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.
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Bay Journal
(July 10, 2026)
Overall, 22% or 1.6 million people in Virginia rely on private wells for drinking water. One Virginia Tech dissertation looked at 382 water samples from wells across 10 counties in the state. About 2% and 5% of samples exceeded proposed federal standards for two compounds, PFOA and PFOS, respectively.
Brockovich Report
(July 8, 2026)
It’s so easy when covering hyperscale data centers to report on concrete and servers. Or cooling systems, megawatts, and zoning maps. It’s hard to picture the families it impacts or the backyards that get caught in the middle of an industry’s growth. Today’s guest essay is from Madison Taggart, whose family is facing exactly that. A 185-foot power line is set to cut through the Virginia woods she grew up in.
Piedmont Environmental Council Loudoun County Senior Land Use Field Representative Gem Bingol is interviewed in this guest essay.
Virginia Mercury
(July 7, 2026)
Virginia researcher and colleagues’ study concluded that while there are “significant health and environmental challenges that demand urgent action,” there are ways to design and operate the facilities safely.
Virginia Mercury
(July 6, 2026)
From AOL’s arrival in Ashburn to today’s AI-driven boom, Virginia became the backbone of the internet economy. Now lawmakers are debating how to manage the industry’s soaring energy demands and economic influence.
WJLA-ABC7News
(July 3, 2026)
Loudoun County homeowners are speaking out against a recent ruling that would allow Dominion Energy to build massive high-voltage transmission lines through their backyards. It’s called the Golden to Mars project.
AgWeb Farm Journal
(July 2, 2026)
Virginia’s Mainland Farm is considered America’s oldest continuously farmed land, cultivated since the early 1600s. Today it still produces crops while preserving 400+ years of agricultural and Revolutionary War history.
Notus
(July 9, 2026)
Almost 200 more data centers are expected to go up in the coming years. Public sentiment towards data centers has soured, with opponents pointing to rising household utility bills and environmental concerns. Politicians are weighing how to balance constituent demands with a behemoth industry those same constituents rely on for cloud computing and county revenue.
E&E News
(July 8, 2026)
East Coast states face a surprising opportunity in the midst of the fossil-fuel-focused Trump presidency: hundreds of millions of dollars in new climate funding.
The Virginian-Pilot
(July 8, 2026)
Menhaden may be a relatively small fish but they have an outsized presence in ongoing debates about the health of the Chesapeake Bay. The menhaden industry and environmental groups have sparred for years over what constitutes sustainable fishing and how the annual catch affects the critical ecosystem on which so much depends.
The Daily Progress
(July 7, 2026)
Three Virginia counties have allocated a combined three quarters of a million dollars to fight the massive Valley Link transmission line project that Dominion Energy and its out-of-state partners say is necessary to feed the power-hungry data centers in Northern Virginia.
RBN Energy
(July 7, 2026)
A number of states have been early movers in the data center world, but several in the Northeast — while not yet major data center hubs — are laying the groundwork for a much bigger role. In today’s RBN blog, we examine the plans of several Northeastern states and how they could impact the region’s natural gas market.
Virginia Mercury
(July 7, 2026)
In a letter sent to the State Corporation Commission this week, Lt. Gov. Ghazala Hashmi urged the commissioners to more closely scrutinize the planned merger of Dominion Energy, the commonwealth’s largest electric utility provider, and Florida-based NextEra Energy.
WVTF
(July 3, 2026)
Virginia regulators have put the brakes on efforts by Mountain Valley Pipeline to build a natural gas compressor station in Montgomery County.
Fauquier Now
(July 3, 2026)
The soaring temperatures pushed the Mid-Atlantic's electrical grid to the brink on Thursday, when it was feared that air-conditioning units across 13 states – combined with data centers’ unprecedented demand for electricity – might max out the regional power supply.
The Daily Progress
(July 10, 2026)
A project to connect Albemarle County's Biscuit Run Park to the Monacan Indian Nation Tribute Park in the Southwood housing development has been given a $1.48 million boost from lawmakers in Richmond.
