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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Prince William Times
(February 25, 2026)
Virginia’s public meetings law – and the future of western Prince William County – were at the center of a hearing Tuesday in the Virginia Court of Appeals when a three-judge panel took up the fate of the Prince William Digital Gateway, a project that could turn more than 1,700 acres next to the Manassas National Battlefield Park into one of the largest data center corridors in the world.
Virginia Mercury
(February 24, 2026)
On Sunday, the Virginia House of Delegates and Senate money committees unveiled their changes to former Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s final $212 billion budget proposal. One of the major divergences between the two bodies’ amendments came down to how to handle the sales and use tax exemption for data centers.
Piedmont Environmental Council
(February 24, 2026)
The Piedmont Mobility Alliance will convene the sixth annual Active Mobility Summit on March 5 and 6 to focus on the economic and social benefits of public access to the great outdoors. The Summit, free and open to all, will bring together Charlottesville and Albemarle County residents, organizations and leaders who desire better places to walk, bike and run.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(February 23, 2026)
The newly proposed Senate budget would ditch the state sales tax exemption for data centers, adding more than $1 billion in tax revenue that could fund tax cuts and critical spending priorities. But the Senate plan creates a wide gulf between it and the proposed House of Delegates spending plan...
The Piedmont Journal Recorder
(February 25, 2026)
Joining the list of new energy and infrastructure proposals across the state to serve sky-rocketing data center demand is a proposal to build the largest transmission line ever seen in Dominion Energy’s territory. Dubbed “Joshua Falls-Yeat,” the 115-mile, 765 kilovolt transmission line would cross as many as nine counties in central Virginia.
This article is a reposting of an informational email alert The Piedmont Environmental Council sent out on Feb. 23, 2026.
Bay Journal
(February 24, 2026)
Tucked within the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, Joe Dinardo and his community rely on well water. After working with Rockbridge Conservation to test his water, the retired toxicologist found it contained “forever chemicals.” To protect himself, he’s been filtering his water for the last two years.
Bay Journal
(February 23, 2026)
Overall, the funds for the two programs will restore 290 acres of wetland and harsh habitat, build 45 miles of fencing to keep livestock out of streams and create 75 miles of forest buffers. The funds will also reduce the annual load of nutrient pollution to waterways by almost 80 million pounds.
The Piedmont Journal Recorder
(February 22, 2026)
A sprawling 42,000-acre area encompassing parts of Orange, Madison, and Culpeper counties is on its way to potentially becoming the Rapidan River-Clark Mountain Rural Historic District, a designation aimed at preserving its profound historical and cultural significance.
This article highlights a public meeting put on by Piedmont Environmental Council Land Use Field Representative Don McCown.
C-VILLE Weekly
(February 25, 2026)
When Charlottesville City Council adopted a new zoning code in December 2023, the intent was to streamline the development process to make it easier for new construction to get built.
Bay Journal
(February 24, 2026)
The Virginia Department of Forestry, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Piedmont Environmental Council and private landowners, announced a plan on Jan. 28 to conserve more than 5,000 acres of forestland.
This article highlights The Piedmont Environmental Council's Southern Shenandoah Borderlands Project.
The Winchester Star
(February 25, 2026)
The Clarke County Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing at 6:30 p.m. March 17 on proposed zoning and subdivision ordinance changes stemming from legislation enacted last year.
The Winchester Star
(February 25, 2026)
Town officials are being asked to rezone approximately 42.5 acres in northeast Berryville from Open Space Residential, DR-1 and DR-2 Detached Residential and BP Business Park to DR-4 Detached Residential. The latter designation is needed for as many as 110 houses to be built on the land, currently owned by limited liability corporations set up by the Friant family.
Culpeper Star-Exponent
(February 25, 2026)
Three years after withdrawing a solar project local officials and citizens felt was too large, a North Carolina solar developer has returned with a scaled-back proposal for a timber tract in Stevensburg.
Fauquier Times
(February 25, 2026)
But as a result of that change, a controversial plan to expand a substation in Morrisville near Mary Walter Elementary School is back on the table. The utility wants to take the power fed to the new substation in Culpeper and send it to Morrisville, 10 miles to the north, via two 500-kilovolt lines. With the added power, Morrisville would send more electricity to data center alleys to the north.
