The Piedmont News is an email digest of top news stories about conservation, land use, energy, and environmental matters of interest to the region. We hope you’ll share The Piedmont News with someone else who cares about these stories.
George L Ohrstrom II |
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InsideNoVa
(May 7, 2025)
"City leaders in Manassas are expressing bewilderment after learning a tenant inside a new data center won’t have to pay business personal property taxes, drastically shrinking the revenue the city expected from the property. The tenant inside the Brickyard data center at 9905 Godwin Drive, operated by Digital Realty Trust, filed tax paperwork on April 14 identifying itself as a bank, Commissioner of the Revenue Tim Demeria told City Council April 30. Under Virginia code, banks are exempt from local Business, Professional and Occupational License, or BPOL, taxes, meaning the city will not benefit from the computer personal property tax revenue data centers typically provide."
Cardinal News
(May 6, 2025)
"Gov. Glenn Youngkin has vetoed legislation that would have raised the targets for how much new energy storage the commonwealth’s two largest electric utilities must propose adding over the next two decades. Energy storage facilities store electricity during off-peak hours when it’s cheaper to generate and deploy it during high-demand periods when it would be more expensive to generate otherwise."
WHRO
(May 6, 2025)
"Last week, Gov. Glenn Youngkin made his final decisions on bills approved by the Democratic-controlled General Assembly, including several that touch on environment and climate issues. Bills that made it through this year’s session will take effect July 1. Here’s a look at what environmental legislation survived and what was nixed by the governor."
Farmers' Advance
(May 5, 2025)
"'I’ve worked my entire life to finally get out here to have this little slice of country that I can farm, and now it’s like I am fighting for everything I worked for,' Sharp said. 'And there’s a lot of people up and down this area that have the same circumstances.' Sharp joins a growing cohort of Hoosiers raising their voices against the state's rush to embrace energy-hungry data centers meant to fuel the artificial intelligence craze and the environmental impacts that come with them."
This article quotes Piedmont Environmental Council Director of Land Use Julie Bolthouse.
WTOP News
(May 4, 2025)
"Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed a bill with bipartisan support Friday that would have required data center applicants and energy utilities to disclose information to local governments on noise and environmental impacts of the project. Under the bill, data center site applicants would have to perform and submit site assessments to examine the noise impact on residents and schools located within 500 feet of the property. It would also allow local governments to require site assessments from applicants to examine the effect of the data center on water and agricultural resources, parks, historic sites and forestland."
C-VILLE Weekly
(May 7, 2025)
"When an investment firm purchased the former Cavalier Crossing apartment complex on Fifth Street Extended last year, affordable housing advocates were horrified that the intent was to convert the 144 existing units to market rate. Now Bonaventure has filed plans with Albemarle to rezone the property to allow construction of 165 new units and comply with the county’s requirements for affordable housing."
Information Charlottesville
(May 6, 2025)
"Attorneys with the City of Charlottesville have filed a new motion in Charlottesville Circuit Court asking Judge Claude Worrell to reconsider a ruling made from the bench on April 16 that allows a lawsuit against the city’s zoning code to proceed."
Charlottesville Tomorrow
(May 5, 2025)
"Charlottesville City Council is funding 66 full-time bus drivers for the local public transit authority — more than ever before. But community groups are advocating for more. They’d hoped the Council would put up the money for at least 82 drivers to get Charlottesville Area Transit bus wait times to 30 minutes or less."
The Crozet Gazette
(May 2, 2025)
"Construction is underway on a 13.5-acre solar array that will be installed atop the capped landfill at the Ivy Materials Utilization Center on Dick Woods Road near Crozet. Dominion Energy is leasing the acreage from the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority (RSWA)—the local entity responsible for monitoring and remediation of the landfill, which closed in 1998."
The Winchester Star
(May 5, 2025)
"More than 60 vendors will be participating. They will be selling plants native to Virginia — including annuals, perennials, herbs, trees and shrubs — plus gardening tools and nature-inspired crafts."