C-VILLE Weekly
(July 8, 2026)
Albemarle County staff have proposed creating such a program that would allow county employees, including public school workers, to seek a $20,000 loan toward a down payment or up to $2,500 in one-time rental expenses for those who are rent-burdened. Decisions would be made by a committee of staff from the housing, human resources, and finance departments.
Charlottesville Community Engagement
(July 7, 2026)
In this edition: Louisa County has had a record number of applications from landowners who want to join an Agricultural-Forestal District; Fluvanna County’s Planning Commission tonight has multiple public hearings related to changes in state code that reduce local control over land use policies; Transportation planners in Albemarle and Charlottesville make their case for the next areas to study.
The Winchester Star
(July 9, 2026)
Hundreds of people attended a drop-in public information session about Valley North at the Clarke County Ruritan Fairgrounds near Berryville.
Culpeper Star-Exponent
(July 6, 2026)
Culpeper County will permit battery energy storage systems, so-called BESS, only in its industrial zones. The 6-1 vote also explicitly bans, from the county’s agricultural land, development of the shipping container-sized, stacked, utility-scale lithium battery projects that feed the power grid during peak times. The ordinance had permitted the use with a conditional use permit.
Fauquier Now
(July 10, 2026)
The Fauquier County Board of Supervisors Thursday voted to allow on-site natural gas fuel cells to power Remington Technology Park, a 1.8-million-square-foot, six-building data center development in Remington.
Fauquier Times
(July 8, 2026)
The Fauquier Board of Supervisors will review a rezoning application Thursday for Remington Technology Park, a planned six-building data center campus outside Remington that was approved in 2018 but not yet built. Developer PointOne says the data centers are being held up by Dominion Energy’s inability to supply electricity to the buildings for at least four years. Instead of waiting until 2030, PointOne wants to power at least two data centers on the site with a private power plant of natural gas fuel cells.
Fauquier Now
(July 7, 2026)
Warrenton is one step away from making the approval process easier for 30-40 room hotels in the town’s business district, with the Town Council set to vote on making them a by-right use at its July 14 meeting.
Fauquier Times
(July 7, 2026)
Farmers in Fauquier and Prince William counties are among those now eligible for federal disaster aid aimed at helping them recoup some of the financial hit they’ve suffered as a result of the late spring frost.
Prince William Times
(June 30, 2026)
When Matt and Amy Calligan stepped through the gate and into the overgrown backyard at the corner of Crenshaw and Rectortown roads, they knew that had to buy the Maidstone Ordinary. The building was one of two Revolutionary-era taverns left standing in Fauquier County — and the only one dissed by George Washington.
Loudoun Times-Mirror
(July 9, 2026)
Loudoun County and consulting company VHB are beginning a traffic study on several roads running alongside Route 15. Then, they'll recommend possible short-term improvements based on what they find.
Loudoun Now
(July 8, 2026)
During Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, county leaders were briefed on a consultant study that provided them a deep-dive into electrical substation technology, and then approved two more substations—one viewed as critical to the stability of the regional grid and another to distribute power to a Sterling data center.
Loudoun Times-Mirror
(July 8, 2026)
Design plans for a 1.6-mile trail along West Main Street from Franklin Park to the intersection of North 28th and Main streets in Purcellville were presented at a public hearing on June 25 at Woodgrove High School.
NBC Washington
(July 7, 2026)
“We are the canary in the coal mine.” Those were the words from Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chair Phyllis Randall as she stood in front of a packed hearing room for a question-and-answer session in Leesburg, Virginia, Monday night. She listened as residents voiced both support for and opposition to the continued creation of data centers.
Loudoun Now
(July 7, 2026)
The Loudoun County School Board on Tuesday announced it will hold a special meeting on July 13 to address the ongoing Golden to Mars transmission line controversy.
ABC 7 News
(July 6, 2026)
During the meeting, which lasted several hours, Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chair Phyllis Randall told the audience she wanted to clear up misconceptions about data centers. She said despite claims to the contrary, county numbers show data centers do not lower the value of homes. The crowds included a mix of residents who strongly support data centers, and others who pointed out the downsides.