This article mentions The Piedmont Environmental Council.
Fauquier Times
(February 20, 2026)
Virginia’s ongoing energy crunch will keep the planned Remington Technology Park on hold nearly eight years after its approval unless Fauquier County officials allow the data center project to build its own gas-fired power plant. But that idea is raising concerns about noise and air-quality impacts on nearby residents.
Loudoun Now
(February 26, 2026)
Plans to convert the 1,200-acre home of President James Monroe have been included in budget amendments proposed by the House of Delegates this week and includes an ask of an additional $5 million from Loudoun County.
Loudoun Times-Mirror
(February 25, 2026)
The Aspen substation, part of a high-profile transmission line loop in eastern Loudoun, won approval by the Loudoun County Planning Commmission following a hearing Feb. 24. Now, it heads to the Board of Supervisors with a recommendation for approval.
Loudoun Times-Mirror
(February 24, 2026)
Four more events, organized by the Loudoun Invasive Removal Alliance and Blue Ridge Prism, along with Wetlands Studies and Solutions Inc., are scheduled Feb. 28 and March 1 around Loudoun County to raise awareness and to identify and remove invasive plants during the winter season.
Loudoun Times-Mirror
(February 23, 2026)
Loudoun County hosted its final stakeholder meeting about western Loudoun land use on Feb. 19, with a focus on preserving and supporting local agriculture. County staff, supervisors and representatives from western Loudoun discussed agricultural processing, farm worker housing, slaughterhouses and agricultural research or education.
The Wall Street Journal
(February 22, 2026)
Loudoun County’s growth into a mecca for one of the largest infrastructure build-outs in American history kicked into gear when Buddy Rizer taped a list of companies to his office door. The housing crash was hammering local government finances in 2008. Rizer, a radio DJ-turned county executive director for economic development, bet big on a rebound in the form of a seemingly arcane tech-industry need: data centers.
Piedmont Environmental Council
(February 24, 2026)
The Town of Orange is a historic, compact and walkable community. The current data center market – focused on data centers of 100,000 square-feet and larger (“hyperscale” data centers) – threatens to overwhelm and industrialize small towns like Orange and strain local infrastructure.
Rappahannock News
(February 25, 2026)
The Rappahannock County Planning Commission last Wednesday unanimously recommended approval of a new Zoning Ordinance amendment to define and regulate electrical substations as energy demand in the region is growing.
This article quotes Piedmont Environmental Council Land Use Field Representative Sarah Parmelee.
Rappahannock News
(February 22, 2026)
Several FirstEnergy staff we spoke with, while professional, did not have answers to what we considered basic questions about this specific project. As a result, many locals — including PEC staff — went away with more questions than answers. We’ve reached out to FirstEnergy via email with those questions and just last week, finally received some answers.
This article is written by Piedmont Environmental Council Land Use Field Representative Sarah Parmelee.
Prince William Times
(February 26, 2026)
Data centers are not out of the question. A large portion of the property is located within the county’s “data center opportunity zone overlay district,” which allows data centers to be developed by right in certain commercial zoning districts. Although much of the land is zoned for agricultural use, about 15 acres is designated as “planned business district,” which would allow data centers to be built there without approval by the board of supervisors.
E&E News
(February 25, 2026)
The fight over data centers has come to a literal battlefield. Manassas National Battlefield Park is next to a property that could soon hold the nation’s largest data center cluster — a sprawling 37-building supercomputing complex. The Prince William County Board of Supervisors approved the Digital Gateway project in 2023 after a 27-hour hearing. Legal challenges followed. The Virginia Court of Appeals heard arguments in the case Tuesday.
Prince William Times
(February 24, 2026)
Issues of improper public notice were front and center during the hearing, casting further scrutiny over the lame-duck Prince William Board of County Supervisors' actions in November and December 2023 prior to the marathon 27-hour Digital Gateway public hearing on Dec. 12-13 of that year.
InsideNoVa
(February 23, 2026)
Prince William County's new countywide interactive data center map went live earlier this month, allowing residents and property owners to track projects involving the tech hubs at every stage of the design and construction process.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(February 24, 2026)
When the House of Delegates and Senate meet to resolve more than $1 billion in differences between their two budgets, they will also have to find a way to put together the two pieces that each holds to a puzzle to solve an impending financial crisis for the Washington Metro transit system that makes Northern Virginia's economy run.
