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.
The Washington Post
(October 31, 2025)
I was skeptical of forest bathing. But then I tried it alongside eight Harvard doctors who looked to this practice with ancient roots to address modern ills.
The New Energy Crisis
(October 30, 2025)
Del. Josh Thomas (D-Prince William) was optimistic last January when the General Assembly convened with a stack of legislative proposals aimed at curtailing the unrestrained growth of data centers in Virginia. More than two dozen bills were introduced from a broad, bipartisan group of lawmakers who wanted local officials to have more authority when it came to reviewing the mammoth construction projects. By the time the session ended three months later, not a single bill limiting data center growth was enacted.
This article is the sixth in an eight-part series published in The New Energy Crisis, a project by the Fauquier Times and Prince William Times. Read more in this series at The New Energy Crisis.
NBC News
(October 28, 2025)
On a March afternoon in Mason County, Kentucky, Dr. Timothy Grosser and his son Andy sat across the table from three men who came with an offer: $10 million for the 250-acre farm where they’d lived and worked for nearly four decades. That’s 35 times what Grosser bought his land for in 1988 and significantly more than what others in the area had sold their land for recently. But there was a catch — it wasn’t clear who was funding the offer. One of the men said he represented a “Fortune 100 company” that wanted the property for an industrial development, but he refused to say what kind, which company or even his own name. Instead, he pulled out a non-disclosure agreement.
Charlottesville Tomorrow
(October 28, 2025)
Miette Michie, the board chair of the Emergency Food Network, has been involved with the organization since 2012, and she’s never seen a surge in need like this. The situation has been getting worse in the last year or two, she said, but the recent months have surprised her.
ABC 13 News
(October 25, 2025)
The Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards just revealed its "hotly anticipated" finalists for the 2025 competition. The results are hysterical -- and in some cases, absolutely adorable.
InsideNoVa
(October 24, 2025)
You may be familiar with some of the more popular cryptids and folklore of the region. With Halloween fast approaching, let’s look at some of the lesser-known tales – plus a few places regionally where the Bigfoot Field Researchers’ Organization claims Bigfoot sightings have occurred.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(October 23, 2025)
It’s no secret that Virginia’s data centers consume unprecedented amounts of energy. Billions of dollars of new power generation and transmission infrastructure is needed to meet data center demand. As of now, all of Virginia’s ratepayers are on the hook to pay for this through their electric bills. Families, farms and small businesses will be subsidizing the richest tech companies in the world unless the SCC acts.
This article, written by Piedmont Environmental Council President Chris Miller, appear originally in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The link above leads to the same op-ed posted on the PEC website, for those who may not have a subscription to the Times-Dispatch.
The Progressive Magazine
(October 22, 2025)
A new Microsoft data center in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, will require more than eight million gallons of water each year to operate, according to records that Microsoft did everything in its power to keep hidden from the public. Last month, the company argued to Wisconsin officials that documents related to its use of Lake Michigan’s water for artificial intelligence (AI) data centers should be treated as trade secrets—a status typically used to protect intellectual property, such as the Coca-Cola recipe.
This article quotes Piedmont Environmental Council Land Use Director Julie Bolthouse.
Loudoun Now
(October 22, 2025)
The negative effects of data centers borne by my neighbors and me in our Sterling neighborhood should be a warning for other Loudoun County residents, as well anyone living in a part of the state where data centers are being contemplated. Data center developers and operators often don’t reveal their specific plans until it is too late for citizens to make an impact.
The New York Times
(October 20, 2025)
As tech companies build data centers worldwide to advance artificial intelligence, vulnerable communities have been hit by blackouts and water shortages.
Associated Press
(October 20, 2025)
A massive internet outage stemming from errors in Amazon cloud services on Monday morning demonstrated just how many people rely on the corporate behemoth’s computational infrastructure everyday — and laid bare the vulnerabilities of an increasingly concentrated system. But despite its omnipresence, most users don’t know what — or where — the cloud is. Here is what to know about the data centers in Northern Virginia where the outage originated, and what the malfunction reveals about a rapidly evolving industry.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(October 17, 2025)
Three data center projects did not follow through on the economic promises they made to Virginia, according to an unreleased report produced by the agency tasked with attracting private investment to the state. The companies involved promised to create a minimum number of jobs and invest a minimum amount in data center construction. In exchange, they were offered an exemption on a 6% sales tax on server equipment, a benefit that can amount to hundreds of millions of dollars even for one data center project.
