This op-ed by PEC President Chris Miller ran in the Richmond Times Dispatch, June 7, 2026
Later this month, the General Assembly will meet to finally pass a new state budget. The stalemate has been centered around the data center sales tax exemption that amounts to nearly a $2 billion per year windfall for the tech industry. I commend the state leaders, particularly Sen. Louise Lucas, who recognize the tax exemption has outlived its usefulness. It’s obvious this tax break prioritizes big business over much-needed programs for Virginia citizens.
Legislators wanting to eliminate the exemption are on the side of their constituents. Recent polling shows the majority of the public unequivocally oppose data centers.
But eliminating the tax exemption is only one step toward righting the missteps our state has taken. Regulating data center development includes mitigating against a myriad of data center impacts, including skyrocketing energy costs, seizing of public and private lands for transmission lines, increasing air pollution and threatening water resources in the midst of a prolonged severe drought.
No other industry in the state has such a large footprint with so few regulatory hurdles and such a profound impact on the public — with little transparency or public input until deals are done. We are here because the state agencies mandated to work in the best interests of Virginia have not considered the cumulative impacts of data centers on water and air quality, the natural environment, costs to Virginia residents and overall quality of life for residents. The General Assembly must clarify through the budget language that aggregate and cumulative analyses be completed, with opportunities for public comment, before any new permits for data centers, onsite generation and related energy infrastructure are granted.
The budget negotiations offer the General Assembly an opportunity to incorporate language addressing pressing concerns around data center proliferation. Senate Bills 619 and 339 had broad bipartisan support in the 2026 General Assembly — and they should be adopted in the new budget. SB619 requires the State Corporation Commission to review all large load applications, determine that the impacts of the new demand is in the public interest, and consider impacts on reliability, ratepayers and the environment.
Currently, there is no state review of the data center contracts for electricity prior to Dominion signing them. That is why Virginia is in this crisis by contract, putting the public and public resources at risk to fulfill private contracts. SB339 directs the SCC to investigate whether current rate structures force residential customers and small businesses to unreasonably subsidize the transmission, generation and distribution costs required to serve large data centers. Those costs must include the costs of avoiding, minimizing and mitigating impacts on communities and the Commonwealth’s natural resources.
Virginia attracted hundreds of data centers by giving away billions of dollars of tax money to the wealthiest companies in the world. Dominion Energy has already signed contracts for 51 GW of electricity and with an additional 19GW requested for a total of 70GW. That is more than three times the highest peak level of demand for the entire Dominion transmission zone in 2025. Most of the new generation and transmission necessary to supply these contracts won’t be available for a decade or more.
The infrastructure required to match data center demand is hundreds of substations, thousands of miles of transmission lines, and dozens of power plants. Dominion makes money by building that infrastructure and has a guaranteed rate of return. That’s great for Dominion executives and shareholders, but terrible for Virginia residents who bear the costs, experience degraded quality of life and higher electricity bills to pay for data center operators‘ global business expenses. These pressures will only get worse as Dominion is subsumed by NextEra Energy, a company with no Virginia roots.
Finally, the lack of state oversight and transparency in data center approval processes resulted in an avoidable crisis by contract. The world’s largest tech firms and Dominion are determining Virginia’s energy future because state legislators chose not to intervene.
Right now the General Assembly must take the commonsense, responsible action they should have taken years ago: pause data center development and come up with a plan. No other industry has been allowed to plow through entire regions and take land and livelihoods from citizens without serious consideration and compensation. It is the biggest land grab in state history.
The data center tsunami will continue unless state elected officials at all levels pause and take time to plan for a smarter digital future.