The Cool Down
(July 5, 2026)
State regulators in Virginia approved a route for new high-voltage transmission lines behind homes in Ashburn, a move residents say could disrupt both their living situations and their retirement plans as Northern Virginia's rapidly expanding data center industry drives up electricity demand.
The article cites a Piedmont Environmental Council analysis that found that 182 homes are within 500 feet of Route 3A.
CBS 19 News
(July 8, 2026)
A newly completed conservation easement protects a 94-acre cattle farm in Orange County, ensuring the property remains in agricultural use for generations.
Piedmont Environmental Council Conservation Director Mike Kane is quoted in this story, which also appeared on WVAWLD (ABC) and WCAVDT2 (Fox).
The Piedmont Journal Recorder
(July 9, 2026)
Rappahannock County supervisors and residents pressed FirstEnergy on Monday to prove that a major transmission rebuild through Sperryville will not permanently damage the county’s viewshed.
The article quotes Piedmont Environmental Council Culpeper County Land Use Field Representative Sarah Parmelee.
Rappahannock News
(July 7, 2026)
The supervisors approved an application allowing the Hitt Family Farm Trust to have more than one dwelling on its 246-acre agricultural property at 15 Russell Hitt Lane in Amissville and a special permit allowing a one-bedroom tourist home at 3729 Sperryville Pike, adding a quiet-hours condition requested in response to concerns about noise possibly affecting the nearby Sperryville United Methodist Church.
Rappahannock News
(July 6, 2026)
The Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors on Monday challenged a FirstEnergy official over the proposed Page-Sperryville transmission line rebuild, pressing for clearer answers about the project's impact on local properties, scenic views and the company's plans moving forward.
This article quotes Piedmont Environmental Council Land Use Field Representative Sarah Parmelee.
Newsweek
(July 9, 2026)
The Digital Gateway project appeared well-positioned to move forward after receiving local approval in December 2023. Supporters argued it would generate tens of billions of dollars in investment, create thousands of jobs, and provide substantial tax revenue for local government. But unlike many other Virginia data-center proposals, the project encountered unusually strong opposition.
Virginia Mercury
(July 9, 2026)
Prince William County supervisors voted against a rezoning proposal for the Dulles Cloud South data center project Tuesday, less than a week after developers retreated from a legal battle over building the 1,760-acre Digital Gateway data center complex in the county.
InsideNoVa
(July 7, 2026)
The Prince William Board of County Supervisors on Tuesday voted unanimously to deny a comprehensive plan amendment that would have paved the way for the planned, nearly 2,000-acre Dulles South Innovation Center data center campus.
WVTF
(July 3, 2026)
The massive Digital Gateway project in Prince William County was going to be the largest data center in the world. Now QTS Realty Trust and Blackstone Funds are pulling the plug. On Thursday, QTS withdrew its appeal of a court ruling overturning the project's 2023 approval.
Bay Journal
(July 9, 2026)
Progress to restore Kingman Island in the Anacostia River is now in jeopardy. The reason: an $8 billion proposal to transform Kingman Lake’s western shore into a 65,000-seat roofed stadium for the NFL’s Washington Commanders and a miniature city’s worth of associated development.
WJLA-ABC7News
(July 8, 2026)
Just before midnight Wednesday, after an hours long public hearing, the Warren County Planning Board voted to recommend denial of a proposal that would pave the way for a data center in the county. Although the planning commission is recommending denial, ultimately the Warren County Board of Supervisors will have the final say on whether to change the county code and allow the data center to be built.
The Northern Virginia Daily
(July 2, 2026)
A Woodstock resident asked a judge to stop Shenandoah County supervisors from voting on a data center ordinance, saying residents were not adequately told the board would participate in an earlier public hearing. But county notices published in the Northern Virginia Daily on May 21 and May 28 identified the June 4 proceeding as a joint public hearing of the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors.
Free Lance-Star
(July 9, 2026)
With millions of square feet approved and more expected, Stafford and Spotsylvania counties stand front and center in high-tech development that continues to reshape Virginia, the so-called data center capital of the world.
