The Sierra Club Virginia Chapter has released their report on data centers and their impact on the state of Virginia.
Titled “Unconstrained Demand,” the report lays out a list of issues regarding what it calls “unchecked expansion” of data center development throughout the state, the group laying the blame at the feet of “flat footed” policymakers who it says have provided little oversight and even less transparency.
Skyrocketing energy prices, rising consumer costs, severe water loss and health risks are just a few of the concerns the group carves out in its 60-page report, released last week. It also proposed solutions to avoid continuing a “race to the bottom” that leaves residents and ratepayers stuck with the costs.
According to the report, Virginia is already home to more than half of the country’s data center energy consumption, with nearly 400 million feet of facilities already built, proposed, or under construction. The Sierra Club says that more than 2.1 billion gallons of water was consumed by data centers across the state in 2023, with Loudon County alone accounting for nearly half.
In Fairfax County, the group says, data centers are already too close to residential areas, with nearly three quarters of data centers within 500 feet of homes and more than half of facilities within 200 feet.
The rest of Virginia is catching up.
The state could be home to more than 1,300 data centers in the coming years, with nearly a quarter of those slated for Central Virginia. The report points at the commonwealth’s 382 McDonald’s locations to put that growth in perspective.
In the report’s review of “downstate” data center development, it says that 69 buildings comprising of more than 22 million square feet of data center developments currently call Stafford County home. Spotsylvania County hosts 45 buildings, or nearly 19 million square feet of facilities. There’s another 19 million square feet of data centers across 34 buildings in Caroline County, and King George has 34 buildings for more than 16 million square feet.
Together, the report says that’s more than 16,000 acres needing more than 20,000 megawatts of energy, which it claims is driven by new “hyperscaler” facilities that consume more power than traditional data centers.
No matter where (or how) the growth of data centers occur, the impact affects electrical rates across the state.
The average residential electric bill will more than double to $315.25 by 2039 (from $142.77 today), according to a projection from Dominion Energy. The report says that’s due to the data center development.
“Virginians are subsidizing the world’s internet, cloud services and artificial intelligence applications and paying for the infrastructure and energy that serve global corporations while reaping few local benefits,” the report states.
“This region will rival the level of development in Loudoun County.”
The Sierra Club’s report also echoes a number of health concerns the group shared in a number of live panels discussing data centers steamed by hyperbole last year. Those center around the diesel-powered backup generators, which the group says impact both the environment and health of nearby residents.
The group says it wants to see data center developers upgrade those units to more efficient or solar-powered units, while also calling on the state to study the impacts of these generators running simultaneously as they would in a large, sustained outage. The report points to existing bills already introduced in the state legislature that tie tax credits with higher standards with regards to energy efficiency and renewable resources.
While some large data center developers say they already are or are willing to meet these requirements, the Sierra Club says it has no way of verifying these claims.
One of the report’s listed “policy interventions” calls for data center developers and policymakers to fully disclose the energy, water and emissions data to allow for more public debate before the facilities are approved. The report’s energy estimates, for example, were based on data that’s only available from 22 of the 45 planned projects.
The Sierra Club cites Spotsylvania, King George, Louisa and Caroline counties among other rural areas in Virginia, saying these localities are seeing a “water grab for data center campuses.”
An August 2024 water agreement between Spotsylvania and Amazon, the Sierra Club says, has redacted the numeric data on water usage, leaving the public in the dark as to how much consumption to expect from the three campuses over 6 million square feet. The group also points to King George County “fighting” with Amazon and its 19 data center campus over 2 million gallons of water to meet the needs of residents.
The Rappahannock River is already seeing lower levels and drought conditions over the past year, the group claims.
The City of Fredericksburg approved its Technology Overlay District (TOD), permitting the by-right development of data centers during the early morning hours of February 25th earlier this year, a vote that followed hours of public comments from a crowded council chamber. Many of those present called on the body to require developers obtain a special use permit, which would require a public comment period and vote by council.
Just hours later, the city itself would announce an agreement between the Silver Companies and STACK Infrastructure to build as many as a dozen data centers on the 250-acre TOD in Celebrate Virginia South. That press release says that buildout will be completed with “robust environmental controls” and could yield as much as $60 million in local tax revenue.
The Sierra Club says it used public records, SEC reports, land use documents, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VDEQ) statistics and other press releases to compile their data.
Lack of transparency through non-disclosure agreements and the limited information disclosed from by-right development conditions, the group says, means a complete accounting of all data center development isn’t available.
Find the Sierra Club’s full report at bit.ly/44cjzLw.