Bay Journal
(October 27, 2025)
Birds, bees and sheep are finding homes underneath solar panels as people find ways to continue using farmland that hosts solar arrays. The Piedmont Environmental Council has taken that idea a step further by building the first solar installation in Virginia that was designed to also grow food.
Piedmont Environmental Council
(October 24, 2025)
On an appropriately sunny Friday afternoon, Oct. 17, more than 70 community members came together at The Piedmont Environmental Council’s Community Farm at Roundabout Meadows to officially “cut the ribbon” on Virginia’s first crop-based agrivoltaics project. The ribbon-cutting ceremony was a celebration and announcement of the culmination of 18 months of research, planning, collaboration, installation, and planting.
Virginia Mercury
(October 22, 2025)
Virginia faces growing energy tensions from all sides, as demand skyrockets, the Virginia Clean Economy Act’s mandate to switch to carbon-free energy looms, and questions on how to bolster solar while preserving agricultural land linger. A new project by the Piedmont Environmental Council is trying to show how solar panels and crops can coexist through agrivoltaics.
Fauquier Times
(October 22, 2025)
Right over Fauquier County’s northern border, a Virginia farm unveiled the state’s first installation of solar panels combined with row crops. The simultaneous production of agricultural products and solar energy on the same land is known as agrivoltaics. Common examples include solar grazing, where sheep graze land on which solar panels are placed.
Loudoun Now
(October 20, 2025)
A new project that combines solar energy with farming – touted as the first of its kind in Virginia – is being piloted by the Piedmont Environmental Council at its community farm near Aldie. The dual use, known as agrivoltaics, is designed to bring crop-based agriculture and solar energy production together, opening the door for distributed generation to have a much larger footprint around the state’s many farms.
Virginia Mercury
(October 29, 2025)
A revised agreement to restore the Chesapeake Bay is speeding toward final passage, after a key committee rejected Maryland attempts to strengthen parts of the plan and voted Tuesday to forward it to bay-area leaders for their OK.
Fauquier Times
(October 29, 2025)
The highest number of deer-related vehicle crashes typically occur in November, according to a news release from the Virginia Department of Transportation. In 2024, there were 242 collisions in Fauquier County involving deer, according to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles.
WHRO
(October 27, 2025)
Employees at Shenandoah National Park and other national parks are going unpaid during the government shutdown during their busiest season of the year.
Inside Climate News
(October 26, 2025)
So how did it happen that this region came to dominate data centers, an industry whose growth now fuels debates about electricity bills, climate change and the role of technology in our lives? The answer is a combination of government support, the presence of infrastructure used by internet pioneers such as America Online, cheap electricity and the availability of land.
This article quotes Piedmont Environmental Council President Chris Miller.
Daily Mail
(October 23, 2025)
Standing in his well-manicured suburban garden in northern Virginia, Bala Thumma looked over the fence to where a giant data center is about to go up. 'It's going to be humungous,' he told the Daily Mail. 'Three times the size of my home. We'll be about 500ft away and the noise when the generators are on will be above 90 decibels.'
Information Charlottesville
(October 23, 2025)
For the first time in over ten years, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors has adopted a Comprehensive Plan update to guide development in the 726 square mile locality. The six elected officials voted unanimously on October 15 to approve the AC44 plan which leaves Albemarle’s development area boundaries the same.
This article quotes Piedmont Environmental Council senior land use field representative Rob McGinnis.
Charlottesville Tomorrow
(October 21, 2025)
During the Charlottesville City Council meeting on Monday, Oct. 20, City Attorney John Maddux said that the zoning lawsuit that had caused mass confusion among city staff and developers alike could be resolved sooner than expected.
CBS 19 News
(October 20, 2025)
The City of Charlottesville has officially been accepted into the Biophilic Cities Network, an initiative founded by the University of Virginia to promote cities that integrate nature into urban life.