Fredericksburg Free Press
(July 9, 2026)
This editorial discusses a decision before the county Board of Supervisors about approving a data center project that would be built on property containing a historic cemetery that includes the graves of enslaved residents.
Cardinal News
(July 9, 2026)
Appalachian Power will hold an open house this month to share its plan to relocate its Joshua Falls electric substation in Campbell County and build new transmission lines around it.
Cardinal News
(July 7, 2026)
A Florida company plans to build two pumped storage hydroelectric stations just miles apart on previous coal mine sites in Wise County.
Charlottesville Community Engagement
(July 7, 2026)
In this edition: Louisa County has had a record number of applications from landowners who want to join an Agricultural-Forestal District; Fluvanna County’s Planning Commission tonight has multiple public hearings related to changes in state code that reduce local control over land use policies; Transportation planners in Albemarle and Charlottesville make their case for the next areas to study.
WRIC
(July 6, 2026)
A standing-room-only crowd packed the Varina Library in Henrico County on Tuesday to learn about the historical significance of Tree Hill — a site at the center of a controversial development.
Fluvanna Review
(July 2, 2026)
Valley Link representatives returned to Fluvanna County on June 22 to answer community concerns about the latest set of maps for the proposed Joshua Falls-to-Yeat transmission line, saying public comments and conversations with landowners have helped shape revisions to the controversial project.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(July 10, 2026)
Recent rains haven’t ended Virginia’s drought, the worst since 1941. With rainfall several inches below normal, almost all of the state is officially under a drought warning, which means the onset of a major drought is imminent, the Department of Environmental Quality’s latest drought map shows.
Bay Journal
(July 10, 2026)
The Rappahannock Tribe on June 12 reclaimed 704 acres of its ancestral lands at Fones Cliff along on its namesake river in Virginia. The tribe bought the land from the Chesapeake Conservancy with funding from the federal government, the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation and the Conservation Alliance.
People's World
(July 9, 2026)
A month-long budget battle has shown fractures in the Commonwealth’s Democratic Trifecta, revealed divisions both among and within trade unions, and given fuel to discourse concerning the impacts of data centers on community, environment, AI, and data privacy. An important footnote to this budget battle are the funds infused into state campaigns and political committees by pro-data-center lobbying groups.
This article mentions The Piedmont Environmental Council.
WSLS
(July 9, 2026)
Roanoke City Council unanimously passed a new ordinance Monday setting rules for where and how data centers can be built — getting ahead of potential development before any project is ever proposed. The move comes as data centers continue to expand across Southwest Virginia, including a major Google facility in neighboring Botetourt County.
WHRO
(July 9, 2026)
At a public hearing Wednesday night, the Chesapeake Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval for changes to the city’s zoning ordinance and proposed policy for data centers. The ordinance suggests amendments to the city code that would designate data centers as a conditional use in industrial zoning districts and the Fentress Airfield Overlay District, if they meet certain requirements.
Virginia Mercury
(July 8, 2026)
A new study shows that Virginia is one of the best states in the country for delivering safety and mobility benefits with the commonwealth generating an estimated $1.95 billion in safety and reliability value as a result of fewer crashes, less property damage and more dependable travel.
This article quotes Bill Pugh, transportation and climate director for the Coalition for Smarter Growth, an arm of The Piedmont Environmental Council.
The Virginian-Pilot
(July 8, 2026)
Adding to the “heat” Virginians are feeling on their power bills following last week’s high temperatures, Dominion Energy notified customers Wednesday morning of a rate increase.
Virginia Mercury
(July 8, 2026)
Florida-based Odyssey Marine Exploration has asked the Trump administration to grant mining companies access to more than 2,500 square miles — an area larger than the state of Delaware — to mine phosphate, titanium and zirconium.
WTOP News
(July 7, 2026)
The Prince George’s County Council passed a two-year moratorium on hyperscale data center development to give members more time to consider how the county will go about it in the future. The decision followed nearly an hour of public input and about half an hour of discussion among council members. The moratorium is an extension of previous and similar actions by the council.
