A Dumfries-area retirement community off Interstate 95 is withdrawing its support for a planned data center development on nearby properties. The move follows a split between the two landowners who were initially set to combine the sales of their properties adjacent to the sites.

In the absence of meaningful legislation at the federal level, and with most states still developing regulations, local governments have found themselves grappling with the data center boom, said Julie Bolthouse...

Because more than half of Virginia’s electricity comes from fossil fuels (54% from natural gas and 4% from coal), the electricity produced by utility companies to power data centers creates a substantial amount of air pollution which...

The legislation addresses issues including water usage, noise and site suitability. "Data centers flavored the entire General Assembly, whether or not the bills were successful," said University of Richmond professor Mary Finley-Brook.

The Aspen substation is proposed to be built along Cochran Mill Road near its intersection with Crosstrail Boulevard next to an existing substation. It would serve as a starting point for the Apsen to Golden transmission line that was approved by the State Corporation Commission in 2024 and is part of the reliability loop. The W&OD Trail runs directly next to the site.

The Potomac River, otherwise known as “the nation’s river,” has been named the most endangered river in the country, following a massive sewage spill earlier this year and the ongoing buildout of thirsty data centers across the watershed.

The Hanover Planning Commission on Thursday voted 6-1 to endorse a proposal by Denver-based company Tract to rezone nearly 430 acres for a data center development at 13074 Mountain Road and 12517 Winns Church Road.

A legal challenge to the 2,600-acre Wilderness Crossing private development in eastern Orange County remains in legal limbo nearly three years after a historic coalition filed a civil lawsuit against the Board of Supervisors. The project at Virginia 3 and Virginia 20 proposes thousands of new homes along with industrial and commercial development, including Amazon data centers.

One of the most wide-ranging pieces of utility legislation that passed the General Assembly this session may grow even further after amendments from Gov. Abigail Spanberger. State lawmakers say the amendments undermine months of legislative negotiations.

According to Data Center Watch, $18 billion in data center projects have been successfully halted, and another $46 billion has been delayed over the past two years due to opposition from residents and activist groups.

Sterling residents are raising concerns over the impacts of a data center that is operating independently from the region’s power grid – making it the county’s first data center with its own microgrid.

The state’s Public Service Commission has approved Entergy Louisiana’s request to expediate the approval process on the power company’s plan to build seven new gas power plants and other investments to power Meta’s data center in Richland Parish.

Intended to provide a way to mitigate impacts from the Golden to Mars transmission line project, proposed by Dominion Energy, on eastern Loudoun residents, SB 827 and HB 1487 authorize the State Corporation Commission to approve applications for projects to be buried entirely or in part. However, a ruling from the State Corporation Commission last week determined burying lines at this location is not feasible.

The US federal government’s central energy information agency is planning to implement a mandatory nationwide survey of data centers focused on their energy use, according to a letter seen by WIRED. This survey would be the first effort of its type to collect basic information about data centers.

Maine is now the first state to pass a moratorium on the development of large data centers, and others may follow.

Data centers enjoyed bipartisan support from Virginians as recently as 2023, but that has flipped to dismay throughout the state, including in regions that are far from the dense cluster of hundreds of facilities outside Washington known as “Data Center Alley.”

Whether it’s daytime or the dead of night, there is no such thing as peace and quiet in this Sterling neighborhood. Here’s why: A Vantage data center there is the only one in Virginia powered by gas turbines.

The NAACP is suing Elon Musk’s xAI for allegedly skirting permits and running gas turbines that are spewing formaldehyde and smog‑forming pollution into Black communities already scoring failing grades for air quality.

Prince William County will give up its fight to resurrect the Prince William Digital Gateway – a project that was poised to bring as many as 37 data centers to the edge of Manassas National Battlefield Park. The supervisors’ decision also ends the county’s use of outside legal counsel to keep the data center project alive.

The Prince William Board of County Supervisors on Tuesday formally withdrew from appeals of the PW Digital Gateway lawsuit after spending $1.72 million in taxpayer funds to defend legal challenges to the controversial data center project.

Enormous data centers are changing the landscape in small communities across Oregon. In The Dalles, residents of the riverfront community are wondering if Google is also changing their weather. Steam venting from cooling towers on Google’s local data centers sometimes collects along the Columbia River on chilly mornings and may be a bigger issue for pilots flying in and out of the Columbia Gorge Regional Airport.

State lawmakers will soon return to the Capitol after ending the General Assembly session without a budget, in part due to some debate whether to continue current tax breaks for data centers.

Carter Farms is a historic century farm in the Piedmont region, Unionville, in Orange County, Virginia. The farm specializes in growing ethnic, African tropical vegetables organically. Michael Carter Jr., an 11th-generation American farmer, is the fifth generation to work at Carter Farms, where he leads workshops on growing and marketing ethnic vegetables.

Citing local property records, BizJournal reports BlackChamber sold 6922, 6894, 6898 Wellington Road and 8019 Devlin Road to the cloud company’s Amazon Data Services affiliate. Amazon paid $120 million for a total of 44 acres, equating to around $2.7m per acre.

U.S. utilities are planning a historic investment spree to patch up an aging power grid and meet rising electricity demand for the artificial-intelligence boom. The plans could trigger additional requests for rate increases at a time when rising power costs and affordability concerns have become a bipartisan political concern.