Fauquier Times
(May 7, 2025)
"A planned expansion to a Fauquier County trash collection site in Marshall could threaten the historic schoolhouse next door, advocates are warning. Built in 1887, the one-room school now surrounded by well-tended gardens closed in 1964 and was the last of 31 Fauquier County elementary schools serving African American students."
The Daily Progress
(May 6, 2025)
"In a county where aging and overwhelmed water infrastructure has been a source of friction for decades, it is perhaps unsurprising that a recent Greene County Board of Supervisors meeting was dominated by, well, wells. Supervisors at the April 12 meeting agreed to move forward with two wells at a cost of $1 million each, using county staff estimates."
Loudoun Now
(May 8, 2025)
"Concept plans for improvements along Woodgrove Road, Cider Mill Road and Stoney Point Road were presented to the community for feedback during a public meeting Wednesday night. The work is part of an earlier study of safety improvements needed on Rt. 9 and looks to determine where they are need to prepare the roadways for expected increases in traffic volumes."
Loudoun Now
(May 8, 2025)
"With the property acquired back in 2001, the groundbreaking ceremony for a Balls Bluff Veterans Park this Saturday marks a significant step forward in what has been a lengthy process for the Town of Leesburg. The town and Nova Parks acquired 141 acres adjacent to the Balls Bluff Regional Park back then– with the town’s share of 86 acres planned to be developed along the Potomac River in the Potomac Crossing community northeast of Leesburg."
Loudoun Now
(May 8, 2025)
"Why should this matter to you? Because these are the people who produce the food we depend on. Seeing their faces and the land their families tended for generations reminds us that food starts with soil and the farmers who work it to provide the fruits, vegetables, crops, and meat we enjoy. Their continued land stewardship underscores the value of Loudoun’s farming heritage and reminds us that the beautiful landscapes they provide us are also providing us with sustenance."
Loudoun Now
(May 7, 2025)
"An achievement that has become routine over the past two decades, the Town of Leesburg again this year received the award for excellence in water performance from the Virginia Department of Health. The town’s 2024 Water Quality Report, released last month, states Leesburg 'exceeded regulations in facility performance and filtration operations,' and met the quality standard established by the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act."
Loudoun Now
(May 6, 2025)
"A rezoning application by JK Land Holdings to permit up to 742,000 square feet of data center use on a tract south of Leesburg was deferred Tuesday night after a motion to approve the plan failed to garner majority support from the Board of Supervisors. The application would also alternatively permit up to 416,000 square feet of warehouse or distribution uses, or up to 218,000 square feet of industrial uses."
Loudoun Now
(May 6, 2025)
"Residents will have the chance to learn about plans to construct 1,000 feet of sidewalk along the west side of Plaza Street between the Police Headquarters and Edwards Ferry Road during a May 15 open house meeting. The project will fill in a missing link of sidewalk, improving pedestrian access and safety for residents of the Leesburg Apartments."
Loudoun Times-Mirror
(May 6, 2025)
"Acres of Loudoun-grown strawberries are quickly ripening this week at Wegmeyer Farms — which is just in time for the 'U-pick' season and for the second annual Lincoln Strawberry Festival weekend beginning May 16, according to Harriet and Tyler Wegmeyer."
The Virginian-Pilot
(May 5, 2025)
"What a shame it will be if Virginia squanders an opportunity to turn Oak Hill, the Loudoun County home of President James Monroe, into a state park. The Delashmutt family, which bought the historic house on 1,200 acres in Northern Virginia more than 70 years ago, wants to sell the estate for $20 million, well below market value, to the Conservation Fund, a nonprofit preservation group hoping to make Oak Hill a state park and museum."
Loudoun Now
(May 5, 2025)
"The Planning Commission on Thursday, May 1 continued its work discussing Article III of the draft Zoning Ordinance rewrite, which reviews what uses are allowed in each zoning district and their level of permissibility.Working through Division 10, the commission reviewed a use table which groups specific uses into use categories and displays their permissibility. Those permissibility levels broke uses into those permitted in a zoning district by-right, permitted in a limited way, permitted through a minor special exception and permitted by special exception."
The Piedmont Journal Recorder
(May 7, 2025)
"A new liquid feed system would treat water diverted from the Rapidan River into potable water for the towns of Orange and Gordonsville. Some of this water is sold back to the Rapidan Service Authority (RSA), and soon it will also supply drinking water along Virginia’s State Route 20."
