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.
Cass Girvin |
The Rivanna River in Charlottesville flows alongside the Rivanna Trail. |
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The New York Times
(June 4, 2025)
"Repealing those credits could increase the average family’s energy bill by as much as $400 per year within a decade, according to several studies published this year. The studies rely on similar reasoning: Electricity demand is surging for the first time in decades, partly because of data centers needed for artificial intelligence, and power companies are already struggling to keep up. Ending tax breaks for solar panels, wind turbines and batteries would make them more expensive and less plentiful, increasing demand for energy from power plants that burn natural gas."
Loudoun Times-Mirror
(June 3, 2025)
"Dominion Energy is proposing an alternative route for its Golden to Mars electrical transmission line project that would skirt Loudoun County Public Schools property, but be closer to Loudoun Valley Estates homes."
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
(June 3, 2025)
"Southeastern utilities now projecting some of the most aggressive growth rates tied to data centers, history suggests caution is warranted—especially when ratepayers bear the financial risk."
Fauquier Times
(June 2, 2025)
"Opponents of a plan to replace a bridge on Interstate 66 near a historic mill in Broad Run told officials from the Virginia Department of Transportation at a hearing in Marshall Thursday that such a large project could be bad for the area and put historic sites at risk."
Bay Journal
(June 2, 2025)
"Data centers are not just a Northern Virginia problem. The vast and growing presence of these warehouse-like buildings housing the world’s computing power has implications for quality of life, land, energy and water across the Chesapeake Bay region. This was the main message of a half-day workshop on May 19 hosted by the Choose Clean Water Coalition at the start of its annual conference held this year in Harrisonburg, VA."
This article quotes Piedmont Environmental Council Director of Land Use Julie Bolthouse.
The New York Times
(June 2, 2025)
"Private equity firms like Blackstone are using their clients’ money to buy and build data centers to fuel the artificial intelligence boom... The spending frenzy has created concerns about whether too many data centers are being built. A TD Cowen analyst, Michael Elias, warned of potential 'oversupply' in the market as some technology companies, including Microsoft and Foxconn, have stepped away from some leases."
The Piedmont Journal Recorder
(June 3, 2025)
"Throughout history people have been fascinated by fireflies. One of the most prevalent nicknames for fireflies is a 'lightning bug'. These tiny insects seem to have their own 'flashlight' as they dart around in the dark, flashing their abdomens that attract attention from children and adults alike."
Bay Journal
(June 3, 2025)
"Like most large farms in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, this one in Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County had a plan to guide its nutrient use. Such plans are the cornerstone of decades-old efforts to reduce nutrient-laden runoff from farms, which fouls water quality in streams, rivers and the Bay."
Chesapeake Bay Program
(June 3, 2025)
"The Chesapeake Bay Program announced today that the seven jurisdictions that make up the Chesapeake Bay watershed—Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia—continued to make progress between 2023 and 2024 in reducing the amount of nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment pollution flowing into the Chesapeake Bay."
The Piedmont Journal Recorder
(May 31, 2025)
"Many unsung heroes are behind the abundance of food and beauty that surrounds us. June 16-22, 2025, is National Pollinator Week, an annual event designated by Congress to highlight how essential pollinators are to the production of food and fiber."
Whitescarver Natural Resources Management
(May 30, 2025)
"I looked up and saw smoke rising from a field far upstream. I stopped in wonder. It can’t be smoke, I thought, because it’s brown. Then I realized it was a giant cloud of windblown soil reaching over a hundred feet into the air. Then I saw the tractor. The farmer was planting corn in his pulverized soil, and the wind was blowing the most valuable particles on the farm into whirling brown clouds of earth."
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(May 26, 2025)
"The biggest challenge to cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay is figuring out where the nutrients that fuel summertime dead zones come from — and a new approach to pollution control is stressing better targeting."
Information Charlottesville
(June 3, 2025)
"Years of development in Virginia’s Piedmont region have transformed the landscape with roads and other types of impervious surface. Over time that has had the effect of creating more stormwater and speeding up the velocity of area waterways. Over the decades, the cumulative effect has resulted in streams that have eroded with scoured banks. This results in less habitat for all manner of species and worsens flooding conditions."
The Daily Progress
(June 3, 2025)
"A500-foot, high-traffic section of Emmet Street in Charlottesville will be shutting down next week and will remain closed for more than two months for utility work. Emmet between Stadium Road and Jefferson Park Avenue, directly behind the University of Virginia's Kerchof Hall, will close next Monday and remain closed until Aug. 15, according to the city."
