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.
Fauquier Times
(February 5, 2026)
On Tuesday Feb. 3, the board voted 4-0 to defer any decision until a pending lawsuit, Charles and Marygay Cross vs. the Town of Warrenton, is decided – possibly delaying a decision for years and keeping an alternative legal door open for the data center giant.
29 News
(February 3, 2026)
Thanks to a deal between Virginia and private landowners, more than 5,000 acres of forestland surrounding Shenandoah National Park will be protected under five different conservation easements.
The Shenandoah Borderlands Project is a joint effort between the Virginia Department of Forestry, the Piedmont Environmental Council, the USDA Forest Service, and private landowners. PEC's Kim Biasiolli is highlighted here.
Prince William Times
(February 3, 2026)
Facing soaring demand for electricity, the Mid-Atlantic power grid operator says it will serve new data centers if they can generate their own power — or agree to get cut off and run on their own generators when the grid is stressed.
Inside Climate News
(January 29, 2026)
Regional grid operators said the federal order is a fail safe. Environmentalists in Virginia worry about increased pollution regulators and residents may not be fully aware of.
The Daily Progress
(January 29, 2026)
$1.4 million has been awarded to the James River Association and Friends of the Rappahannock River nonprofits to help establish and maintain those waterways' riparian buffers.
C-VILLE Weekly
(February 4, 2026)
Though Jim Ryan is no longer the president of the University of Virginia, planning work continues on three affordable housing projects called for under one of his community initiatives.
Loudoun Now
(February 4, 2026)
The effort to turn the 1,200-acre, historic home of President James Monroe into a state park on Wednesday cleared one more hurdle earning endorsement from a House subcommittee but was delayed in its Senate review.
Loudoun Now
(February 2, 2026)
State Corporation Commission judges are gearing up to make a decision on Dominion Energy’s request to build transmission lines through Loudoun that drew an unprecedented level of community input.
InsideNoVa
(February 3, 2026)
A panel of several high-profile Democratic officials joined U.S. Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va. 10th District, for a town hall Saturday at Gainesville High School focused on data centers, transmission lines and rising electricity bills – setting the stage for the ongoing Virginia General Assembly session in Richmond.
Virginia Business
(February 3, 2026)
FERC approved expansion of 10,000-mile gas pipeline into Pittsylvania County and North Carolina. Expected cost is $1.53 billion, and construction set to start this fall.
Virginia Pilot
(January 30, 2026)
The utility said the increases are due to tariffs and a stop work order issued in December by the federal government. The order affected the Virginia Beach project and four other wind energy developments.
Virginia Mercury
(February 6, 2026)
Bills that could allow by-right zoning for apartment buildings, townhomes and mixed-use developments in certain commercial corridors cleared the Senate Thursday, one of several proposals to boost housing supply working through the Virginia legislature.
Inside Climate News
(February 6, 2026)
Legislation would create a set of statewide development standards as guidance for localities that have become resistant to solar.
Data Center Dynamics
(February 3, 2026)
Virginia, the home of the world’s largest concentration of data centers, will consider more than 60 bills related to a wide range of data center-related issues during this year's legislative session, lasting from January 14 to March 14.
Cardinal News
(February 3, 2026)
A pair of bills progressing through the Virginia General Assembly would allow battery energy storage to be built as an accessory use on land where a solar facility already has been approved.
Cardinal News
(February 2, 2026)
The Community Flood Preparedness Fund uses proceeds from Virginia’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative to fund flood mitigation projects across the state. Many Southwest localities are still in the early stages of CFPF funded projects as widespread flooding has continued to devastate the region.
CBS 19 News
(January 31, 2026)
Virginians overwhelmingly support stricter regulations on data centers, particularly when it comes to where the facilities are built and how much energy they consume, according to new polling from Christopher Newport University’s Wason Center for Civic Leadership.
E&E News
(February 5, 2026)
Last year marked the first time since 2022 that companies abandoned more annual investments than they announced in the sector, clean energy business group E2 said Wednesday. The 61 nixed projects affect roughly 38,000 current and planned jobs, the group said.
The Wall Street Journal
(February 2, 2026)
Fearing rising utility costs, job losses and privacy violations, residents have blocked or delayed data-center projects around the country.
NPR
(February 2, 2026)
The exclusion announcement comes just days after NPR revealed that officials at the Department of Energy had secretly rewritten environmental, safety and security rules to make it easier for the reactors to be built.
S&P Global
(January 29, 2026)
From the suburbs of Northern Virginia to the banks of the Columbia River, communities are voicing deep concerns over data centers, often centering on their energy, environmental and affordability impacts.
