Two weeks before the board of a Southern California environmental agency was to vote on a pair of landmark climate initiatives last May, staff raised an alarm. “An aggressive campaign” from an “AI powered platform,” they told executives, was flooding their servers with thousands of emails from the public opposing the proposals to phase out gas water heaters and furnaces in nearly half the state’s homes.

After years of touting ambitious climate goals, big tech companies are now facing new scrutiny over what they disclose about AI's environmental footprint. The AI boom is turning a handful of tech companies into defining players in the debate over electricity and water use. Their willingness to disclose these impacts is becoming almost as important as the impacts themselves.

China, Russia and, to a lesser extent, Iran have sought to use state media outlets to turn the controversy over data centers in the United States into “a domestic fracture point,” according to a new analysis by Alethea, a threat intelligence company, which identified scores of articles and posts on social media this year.

Amazon’s Schlitz said the promise of zero water can be misleading. “There’s a lot of confusion out there” about closed-loop systems, he said. While closed loops reduce water, operators still need to reject heat from the loops and from the buildings. And water is often the most effective method, especially when it’s above 85 degrees, he said.

Like its tech peers, Microsoft's environmental impact indicators largely continued moving upward. Its total greenhouse gas emissions are up 25%, fueled by both its growth in digital infrastructure, especially AI, and changes to the company's electricity procurement strategy. The company said a key measure of data-center water-use efficiency improved 25% from its 2022 baseline, putting it on track toward a goal of improving that metric 40% by 2030.

This editorial discusses a decision before the county Board of Supervisors about approving a data center project that would be built on property containing a historic cemetery that includes the graves of enslaved residents.

The ordinance would require data center project approval on a case-by-case basis with a conditional use permit. Currently, no such approval is required, and the changes would limit data center development to only industrial zoning districts and the Fentress Airfield Overlay District.

Remington Technology Park — a six-building, 1.8 million-square-foot data center complex approved in 2018 — is one step closer to becoming a reality after the Fauquier County Board of Supervisors voted 3-1 on Tuesday night in favor of a new plan to power the project.

At a public hearing Wednesday night, the Chesapeake Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval for changes to the city’s zoning ordinance and proposed policy for data centers. The ordinance suggests amendments to the city code that would designate data centers as a conditional use in industrial zoning districts and the Fentress Airfield Overlay District, if they meet certain requirements.

The Google data center complex that’s coming to Botetourt County would start off as its sixth largest in the country and eighth largest in the world, according to data in the company’s recent 2026 environmental report. That’s based on Google’s figures for water use for each of its data center locations. The Botetourt site is contracted for 2 million gallons of water per day, or 730 million gallons per year.

The delay comes amid growing concerns over an estimated 200-year-old cemetery containing an unknown number of gravesites, reportedly belonging to enslaved people, on the property. The board voted 4–3 to defer the comprehensive plan, zoning reclassification and building height proposals on Tuesday night, urging the developer to thoroughly investigate the site.

Roanoke City Council unanimously passed a new ordinance Monday setting rules for where and how data centers can be built — getting ahead of potential development before any project is ever proposed. The move comes as data centers continue to expand across Southwest Virginia, including a major Google facility in neighboring Botetourt County.

A month-long budget battle has shown fractures in the Commonwealth’s Democratic Trifecta, revealed divisions both among and within trade unions, and given fuel to discourse concerning the impacts of data centers on community, environment, AI, and data privacy. An important footnote to this budget battle are the funds infused into state campaigns and political committees by pro-data-center lobbying groups.

The Digital Gateway project appeared well-positioned to move forward after receiving local approval in December 2023. Supporters argued it would generate tens of billions of dollars in investment, create thousands of jobs, and provide substantial tax revenue for local government. But unlike many other Virginia data-center proposals, the project encountered unusually strong opposition.

With millions of square feet approved and more expected, Stafford and Spotsylvania counties stand front and center in high-tech development that continues to reshape Virginia, the so-called data center capital of the world.

Roughly 2,000 miles away from Utah, Loudoun County, Virginia, is home to 253 data centers. "That data center is the cloud," Sterling resident Jessica Medeiros said, pointing to a data center across the street from her neighborhood that makes noise at all hours of the day. "There's not been a single day in 16 years where a data center was not under construction in Loudoun County," said Mike Turner, vice chair of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors.

The AES-owned Spotsylvania Solar Energy Center contains more than 6,300 acres of solar panels. According to the company’s website, the Spotsylvania solar energy farm is planned to produce 485 MW. Despite its massive size, the Spotsylvania solar farm wouldn’t produce enough electricity to power the 500 MW Digital Realty [IAD37] data center complex in Ashburn.

Just before midnight Wednesday, after an hours long public hearing, the Warren County Planning Board voted to recommend denial of a proposal that would pave the way for a data center in the county. Although the planning commission is recommending denial, ultimately the Warren County Board of Supervisors will have the final say on whether to change the county code and allow the data center to be built.

A number of states have been early movers in the data center world, but several in the Northeast — while not yet major data center hubs — are laying the groundwork for a much bigger role. In today’s RBN blog, we examine the plans of several Northeastern states and how they could impact the region’s natural gas market.

The Prince George’s County Council passed a two-year moratorium on hyperscale data center development to give members more time to consider how the county will go about it in the future. The decision followed nearly an hour of public input and about half an hour of discussion among council members. The moratorium is an extension of previous and similar actions by the council.

"Try to get some laws done now," Shaw said. "Try to get some regulations specifically around data centers now." As she listened to the steady hum of the gas turbines across the street, Shaw added, "Folks in Utah and other places have a little bit of an advantage by our pain. They can at least learn from it. Know what to ask."

A town hall Monday to discuss upcoming transmission lines and data center expansion brought out strong emotions. The board room was at capacity, with additional residents filling the lobby, all focused on a recent ruling that allows Dominion Energy to build new high‑voltage transmission lines through part of Loudoun County.

"With the budget agreement finalized, we can focus on completing the final stages of our competitive site selection process," Kevin Hughes, chief external affairs officer with Stack Americas, told the newspaper. "Collaboration and cooperation with local leaders are crucial for us, and we want to make sure all aspects of the project are aligned before moving forward."

Board of Supervisors Chair Phyllis Randall laid out the history of data centers in the county, starting with AOL's headquarters and a zoning decision in 2000.

Virginia researcher and colleagues’ study concluded that while there are “significant health and environmental challenges that demand urgent action,” there are ways to design and operate the facilities safely.