The Winchester Star
(October 29, 2025)
A Northern Virginia firm is seeking to build more than 130 homes on property in northeast Berryville where D.R. Horton Inc. abandoned plans to develop a subdivision last year. The Berryville Planning Commission will hold a special meeting at 6 p.m. Nov. 20 for its members and the public to learn more about The Christopher Companies' proposal.
The Winchester Star
(October 28, 2025)
The Clarke County Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 18 concerning plans to rezone 40 acres near White Post to develop a new business park. The land is part of the former Camp 7 state prison site on Ray of Hope Lane, off U.S. 340/522 (Stonewall Jackson Highway). The county wants to rezone the parcel from Agricultural-Open Space-Conservation (AOC) to Double Tollgate Light Industrial (DT-LI) and the Highway Access Corridor Overlay District.
The Winchester Star
(October 23, 2025)
While not overly concerned, Clarke County officials continue to keep an eye on groundwater levels as a regional drought persists. None of the three U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) monitoring wells countywide are at emergency levels, according to county Conservation Planner Lorien Lemmon. However, only the well at Chet Hobert Park west of Berryville is at a normal stage, a report provided to the Clarke County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday shows.
Fauquier Times
(October 24, 2025)
Developers of an approved but not yet built data center project near Remington are asking Fauquier County officials to let them build a gas-turbine power plant to run it. The owners of Remington Technology Park, a six-building data center complex planned for 234 acres on Lucky Hill Road, are taking the step because they are worried about slow delivery of electricity from Dominion Energy.
Fauquier Now
(October 23, 2025)
The Fauquier County Planning Commission is recommending denial of a Dominion Energy proposal to expand its Morrisville substation in Sumerduck, citing incompatibility with the county’s comprehensive plan and concerns about public health, safety and rural character.
Fauquier Times
(October 22, 2025)
TEDxWarrenton, which began as a small event launched in 2021 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, now attracts a global audience. This year's TEDxWarrenton theme is "unscripted futures." The program, which is likely to garner dozens of attendees, will feature talks on the “world’s toughest endurance race,” the value of local nonprofit journalism, Shakespeare, DNA tests, building wealth and personal transformation.
This article quotes Piedmont Environmental Council Senior Energy & Climate Advisor Ashish Kapoor.
Fauquier Times
(October 22, 2025)
Though Gigaland developers have withdrawn their controversial data center application, they continue to push data centers as a solution to Fauquier County’s revenue problems through a group called “Fauquier Forward.”
Fauquier Now
(October 19, 2025)
Warrenton Town Council has unanimously approved a resolution allowing the Commission on Open and Transparent Government to issue subpoenas to third parties.
Information Charlottesville
(October 29, 2025)
When a glamping resort was proposed in Greene County, several nearby residents urged the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors to deny a special use permit (SUP) that would authorize tourist lodging.
Loudoun Now
(October 29, 2025)
Plans to help guide future development of electrical infrastructure in Loudoun were endorsed by the county’s Planning Commission during a meeting Tuesday night.
This article mentions Piedmont Environmental Council land use field representative Emily Johnson.
Loudoun Now
(October 29, 2025)
Last fall, Loudoun County supervisors backed conceptual plans for new water and sewer lines that would connect two historic rural villages facing public health concerns. Last night, community members aired a series of objections to the proposal during a standing-room-only meeting at Rust Library in Leesburg.
Loudoun Times-Mirror
(October 28, 2025)
By growing flowers and selling bouquets at her flower stand on Edwards Ferry Road in Leesburg, Rachel Roberts raised more than $31,000 this summer from the donors who supported her efforts, according to a news release.
Loudoun Now
(October 27, 2025)
As county leaders continue their work rewriting the zoning regulations for rural Loudoun, concerns surrounding the existing complaint-based enforcement method use for all of the county's zoning violations are emerging.
Loudoun Times-Mirror
(October 25, 2025)
Western Loudoun stakeholders are concerned about supposed bed and breakfast operations using a zoning loophole to become private event spaces.
BBC
(October 25, 2025)
When you cross into Loudoun County, Virginia, one of the first things you notice is the hum - that's the sound of 199 data centres whirring in the background.