The Daily Progress
(May 29, 2025)
"The Rivanna Water & Sewer Authority has received Virginia’s first-ever approval for a new water testing method that measures organic and ammonia nitrogen in treated water. When excess nitrogen enters waterways, it can cause algae blooms that decrease oxygen levels in the water and harm aquatic biodiversity."
The Winchester Star
(June 2, 2025)
"Nature lovers, grab your cameras! 'Capturing Clarke! A Photo Contest for Wanderers' runs through June. The competition, hosted by the Clarke County Conservation Easement Authority (CEA), is open to amateur, professional and student photographers alike."
The Winchester Star
(May 29, 2025)
"Twenty new single-family homes could be built in a proposed subdivision along South Church Street near South Buckmarsh Street (U.S. 340). Hillson Grove will be the focus of a public hearing to be held by the Berryville Area Development Authority (BADA) at 7 p.m. June 25."
Culpeper Star-Exponent
(May 31, 2025)
"Road projects, including several more roundabouts, current development projects, a new elementary school, the town zoning code overhaul and an update on the new public pool, still a year away from opening, led discussion at a recent meeting of the Town & County Interaction Committee."
Loudoun Now
(June 4, 2025)
"The county’s Parks, Recreation and Community Services staff members have completed plans for a 40-mile connected trail loop through the heart of Loudoun County which will provide easy access points for 150,000 residents. The loop is part of the Loudoun Trails and Waterways initiative, formerly known as the Linear Parks and Trails initiative. The Board of Supervisors approved the LPAT plan in 2021 with the goal of providing interconnected, countywide parks and trails that protect natural and cultural resources."
Loudoun Now
(June 4, 2025)
"Thirty years ago, Joe Coleman decided it was time to do something about development in Loudoun that was wiping out wildlife landscapes with little concern for the impacts to the environment. Now, the conservancy he formed with three other concerned residents has grown to be an organization with more than 600 volunteers providing 15,500 hours of work each year."
Loudoun Times-Mirror
(June 3, 2025)
"A proposal for an industrial development in the eastern part of the county is still on the table after the Loudoun Planning Commission agreed to continue discussions during a future work session. The applicant, Prologis, wants to develop approximately 17 acres of land in the Sterling district for various uses, including data centers, a substation and warehousing."
The Piedmont Journal Recorder
(June 2, 2025)
"Orange County Board of Supervisors, members of the Orange County Planning Commission, County Administrator Ted Voorhees and a representative of The Berkley Group met for a joint workshop Tuesday to discuss the proposed changes to the zoning ordinance. This was the second of five planned group workshops, and staff and supervisors clearly had differences of opinion about the direction of the project."
Rappahannock News
(June 3, 2025)
"Millions of insects, 100 bird boxes, four organizations, zero pesticides. This is the brainchild of Virginia Working Landscapes Research Fellow Allison Huysman, who is leading research into the role of cavity-nesting birds in natural pest control."
InsideNoVa
(June 4, 2025)
"The large-scale redevelopment of the Manassas Mall area is officially a go. The Prince William Board of County Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved the rezoning in a 7-0 vote – with Coles District Supervisor Yesli Vega absent. Officials say the project holds major implications for the future of the county and local transit."
Prince William Times
(May 30, 2025)
"A large sign opposing the Prince William Digital Gateway that’s stood along Catharpin Road in Gainesville since 2022 was destroyed this week just as the legal battle challenging the massive data center development heats up. The green and white sign, which read: 'Save the Rural Crescent, Protect your Property Value, Say NO to Data Center Sprawl,' was broken into several pieces sometime on the evening of Tuesday, May 27, according to Mac Haddow, president of the Oak Valley Homeowners’ Association."
Culpeper Star-Exponent
(June 4, 2025)
"Waynesboro will celebrate the city’s connection to the Appalachian Trail with the third annual Hiker Fest this coming Friday and Saturday. The event welcomes thru-hikers, outdoor enthusiasts and others. Music, food, drinks and vendor booths and educational programs will be offered. Hiker Fest is a grassroots event designed to celebrate Waynesboro’s role as an Appalachian Trail town and bring residents and visitors into the heart of the city. The festival is free and open to the public."
Middleburg Life
(June 2, 2025)
"The Land Trust of Virginia (LTV) and the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation (SVBF) are proud to announce the permanent protection of 141.6 acres in Frederick County, Virginia. Known as the McCann property, this land sits at the heart of three major Civil War battlefields and is now protected through a conservation easement donated by SVBF."
