HB 508 / SB 340 defines “agrivoltaics,” as it pertains to small renewable energy projects, as “the intentional co-location of agricultural production and solar energy generation on the same land…
Our Region
PEC focuses on nine counties and one city in the northern Piedmont of Virginia: Albemarle, Charlottesville, Clarke, Culpeper, Fauquier, Greene, Loudoun, Madison, Orange, and Rappahannock.
We also team with local organizations to promote thriving communities and healthy natural resources in a much larger region, including the Shenandoah Valley, the central Piedmont, and the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Corridor. In addition, we are proud to serve as fiscal sponsor of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, an organization that focuses on land use and policy in the greater Washington D.C. area.
Two Bills with potential to pause data center approvals and plan responsibly for the future
The Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) supports HB1515, introduced by Delegate Irene Shin last Friday. This bill aligns with PEC’s data center reform efforts to pause approvals of hyperscale data center proposals.
HB155/SB619 Could Create Real Data Center Reform
We believe that passing HB155/SB619 is the single most important step Virginia can take this year to ensure a smarter digital future. Please use our advocacy page to send a letter to your state legislators today.
Virginia General Assembly in Full Swing
Our advocacy team is already hard at work as the 2026 Virginia General Assembly gets underway in Richmond.
Video: “The Hidden Costs of the Cloud: Data Centers and AI in Virginia”
Virginia is undergoing an unprecedented economic, technological, and environmental transformation, all centered around the activities of one industry: data centers.
Loudoun Quarterly Update – Winter 2026
This quarterly Loudoun Update includes information on opportunities to speak up on a Leesburg data center application, submit comments on transmission line planning, support solar net-metering programs, and raise environmental concerns in the Mountainside Overlay District.
Proposed Leesburg Gateway Amendment Would Allow Data Center Development Near Neighborhoods
The Leesburg Gateway data center developer has proposed an amendment to the Town Plan that would allow for data center & warehouse development close to residential neighborhoods in the town gateway…
2026 Data Center Reform Legislation
The outsized impacts of data centers in our communities will again make data center reform a priority for PEC and our partners in the Virginia Data Center Reform Coalition during this year’s Virginia General Assembly session.
Virginia Conservation Network’s Our 2026 Common Agenda Environmental Briefing Book
The Piedmont Environmental Council and the Coalition for Smarter Growth are proud to have co-authored six of the 47 briefing papers in Virginia Conservation Network’s Our 2026 Common Agenda Environmental Briefing Book…
Winter Orange County Updates
The new year is off to a busy start in Orange County! Read on to learn more about zoning changes related to data centers and agriculture, an opportunity to weigh in on PFAS-contaminated biosolids, and two wins, including the protection of Orange County farmland and a withdrawn gas power plant proposal.