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.
Department of Energy
(January 22, 2026)
In a letter today, U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright asked the nation’s grid operators to maintain communication with DOE during the storm and be prepared to make backup generation resources at data centers and other major facilities available as needed.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(January 18, 2026)
To date, our state leaders have failed to protect Virginians from the short- and long-term effects of reckless data center growth. Currently, there is no overarching state plan to manage the cumulative impacts on our energy costs, our air quality and our natural resources.
This is a Guest Column by PEC's Director of Land Use Julie Bolthouse in support of HB 155.
The Washington Post
(January 15, 2026)
As electricity prices climb, an unusual disconnect is emerging between what regular people pay — and what data centers pay.
C-VILLE Weekly
(January 21, 2026)
Charlottesville has updated and expanded last year’s voucher program to help city residents afford battery-powered e-bikes. Every quarter, the city will give away 12 vouchers in each of three tiers: $500 for any applicant (Tier 1); $1,000 for people earning less than or equal to 80 percent of the area median income (Tier 2); and $1,500 for people on SNAP, WIC, TANF, or Medicaid (Tier 3).
C-VILLE Weekly
(January 21, 2026)
When Charlottesville City Council adopted a new zoning code in late 2023, it wanted to help developers make it easier to build new places to live. The city’s Department of Neighborhood Development Services is moving forward with changes designed to further that goal.
Loudoun Now
(January 20, 2026)
The effort to establish President James Monroe’s Loudoun County home, Oak Hill, as a state park resumed today with a hearing before the Senate’s Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee.
The Rapidan Register
(January 19, 2026)
In early December, county planning and zoning administrator Allen Nicholls told supervisors he’d been unable to obtain numerous documents from the authority which outline their policies and directly affect Madison County’s ability to manage growth, protect public health and plan responsibly for the future of the county’s water and sewer systems.
The Daily Progress
(January 23, 2026)
Chris Snider has been named Orange's new town manager. Snider already was working the job on an interim basis after the abrupt departure of longtime Manager Greg Woods.
Rappahannock News
(January 19, 2026)
Every year, the Culpeper Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Directors recognizes Rappahannock County farmers and landowners for conservation and sustainability work — this year awarding Thornhill Farms with the 2025 Clean Water Farm Award and Chancellors Rock Farm with the 2025 Wildlife Award.
The Washington Post
(January 16, 2026)
There are ecological justifications for what I’m doing. Winter is the best time to cut and treat woody invasive plants. Reducing the deer population will allow the depleted forest to regenerate.
Potomac Local News
(January 22, 2026)
Data centers have become a defining issue in Prince William County, shaping land-use decisions, utility costs, and long-term planning across the region, even as many residents are only now catching up to how large the industry has grown.
The Daily Progress
(January 22, 2026)
The Central Virginia Land Conservancy holds 456 acre in Nelson County in conservations easements. It wants to increase that figure.
10 News
(January 21, 2026)
Community members and transparency advocates express frustration over limited communication and perceived secrecy in the decision-making process for the data center project.
WVVA
(January 15, 2026)
For about $72 million, Amazon Web Services has purchased about 1,920 acres of land in central Louisa County. The news, first reported by Tammy Purcell with Engage Louisa, comes as Amazon is in the midst of building two data center campuses within the County.
WRIC
(January 23, 2026)
In a Jan. 23 release, Nikki Rovner was named as the newest director of the conservation agency, which oversees state parks, natural areas and outdoor recreation among other programs.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(January 22, 2026)
Our region has been a major focus of the data center industry. And data centers can be very water-intensive. So it’s important to ask what the potential impacts might be in the future, both for the Rappahannock and across the commonwealth.
The Virginian-Pilot
(January 20, 2026)
Virginia will rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the multistate coalition that aims to reduce the use of fossil fuels as an energy source, Gov. Abigail Spanberger told lawmakers Monday. In Virginia, the money was split with half going toward energy-saving projects for low-income families and the other half for the Community Flood Preparedness Fund.
ARL Now
(January 20, 2026)
Increasing power demand from a growing number of data centers, many located in Northern Virginia, has made rising utility costs a key issue for Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) in her first days in office.
Fauquier Now
(January 20, 2026)
As Virginia grapples with an energy crisis fueled by the proliferation of data centers and growing local concern about permitting for the facilities, lawmakers are mulling how to manage the industry.
Cardinal News
(January 19, 2026)
“This bill is about putting pawpaws back into public consciousness. That’s the first step to get them back into the pantries of Virginians,” said Del. Joshua Cole, D-Fredericksburg, who co-patroned the bill.
VPM
(January 16, 2026)
In fiscal year 2025 (which ran from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025), more than $1.9 billion in total tax exemptions went to data centers in Virginia, according to self-reported data compiled by the state's tax department.
PEC's Director of Land Use Julie Bolthouse is quoted.
WDBJ
(January 16, 2026)
Friday, the Chesapeake Climate Action Network Action Fund released the results of a poll it conducted with the Global Strategy Group, indicating the majority of Virginia voters believe the problems caused by data centers outweigh the economic benefits.
Virginia Mercury
(January 14, 2026)
The use of diesel generators offloads the true cost of backup power onto residents in the region, who pay in the form of worse health outcomes and a lower quality of life, writes columnist Ivy Main.
Notus
(January 22, 2026)
Dozens of Silicon Valley giants, utility providers and other companies stand to earn a fortune from the nation’s artificial intelligence boom.
Reuters
(January 22, 2026)
Judging by state and local filings alone, the U.S.' data center computing capacity could jump by close to 1,000% if all projects currently planned come to fruition.
That's a big "if," however, as it is widely known that some of the plans filed by so-called hyperscalers are more aspirational than hard commitments and will likely be withdrawn if development or grid interconnection takes too long.
WTOP News
(January 21, 2026)
A new analysis on the rapid proliferation of data centers indicates that the sudden demand for electricity could drive up energy costs for everyone and harm the environment.
CNN
(January 18, 2026)
Tech giants are in a heated race to build data centers and dominate the AI landscape. But America might not be ready for the energy demand.
Utility Dive
(January 16, 2026)
Capstone analysts said the proposal lacks binding authority, “reinforcing that this is policy signaling, not an imminent market reform.”
The Guardian
(January 15, 2026)
A US regulator ruled on Thursday that Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company had acted illegally by using dozens of methane gas turbines to power huge datacenters in Tennessee.