Bay Journal
(February 24, 2026)
Avis Renshaw and her husband own a farm along the Potomac River in Loudoun County, VA. She says her husband loves watching the water flow by, but they’re worried about what’s entering the river. Neighboring farm fields are fertilized with biosolids — dried, sanitized solids from wastewater treatment plants. When it rains, some of the biosolids on the fields could be washing into the water, and they might contain toxic “forever chemicals.”
The Winchester Star
(February 25, 2026)
The forum — one of two that was scheduled to take place this week — is a Frederick County Board of Supervisors initiative to better inform the community about the pros and cons of data centers. Last year, community backlash played a role in the denial of multiple data center proposals...
The Northern Virginia Daily
(February 22, 2026)
Shenandoah County planning staff are developing new zoning requirements for data centers, drawing on research and stakeholder engagement that included outside experts on water supply, energy infrastructure, environmental impacts and economic development.
This article mentions The Piedmont Environmental Council.
Royal Examiner
(February 22, 2026)
Supporters of the Shenandoah Rail Trail are applauding a decision by the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) to move forward with purchasing Norfolk Southern’s unused rail corridor between Broadway and Front Royal.
Charlottesville Tomorrow
(February 25, 2026)
The Fluvanna County Planning Commission has voted against granting Tenaska, a Nebraska-based energy company, a special use permit for its proposed second gas plant near Scottsville, adding another roadblock for the project.
Fredericksburg Free Press
(February 25, 2026)
The Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors had many important items on its agenda Tuesday night, but two were of particular interest to residents and developers — a vote on whether to require a special use permit (SUP) for data centers and the advertised real estate tax rate for fiscal year 2027.
The Northern Virginia Daily
(February 23, 2026)
The Frederick County Historic Resources Advisory Board (HRAB) on Friday delayed its recommendation on a conditional-use permit (CUP) application for a 72-acre data center campus that's proposed near Kernstown until the applicant provides more information regarding viewshed and historical resource concerns.
Virginia Mercury
(February 25, 2026)
Virginia Senate leaders did something remarkably courageous this week in writing a budget that ends the sales tax exemption for data centers. As Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, pointed out, the exemption was projected to cost the state about $1.54 million when it was passed in 2008. In 2025, it cost Virginia $1.6 billion.
Cardinal News
(February 25, 2026)
Plans are underway to develop a data center complex in Wise County that would include approximately 2 million square feet of building space supported by on-site natural gas-fired power generation. Officials say the Wise Innovation Hub would be built in phases over about 10 years at the county’s Lonesome Pine Regional Business and Technology Park, which also contains the existing Mineral Gap data center.
6 News Richmond
(February 25, 2026)
Invasive plant species have taken root across Virginia and the country, and experts are now offering advice on how to protect native plants and your yard during National Invasive Species Awareness Week.
Inside Climate News
(February 24, 2026)
Three climate and justice nonprofits filed a notice before the Virginia Supreme Court on Tuesday that they would appeal a state regulator’s approval of a new Dominion Energy natural gas plant in Chesterfield County. Filed by Appalachian Voices, Mothers Out Front and the Chesterfield County Branch of the NAACP, the appeal would be...
Virginia Mercury
(February 24, 2026)
Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones has joined 23 other attorneys general in suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over clawing back $7 billion the federal government had allocated to states for the Solar for All program.
Roanoke Rambler
(February 24, 2026)
The final contract between Botetourt and the water authority states the authority will supply 2 million gallons of water daily to the site by January 2028, and a wastewater capacity of 570,000 gallons daily. The document says Google “may eventually expand the Project and request an increase in the water supply capacity up to 8 total mgd at some unspecified date in the future.”
Henrico Citizen
(February 24, 2026)
New Market Village, a predominantly-Black middle-class suburb in Eastern Henrico, might be getting a new neighbor: a one million-square-foot data center complex that spans 27 football fields. That possibility – which could by decided Feb. 26 during...
Virginia Mercury
(February 24, 2026)
Among a slate of bills lawmakers introduced this year to address housing stock and affordability issues was House Bill 447 by Del. Marcus Simon, D-Fairfax. It aimed to curb people filing lawsuits to stall housing developments by fine-tuning requirements for legal challenges against local government land use decisions.