Prince William Times
(May 5, 2025)
"Prince William County Supervisor Yesli Vega has received a whopping $100,000 campaign donation—likely the largest single contribution to any supervisor from an individual in the county’s history—from the wife of a local data center developer."
Potomac Local News
(May 5, 2025)
"A bank tenant inside a newly completed data center in Manassas has triggered a sweeping local tax exemption, upending financial expectations and leaving city officials blindsided."
The Washington Post
(May 6, 2025)
"The D.C. public transportation system is set to expand dramatically over the next 20 years. But aside from the long-delayed Purple Line, new train tracks aren’t part of the plan. Leaders in and around the Metro system are putting their energy behind the less-loved side of transit: the bus."
The Winchester Star
(May 7, 2025)
"Students from schools across the Northern Shenandoah Valley gathered at Jim Barnett Park on Wednesday to release the brook trout they raised in their classrooms this year into Wilkins Lake. The kids gathered along the lake's edge, waiting patiently as their teachers scooped the fish into plastic cups and nets, and then watched as their trout swam into the water, almost immediately disappearing as they camouflaged against the mud, algae and plants under the surface."
Bay Journal
(May 6, 2025)
"Every July, when Heather Disque surveys the landscape from her state-issued Cessna, she documents thousands more acres of trees in death throes. It’s only a matter of a few years before they wither into desiccated husks and topple over, she said. By then, the ground itself likely will be wetter, having converted to a saltmarsh."
Virginia Mercury
(May 8, 2025)
"Virginia’s investor-owned utilities thought 2025 would be the year they put an end to net metering – and with it, rooftop solar installers’ modest competition with their monopoly.. The 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) removed many barriers that residents and businesses installing solar panels under the state’s net metering law had faced, but it also called for the State Corporation Commission to reevaluate the program, beginning right about now."
Cardinal News
(May 8, 2025)
"When the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors denied a proposal last month to build a data center campus on a large swath of farmland after months of controversy, Chairman Robert Tucker said the process would have been easier with an up-to-date comprehensive plan. Updated documents would have better reflected the county’s recent growth and vision for the future, he said, providing a framework for the board’s decision about a large industrial project."
The New York Times
(May 8, 2025)
"To protect its food and drinking water, Maryland has started restricting the use of fertilizer made from sewage sludge. At the same time, a major sludge-fertilizer maker, Synagro, has been applying for permits to use more of it across the state border, on farms in Virginia. A coalition of environmentalists, fishing groups and some farmers are fighting that effort. They say the contamination threatens to poison farmland and vulnerable waterways that feed the Potomac River."
The Gazette-Virginian
(May 7, 2025)
"The future of two proposed solar sites in northern Halifax County still is uncertain after the board of supervisors cast a 4-4 tied vote on the sites at their Monday evening meeting. At the meeting, several citizens held up signs displaying the word 'solar' with a line struck through it, indicating they did not want the supervisors to approve any more solar projects."
SOVA Now
(May 7, 2025)
"Property owners near a proposed solar project in Chase City have reportedly received a fake 'good neighbor agreement' that was made to look as if it was issued by solar developer Longroad Energy Holdings, LLC for its 7 Bridges Solar facility. The document in question contains an offer, purportedly from Longroad Energy Holdings, LLC and 7 Bridges Solar LLC, to pay homeowners an initial sum of $10,000 for signing the agreement."
Radio IQ
(May 7, 2025)
"Some of the highest rates of sea level rise in the country are in the Chesapeake Bay region where it’s twice the average annual global rate. Wednesday, the National Trust for Historic Preservation listed the Pamunkey Indian Tribe’s reservation, on a peninsula in King William County, among its eleven Most Endangered Historic Places in America."
Fredericksburg Free Press
(May 6, 2025)
"Amazon recently filed an 878-page petition in King George County Circuit Court requesting a review of the Board of Zoning Appeals’ March 25 decision to deny the company’s request for a determination of vested rights of 869 acres it owns in the county for the purpose of constructing a data center campus."