West Virginia Watch
(June 3, 2025)
"When people refer to West Virginia as 'Almost Heaven,' we think of the beautiful, quiet scenic areas like Black Water Falls, Canaan Valley and Dolly Sods, all in Tucker County. However, our lawmakers just see money signs — and not very many of them."
This article quotes Piedmont Environmental Council Director of Land Use Julie Bolthouse.
C-VILLE Weekly
(June 4, 2025)
"The One Big Beautiful Bill Act that narrowly passed the U.S. House of Representatives on May 22 includes provisions that could jeopardize billions of dollars in Virginia green energy projects. Charlottesville-headquartered Southern Environmental Law Center reports federal agencies have put more than $5 billion into 350 clean energy projects in the commonwealth since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022. The private sector has also made significant investments in clean energy efforts, with $2.3 billion supporting 99,614 jobs in Virginia. That investment was bolstered, at least in part, by clean energy tax credits that are now on the chopping block in the sweeping plan that has moved to the U.S. Senate."
Virginia Mercury
(June 3, 2025)
"A World War II-era boiler in Virginia is at the center of a growing debate over the paper industry’s role in climate change — and how much pollution goes uncounted due to loopholes in federal reporting rules. The Smurfit Westrock paper mill in Covington, a 126-year-old facility located north of Roanoke, released more climate-warming pollution in 2023 than any other paper mill in the country, according to a sweeping new report by the Environmental Integrity Project."
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(June 2, 2025)
"Dominion and its contractors have done the changeover on some 500 miles of lines across the utility’s Virginia territory over the past year. With 2,500 miles of underground lines installed, the electric company is more than halfway through its target to switch 4,000 miles of overhead lines that experience frequent outages to underground service. Those lines account for about 20% of the lines that connect homes and businesses to the grid."
The Piedmont Journal Recorder
(May 30, 2025)
"Virginia farmers had the opportunity to share their experiences during the inaugural Farmers First roundtable hosted by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins in Washington, DC. The roundtable, held May 7 at the U.S. Department of Agriculture was an opportunity for Rollins and other federal officials to hear from farmers about issues facing America’s small, independently run farms."
13 News Now
(May 28, 2025)
"Data centers are becoming a daily reality across America, but nowhere more so than in Virginia. In total, the Commonwealth has over 300 data centers, making it the state with the most. And they might be coming a little closer to Hampton Roads. Wednesday night, in Gloucester County, officials hosted an informational meeting for residents on the potential construction of a new data center and technology overlay district."
AP News
(June 29, 2025)
"More than $14 billion in clean energy investments in the U.S. have been canceled or delayed this year, according to an analysis released Thursday, as President Donald Trump’s pending megabill has raised fears over the future of domestic battery, electric vehicle and solar and wind energy development."
Canary Media
(June 4, 2025)
"The state’s regulators and utilities are working out a mutually beneficial way to share the costs of the grid upgrades required to build more community solar."
AP News
(June 4, 2025)
"But now Calistoga is shifting to a first-of-its-kind system that combines two clean-energy technologies — hydrogen fuel cells and batteries — for enough juice to power the city for about two days. Experts say the technology has potential beyond simply delivering clean backup power in emergencies; they say it’s a steppingstone to supporting the electric grid any day of the year."
The Washington Post
(June 4, 2025)
"It’s a pattern Kaushal has found again and again: Freshwater ecosystems, like the Anacostia, are growing saltier year-round. That increasing salinity has not only been linked to mass deaths of aquatic life and damaged infrastructure, but some people can even taste it in drinking water. And removing it is no small task — leaving salt to add up in waterways."
Georgia Recorder
(June 1, 2025)
"The state’s largest electric utility says it needs to significantly increase its energy capacity to accommodate a potential wave of data centers. Georgia Power plans to turn to some renewable energy to generate that electricity, but for the most part, the utility intends to lean on fossil fuel sources like gas-fired power plants to boost capacity. Those controversial plans, packed into what’s called an integrated resource plan, received a public airing during three days of public hearings. Several clean energy advocacy groups and state regulator staffers urged members of the Georgia Public Service Commission to reject the plan."
AP News
(May 31, 2025)
"The explosive growth of the data centers needed to power America’s fast-rising demand for artificial intelligence and cloud computing platforms has spurred states to dangle incentives in hopes of landing an economic bonanza, but it’s also eliciting pushback from lawmakers and communities."