Bloomberg Tax
(July 6, 2026)
Lobbyists floated an idea to Virginia budget negotiators stuck in a stalemate: Impose a hefty new energy tax on our clients.
The lobbyists’ energy tax proposal came with a demand: Recommit to the sales tax break.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(July 6, 2026)
The Virginia Climate Center at George Mason University will host the new State Climate Office under the budget that took effect on Wednesday.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(July 3, 2026)
Long before anyone turns on a faucet, architects, engineers, developers and public officials spend months planning electrical systems, transportation, communications, emergency power and cybersecurity. Those decisions shape how a building functions for decades. Yet water is too often treated as a utility connection instead of a critical design decision. Water deserves the same level of intentional planning.
WUSA 9
(July 10, 2026)
A proposed $67 billion merger between Dominion Energy and NextEra Energy would create the world's largest regulated electric utility, but the deal cannot move forward without approval from Virginia regulators, who must determine whether the merger is in the public interest before it can be finalized.
Heatmap
(July 8, 2026)
If you ever have to pick a day to stay inside, pick July 5. In cities across the United States, the Fourth of July’s pyrotechnic revelries make the wee hours after Independence Day consistently one of the worst of the year for air quality. But if you have to pick a second day to stay inside, shoot for one during the second half of July, which is the hottest period of the year in the United States.
KSL
(July 8, 2026)
Roughly 2,000 miles away from Utah, Loudoun County, Virginia, is home to 253 data centers. "That data center is the cloud," Sterling resident Jessica Medeiros said, pointing to a data center across the street from her neighborhood that makes noise at all hours of the day. "There's not been a single day in 16 years where a data center was not under construction in Loudoun County," said Mike Turner, vice chair of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors.
This article mentions Piedmont Environmental Council President Chris Miller.
Culpeper Star-Exponent
(July 7, 2026)
The recent construction boom, fueled in part by the growth of artificial intelligence, has led to debate and, in many communities, organized opposition. Opposition to the projects has centered on topics ranging from the impact on power rates to the use of water. Supporters say the developments create jobs and generate tax revenue for local municipalities.
Canary Media
(July 6, 2026)
For months, clean energy and consumer advocates in North Carolina have pressed for special rules and prices for data centers. The state's predominant utility insisted such rules were unnecessary, rejecting claims that the power-hungry facilities could overwhelm the grid or burden households with unfair costs. But now, the company is changing its tune.
Foreign Affairs
(July 6, 2026)
As AI infrastructure becomes essential to the United States’ technological leadership, the country’s success will hinge not only on capital, energy, and technology but also on the capacity of democratic institutions to reconcile national ambition with local consent.
Data Center Dynamics
(July 5, 2026)
By reducing a data center’s reliance on the grid, developers can convert stranded or stalled sites into viable deployments without waiting years for grid expansion. One approach is shifting 20 to 30 percent of cooling-related electrical loads onto alternative fuel sources.
Pew
(June 30, 2026)
It’s shaping up to be a banner year for humans and migrating animals that cross paths. That’s because in 2026, four states—Utah, Virginia, Idaho, and Oregon—have made significant legislative progress on wildlife crossings. These overpasses and underpasses and strategically placed fencing allow animals to safely traverse busy highways and roads along their natural corridors in search of food, shelter, and mates.
Ketan Joshi
(July 1, 2026)
The company’s total electricity consumption jumped from 31 terawatt hours (TWh) in 2024 to 43 TWh in 2025. This is very easily the biggest increase in their electricity consumption ever, and it puts them way ahead of Microsoft. For the first time, I’ve compiled Google’s electricity consumption back to 2011, to give a historical view of what is happening here, because my description does not do this justice.
TechXplore
(June 30, 2026)
Data centers, whose expansion is being fueled dramatically by the artificial intelligence boom, have a far bigger carbon footprint than previously estimated, a study said Tuesday. "Data centers are evolving from a marginal factor into a structural driver of electricity demand in many regions," said Patrick Hoffmann, senior climate economist at Allianz.