The Virginian-Pilot
(May 5, 2025)
"What a shame it will be if Virginia squanders an opportunity to turn Oak Hill, the Loudoun County home of President James Monroe, into a state park. The Delashmutt family, which bought the historic house on 1,200 acres in Northern Virginia more than 70 years ago, wants to sell the estate for $20 million, well below market value, to the Conservation Fund, a nonprofit preservation group hoping to make Oak Hill a state park and museum."
The New York Times
(May 8, 2025)
"The Trump administration has moved to end federal protections for the lesser prairie chicken, a showy grouse with the misfortune of inhabiting southern and central grasslands long sought-after for agriculture and energy development."
AP News
(May 8, 2025)
"The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is retiring its public database meant to keep track of the cost of losses from climate change-fueled weather disasters including floods, heat waves, wildfires and more. It is the latest example of changes to the agency and the Trump administration limiting federal government resources on climate change."
NPR
(May 7, 2025)
"But the environmental footprint of AI is notoriously difficult to measure. There are no federal nor state regulations for AI and no legal framework requiring tech companies to disclose their energy and water consumption. That's led scientists like Shaolei Ren to investigate this question independently."
The New York Times
(May 7, 2025)
"The Trump administration has earmarked dozens of National Park Service grants for elimination, including several that aim to protect public lands from the effects of climate change, according to an internal agency document detailing the plans. A spreadsheet of grants likely to be canceled claims the cuts could save $26 million by canceling grants to universities, state historic preservation offices, tribes and youth corps."
AP News
(May 7, 2025)
"Despite all that, the farm has no desire to pursue a U.S. Department of Agriculture organic certification, Brown said. Doing so would add costs and require the farm to forego technology that makes the dairy business, and ultimately the customer’s jug of milk, more affordable, he said. He raises a question many farmers have been asking: Is organic farming just a word?"
The Washington Post
(May 5, 2025)
"The program collects data on levels of harmful air pollutants, including ozone and particulate matter, at the 63 national parks in the United States. Federal officials consult this data when deciding whether to grant permits to nearby industrial facilities, such as power plants or oil refineries."
Strong Towns
(May 5, 2025)
"There’s been a lot of buzz around Conor Dougherty’s recent New York Times piece, “Why America Should Sprawl.” The article argues that the country’s housing crisis is so severe—and infill development so insufficient—that we need to embrace aggressive outward expansion of our metro regions, what many would call sprawl, to build the millions of homes America needs."
News Tribune
(May 4, 2025)
"Demand for immense amounts of energy to power generative artificial intelligence is growing, pushing large technology companies into Missouri and the Midwest. Technology companies, like Meta and Google, are continuing to embrace generative artificial intelligence, but they need massive amounts of physical space and energy sources to do it."
This article quotes Piedmont Environmental Council President Chris Miller.
Futurism
(May 4, 2025)
"The facilities working behind the scene to fuel the AI revolution are bulky, noisy, and hog resources like electricity at a staggering scale. Data centers have been blamed for placing a huge burden on local electrical grids and water tables that were only designed for small-town homes, not state-of-the-art industrial facilities. That being the case, it's no surprise that local opposition to data centers is growing rapidly in rural areas of states like Indiana, Virginia, Missouri, and Illinois, where AI developers are flocking to lock down cheap land and generous tax breaks. And as local organizers successfully repel the monstrous sites, their battleplans are being chronicled and shared with other activists engaged in the fight."
Fast Company
(May 3, 2025)
"Off the coast of Virginia, Dominion Energy is building what will be the largest offshore wind facility in the U.S., a 2.6-gigawatt project that will provide energy to as many as 660,000 homes. It has been under construction since 2023 and is expected to be completed by 2026—but President Donald Trump’s tariffs are adding to the project’s costs."
The Washington Post
(May 1, 2025)
"Great egrets and little blue herons. Blue-winged warblers and yellow-bellied sapsuckers. Snowy owls and tropical kingbirds. Across North America, three-fourths of bird species are in decline, according to a sweeping study of avian populations published Thursday, the latest sign of a slow-moving extinction crisis that threatens entire ecosystems."
