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.
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.
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to weigh in on PFAS-contaminated biosolids, and two wins, including the protection of Orange County farmland and a withdrawn gas power plant proposal.
Join Us at the State Capitol on Feb. 9 for Data Center Reform!
The Virginia Data Center Reform Coalition will once again host our Data Center Reform Lobby Day in Richmond, VA, providing a unique opportunity to meet face-to-face with your legislators and make your voice heard on critical data center issues impacting you and your community each day.
Significant Impacts of Tenaska’s Proposed Gas Power Plant
Despite the known health and environmental impacts to the surrounding community (detailed below), Tenaska has now proposed a second 1.5 gigawatt plant adjacent to the existing one.
Cville Area Land Use: Week Ahead for January 5, 2026
This week: Charlottesville to begin 2026 with two meetings, direction on affordable housing spending
Golden to Mars Transmission Line Hearing Delayed, Comment Period Extended After Nearly 600 Sign Up to Testify
In September, we encouraged you to submit comments and sign up to testify at the SCC hearings in Loudoun County to voice your concerns and call for undergrounding the Golden to Mars line, and you rose to the challenge! Over 1,000 comments and nearly 600 witnesses signed up to testify.
Culpeper Update: Moving the Needle
In this quarterly Culpeper update, I share some ways we’ve helped to move the needle in a positive direction, as well as provide a few important opportunities to engage with our state elected officials during the 2026 legislative session.