians,” Ding said.

“The best way to get your voice heard is through public comments.”

Final thoughts from the panel

Before adjourning, each panelist offered a final message.

Hill reminded attendees that while local action is important, the issue stretches far beyond individual communities.

“An injury to one is an injury to all,” he said.

“As much as you need to be accountable for your neighbors in your own backyard, there is a whole process from the cradle to the grave.”

Blyth encouraged residents to stay engaged through organized community efforts.

“Anything you do at the community level is particularly useful if there are very clear instructions for people,” he said.

Delegate Shin closed by thanking residents for participating in the discussion and encouraging them to remain active throughout the legislative process.

“I really appreciate that you all are here,” she said.

“I look forward to seeing you in Richmond.”

Arner emphasized that communities throughout the Shenandoah Valley are increasingly working together.

“I feel so lucky because I felt such a sense of community when you all showed up in our county,” he said.

“I’ve got your back, too.”

As attendees lingered after the formal program ended, many exchanged contact information, collected informational materials, and signed up for advocacy groups.

The evening reflected the central theme Thorne established at the outset: creating a space where residents could ask questions, share concerns, and learn from neighboring communities facing similar issues.

Rather than ending with definitive answers, the town hall concluded with organizers encouraging continued civic engagement, public participation, and regional cooperation as discussions over data centers, energy infrastructure, and local land use continue across the Shenandoah Valley.