Loudoun Now
(October 23, 2025)
After a project led by developer Kim Hart and planner Packie Crown showed that a 100% attainable housing project could move through the county’s review process in six months, a pilot project to see if replicating that anomaly is possible could start as soon as Jan. 1.
Loudoun Now
(October 23, 2025)
Typically students at Leesburg Elementary School either walk to school or are dropped off by their parents. This year they’re participating in a bike bus that is operated by school faculty and follows a fixed route with planned stops allowing children to either join or leave the “bus.”
Loudoun Now
(October 22, 2025)
One loan for an affordable housing project in Loudoun was approved by county supervisors this week, while a second application was sent back to be revised before a final decision is on it.
Loudoun Now
(October 20, 2025)
A New York-based lodging company is in the early stages of plans for a rural resort that would see 40 rooms, an 88-seat restaurant and a spa to be in the southwestern corner of Loudoun County.
Loudoun Now
(October 16, 2025)
County leaders, residents and community groups gathered tonight to announce a joint proposal that would see a segment of the Dominion-proposed Golden to Mars transmission line buried underground.
This article mentions the Piedmont Environmental Council.
The Rapidan Register
(October 30, 2025)
A pillar of the local community passed away this week. James “Jimmy” Graves died Sunday, surrounded by his family. Graves, 89, was a fixture in the local community, having created what is now known as Graves Mountain Farm and Lodges.
Fauquier Now
(October 23, 2025)
One of Shenandoah National Park's most heavily trafficked trails will be restored, thanks to funding secured by the Shenandoah National Park Trust. The multi-year Dark Hollow Falls Trail restoration project will be funded through grants from the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Arconic Foundation, and the 2025 AllTrails Stewards Fund, according to a news release from the trust. Work is expected to begin next year.
The Piedmont Journal Recorder
(October 20, 2025)
The Madison County Planning Commission tossed around ideas about how to deal with livestock on small residential lots. The current county code allows livestock to be kept on residential lots less than two acres with a special use permit.
The Daily Progress
(October 27, 2025)
Gordonsville’s mayor and town council have opted not to move forward with a proposed annexation of neighboring Orange County land after hundreds of residents, on both sides of the line, spoke out against what they called a “money grab.”
The Rapidan Register
(October 23, 2025)
Biosolids or sewage sludge is produced by wastewater treatment plants during the process of removing contaminants. It’s treated to remove toxic contaminants before being dried and marketed to farmers by third-party companies as inexpensive fertilizer. One of those companies is Synagro, a leading supplier of sustainable solutions for biosolids. Synagro has applied for a renewal of its Orange County permit with the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), which includes applying biosolids on 2,564.9 acres of agricultural and silvicultural land at eight sites, 200 acres of which is new to the permit.
This article quotes Piedmont Environmental Council land use field representative Don McCown.
29 News
(October 22, 2025)
Treated sewage sludge, which is recycled and used to fertilize farmland, is front and center in Orange County, with some voicing concerns about environmental impact and health risks.
This article quotes Piedmont Environmental Council land use representative Don McCown.
Rappahannock News
(October 24, 2025)
Peak leaf season has officially arrived in Shenandoah National Park — and Sperryville is buzzing like a coffee grinder on overdrive.
Rappahannock News
(October 16, 2025)
The Washington Town Council accepted the Planning Commission’s recommendation to table an application for the second development phase of Rush River Commons (RRC) until the commission’s meeting later this month. The Planning Commission had laid out concerns about the development, chiefly its size and purpose, at its meeting last month.
InsideNoVa
(October 29, 2025)
The Prince William Board of County Supervisors on Tuesday approved a controversial new noise ordinance after substantial resident pushback during a recent meeting related to the measure’s implications for the county’s western end.
Business Insider
(October 24, 2025)
The constant buzzing and smell of what I believe is diesel make it hard for me to even go in my backyard. It's disheartening to see our community transformed by these industrial warehouses, but we're not going anywhere. We'll continue to fight the developers as they try to build more. I will die on this hill and stay in this house.
Fauquier Times
(October 20, 2025)
Residents who live along Vint Hill Road in sleepy Nokesville packed a meeting on Oct. 15 to urge rejection of a plan that would allow a deluge of suburban-style development to invade their rural landscape.