Cardinal News
(February 24, 2026)
Del. Marty Martinez, D-Loudoun County, introduced HB 1396, which would require individuals or organizations to obtain a permit to hunt game animals, fur-bearing animals or nuisance species with dogs. Hunting with dogs has deep roots in Virginia, but the practice has fueled decades of disputes over property rights between hunters and landowners.
E&E News
(February 24, 2026)
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality approved the permit last month for Mountain Valley’s Southgate project. The lawsuit — from groups represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center and Appalachian Mountain Advocates — could become a headache for the project, which is a 31-mile extension of the main Mountain Valley pipeline.
Cardinal News
(February 23, 2026)
In a press release on Feb. 17, the New River Land Trust, a Blacksburg-based nonprofit conservation organization, announced “the successful transfer of ownership of the 239-acre” Stonecutters Hollow property to the Town of Blacksburg “for permanent conservation and public access.” The Stonecutters property provides the public with 6-plus miles of multi-use trails over a natural space that is roughly the size of 181 football fields.
Virginia Mercury
(February 23, 2026)
Lawmakers are advancing legislation that could lay the groundwork for future bills aimed at pushing major utilities to lower costs, reduce outages and improve customer service through a model known as “Performance Based Regulation.”
The Winchester Star
(February 23, 2026)
I took a huge financial leap: I borrowed thousands to install solar panels on my home's roof, believing in Virginia's promise of clean energy independence and fair compensation for the power I generate. Now, Dominion Energy (and similar utilities) is stealing a massive chunk of what I produce — right out of my pocket.
Southern Environmental Law Center
(February 23, 2026)
Late Friday Virginia’s return to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) became even more imminent as Governor Abigail Spanberger signed the state’s “caboose” budget, which includes a provision requiring Virginia’s reentry to the successful program.
The Virginian-Pilot
(February 23, 2026)
New Kent County is proposing a fast-track application process for data centers that would allow them to be approved without public hearings. Joshua Airaghi, the county’s director of community development, detailed plans for a technology overlay district in the county last week.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(February 23, 2026)
Dominion’s Virginia operating earnings rose pretty much in line with the 15.6% increase in its collections from customers’ bills, which totaled $11.8 billion for the year. Dominion was hit by a 31% increase in the cost of fuel for its power plants and the electricity it must buy to meet rapidly rising demand, a Richmond Times-Dispatch analysis found.
Rappahannock News
(February 22, 2026)
Under the law, burning is permitted only between 4 p.m. and midnight and must be done with proper precautions. No new fires may be started and no fuel may be added after midnight. Fires should never be left unattended, and residents are advised to avoid burning on dry or windy days.
Windsor Weekly
(February 22, 2026)
A bill that would override locally imposed bans on solar farms has passed both General Assembly chambers and is on its way to Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s desk. Companion legislation passed the state Senate and is now under consideration by the House of Delegates.
Canary Media
(February 25, 2026)
As of last year, 34 states have programs that call on utilities to use smart thermostats and water heaters, batteries and EV chargers, and energy management systems at businesses and factories to combat rising electricity rates.
CNBC
(February 25, 2026)
The major technology companies will meet President Donald Trump at the White House next week to sign a pledge that they will supply their own power for artificial intelligence data centers. Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, xAI, Oracle and OpenAI will sign the agreement at the March 4 meeting, a White House official confirmed to CNBC Wednesday.
Virginia Mercury
(February 24, 2026)
After years of states pushing legislation to accelerate the development of data centers and the electric grid to support them, some legislators want to limit or repeal state and local incentives that paved their way.
The New York Times
(February 24, 2026)
A lawsuit involving billions of dollars in climate grants is headed back to court on Tuesday, more than a year after the Environmental Protection Agency tried to cancel the awards and claw back the money.
The New York Times
(February 21, 2026)
Television was supposed to arouse so much empathy for different cultures that it would end war. Cable television would educate the masses and lead to widespread enlightenment. This time, though, the masses have not been won over.
The Piedmont Journal Recorder
(February 20, 2026)
The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently announced that it will provide $1 billion in ASCF program assistance for specialty crops and sugar—commodities not covered through the previously announced Farmer Bridge Assistance Program.