Prince William Times
(October 19, 2025)
Calling it an “intimidation action,” Deshundra Jefferson, chair of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, has asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the developer behind a controversial plan to allow five data centers behind the Four Seasons retirement community in Dumfries.
Fauquier Times
(October 17, 2025)
The upcoming holiday season will be the last for Merrifield Garden Center, the Gainesville nursery known for its live Christmas trees and extensive holiday decor. Its owners sold the 38-acre store site to a data center developer for a whopping $160 million.
The Winchester Star
(October 23, 2025)
Several dozen people attended a recent presentation on the "Impact of the Data Center Boom on Virginia Communities" sponsored by a newly formed group called Winchester-area Interfaith Stewards of the Earth (WISE). Guest speaker Julie Bolthouse, director of land use for the Piedmont Environmental Council, which was formed in 1972 to protect and restore the lands and waters of the Virginia Piedmont, discussed the current and future state of the data center industry in relation to Generative AI (GEN AI), the extent of data centers in Virginia, and the resources they use.
This article quotes Piedmont Environmental Council Director of Land Use Julie Bolthouse.
The Washington Post
(October 30, 2025)
On a nippy fall evening, a golden sun cast a cinematic glow over Renée Wilson’s small northern Maryland farm. Horses whinnied and cows snorted against the backdrop of cascading red and yellow hills. In a small office near the stables and pigeon cage, Wilson pulled a large white file holder off a shelf and rifled through a wad of pamphlets. Each one offered her more money than the last to lease her land for energy projects, such as community solar and battery storage, for as long as 40 years.
Fredericksburg Free Press
(October 22, 2025)
Members of the data center watchdog group Protect Stafford gathered in the lobby of the county Government Center early Wednesday like a baseball team victorious after nine innings. Well, it was more like an extra-inning win — because it was after 2:30 in the morning.
Inside Climate News
(October 18, 2025)
In rural Fluvanna County about an hour west of the state capital, a proposed natural gas power plant offers a window into a multi-state effort to speed more electricity sources onto the grid.
Planetizen
(October 28, 2025)
Henrico County, Virginia, home to the Richmond metro area and an epicenter for new data centers, is using the growth of data centers to fund affordable housing.
VPM
(October 28, 2025)
Data centers, long a part of Virginia's economy and landscape, have grown into a major political issue since the last gubernatorial race in 2021.
Virginia Mercury
(October 28, 2025)
Dubbed Virginia Emergency Nutrition Assistance, or VENA, the newly-created program is expected to send money to SNAP beneficiaries’ Electronic Benefit Transfer cards starting on Nov. 3.
Virginia Mercury
(October 27, 2025)
Each month, when his Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funds arrive, Daniel Garratt stocks up meats and pantry staples like canned goods in bulk at Walmart. He then visits local discount or dollar stores for nonperishable items.
Cardinal News
(October 22, 2025)
Hayfields State Park in Highland County is now officially open. It’s the 44th state park and the fourth new one added during the past four years. The 1,034-acre property, previously known as Hayfields Reserve, was acquired by the Virginia Outdoors Foundation in 2017 with the assistance of The Conservation Fund. In June 2023, 994 acres were transferred to the Department of Conservation and Recreation, with the remaining 40 acres transferred in August 2025.
Virginia Mercury
(October 22, 2025)
Dominion Energy has filed new projections that show how the company plans to meet surging energy demands and what it would take to fully comply with the Virginia Clean Economy Act based on current resources. The utility is deliberating how to meet the need, with energy use increasing by 5% every year on average and projected to double by 2045.
The Virginian-Pilot
(October 21, 2025)
As home to an impressive — and alarming — one-third of the world’s data centers, Virginia urgently needs proper oversight and regulation to prevent the economic benefits from being short-circuited by rising energy demand and costs, noise and other unwanted outcomes.
The Daily Progress
(October 19, 2025)
Across Virginia and the nation, Americans last month celebrated National Public Lands Day, when families, outdoor enthusiasts and communities head outdoors to explore, enjoy and take care of their public lands. From the local ballfield and town park to the majestic Shenandoah National Park and solemn Manassas National Battlefield, public lands are a shared legacy of conservation, recreation and stewardship for future generations. We would not have many of these protected outdoor gems without the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), one of our nation’s most successful conservation programs.
Piedmont Environmental Council
(October 14, 2025)
Committed to advancing Virginia’s clean energy future, PEC commissioned Dunsky Energy + Climate Advisors to study and calculate the actual value of distributed solar generation to every Virginian — factoring in the range of benefits that utilities do not acknowledge when they are proposing big cuts to net metering values.
This article was written by Piedmont Environmental Council Senior Energy & Climate Advisor Ashish Kapoor.
Gizmodo
(October 29, 2025)
The rise of artificial intelligence is driving a surge of data center construction across the United States, and rural communities are feeling the impact.
The New Yorker
(October 27, 2025)
Drive in almost any direction from almost any American city, and soon enough you’ll arrive at a data center—a giant white box rising from graded earth, flanked by generators and fenced like a prison yard. Data centers for artificial intelligence are the new American factory.
Rappahannock News
(October 26, 2025)
I drove more than 7000 miles this summer, from North Carolina to Montana and back, through vast swathes of rural America, tent camping most nights in state or national parks. This is what I learned: Americans from every zipcode, walk of life, and political persuasion love their public lands. We don’t want to sell them, develop them, or monetize them. In fact, spending time in these co-owned spaces—literally, our common ground—is a great way to build a shared understanding of America’s diversity, strength, and resilience.
Canary Media
(October 24, 2025)
On Wednesday, Aligned Data Centers announced it would pay for a new 31-megawatt/62-megawatt-hour battery alongside a forthcoming data center in the Pacific Northwest.
Canary Media
(October 24, 2025)
Energy affordability has become a flash point over the past few months. It’s a key issue in this year’s gubernatorial races. It’s something President Donald Trump has promised to fix by boosting fossil-fuel production. And of course, it’s showing up in the bills that arrive in mailboxes every month.
Public News Service
(October 21, 2025)
Critics of the data centers built across Virginia for the artificial intelligence boom said they are causing utility bills to explode and have negative effects on the environment, particularly in rural communities. A new bill in Congress would examine the effects.
This article quotes Piedmont Environmental Council President Chris Miller.
The New York Times
(October 21, 2025)
In Alaska, land is easy to come by. But energy and food are not. So when the largest solar farm in the state, which can power 1,400 homes, was built two years ago, researchers wanted to test whether food could be grown between the arrays... This test case in Houston, Alaska, for combining food farms and solar farms, a practice called agrivoltaics, was designed as a model for other communities seeking energy and food security.
The Nation
(October 17, 2025)
Under the baking heat of a Louisiana sun, our killers are slowly rising from the leveled earth, humming darkly. Here, in Richland Parish, Meta is constructing a data center so large Mark Zuckerberg says the footprint would cover Manhattan from Harlem to Union Square. The behemoth will suck up 2.3 gigawatts of power—twice what New Orleans uses on its hottest days. And to keep it running, the utility company Entergy is building three new gas plants, its first new ones in decades.
Business Insider
(October 17, 2025)
A BI investigation found 1,240 data centers across America are already built or approved for construction by the end of 2024. That's four times more than in 2010. This is the most comprehensive map of data centers in the US, to date.
Virginia Tech News
(October 27, 2025)
A new study led by Kelly Cobourn, associate professor in the Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation in the College of Natural Resources and Environment, reveals that the answer may not simply be to plant more trees. Instead, it will rely on strengthening property rights and creating economic incentives that make forest conservation a better deal than clearing land.
The Guardian
(October 25, 2025)
Amazon strategised about keeping the public in the dark over the true extent of its datacentres’ water use, a leaked internal document reveals.
The New York Times
(October 20, 2025)
In a concrete lab in Santiago, Chile’s capital, researchers are scrambling to join the artificial intelligence boom before it passes them by. On the streets of Cerrillos, a neighborhood on Santiago’s southern outskirts, activists are fighting to block the data centers that make A.I. possible. In the presidential palace, officials are plotting how to expand the country’s role in the technology on a shoestring budget, without using up precious resources and alienating the public.
