This text was taken from an email alert sent out on January 12, 2026. Sign up for email alerts →
Dear Supporter,
Happy 2026! In this new year, help us turn hope into action by becoming a member or using your voice to join us in tackling Loudoun’s land use challenges. From continuing to push for improved data center regulations to uplifting new groundwater concerns, your team of three in Loudoun is on the ground advocating for smart, sustainable solutions and we need your help!
Below are opportunities to speak up on a Leesburg data center application, submit comments on transmission line planning, support solar net-metering programs, and raise environmental concerns in the Mountainside Overlay District.
Data Center Updates
PEC Calls for a Pause on Hyperscale Data Center Approvals
As we head into the next General Assembly session, PEC has called for a pause to plan to hyperscale data center approvals at the state level. The goal is to allow time for effective analysis and planning in two key areas:
- An accurate accounting of the energy and infrastructure needs that Dominion has committed to provide and additional requests under consideration.
- A comprehensive and transparent plan to protect our air, water and the grid services that Virginia residents and businesses need to thrive.
This considered pause is crucial as locally, residents are increasingly vocal about the disruptive noise and the unknown air quality impacts of nearby data centers. Meanwhile, the decisions of policy makers and officials aren’t helping. A prime example is Virginia DEQ’s recent revisions to its guidelines, effective Jan. 3, which relax restrictions around diesel generator use by data centers.
Another example is Loudoun’s Phase 2 Data Center Standards update, which has not made any public progress since the completion of Phase 1 almost a year ago. Though Phase 1 successfully removed by-right approvals for future data center applications, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisor’s generous exemptions for already-submitted applications has unfortunately diminished the intended effect. With significant buildout and the longest interconnection delays in the country, new data center applications have slowed. We are concerned that when the data center standards update is finally completed, new county policies or regulations will have little effect.
📅 Take Action! Attend the Public Hearing & Voice Your Concerns about Leesburg Gateway
In the Town of Leesburg, residents have a chance to make their concerns known on a controversial data center proposal: The Leesburg Gateway. The Town Plan amendment proposes to allow data centers and flex industrial buildings along Route 7, right next to residential neighborhoods.
The Leesburg Town Council will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, Jan. 27 at 7 p.m. in the Leesburg Town Hall to hear from the public and we encourage residents to attend and speak out about this negative departure from the vision in the Town Plan, adopted in 2022. Residents can also email [email protected].
PEC’s concerns are outlined here. →
Join Us for Data Center Reform Lobby Day 2026!
The Virginia General Assembly kicks off its 2026 session on Wednesday, Jan. 14, and we anticipate numerous bills related to data center reform coming before state lawmakers. The state data center reform campaign continues to be one of PEC’s top organizational priorities during this legislative session due to the explosive growth of data centers and impacts of their associated infrastructure. The many data centers approved and in the pipeline in Virginia— especially Loudoun — are bringing enormous demands on energy, water and land, destroying quality of life and increasing the likelihood of electric grid outages. Virginians are recognizing that not only is their quality of life being threatened, but they are also subsidizing the build out of infrastructure causing those impacts.
Now is the time to step up and lobby members of the General Assembly to create lasting change!
Register to join us on Monday, Feb. 9 at the State Capitol to meet with legislators in Richmond and join in with communities across the nation that are encouraging representatives at all levels of government to step up and demand much needed reform for the unchecked proliferation of data centers in our communities. Bus transportation will be provided from the Gainesville Park and Ride.
Energy Updates
Loudoun Engages in Electrical Infrastructure Planning
Loudoun County has recently taken some encouraging actions on its energy policy. County staff have drafted an Electrical Infrastructure Plan to map existing transmission lines and provide policy guidance for future transmission corridor development. This will put the County in a stronger position to advocate for siting that protects residents and natural resources during State Corporation Commission (SCC) deliberations on future proposals. This first phase will update the Comprehensive Plan to prioritize colocation in existing corridors with modernized infrastructure to minimize impacts, use appropriate native vegetation and provide for recreational uses.
📅 The Loudoun Electrical Infrastructure Plan, which PEC supports and consulted on, is up for a public hearing this Wednesday, Jan. 14.
Upgrades to Transmission Line 514 Corridor: Community Meetings This Week
Dominion Energy is holding two meetings this week to discuss planned upgrades to the transmission line 514 corridor. This existing transmission corridor runs 3.5 miles, from the Potomac River to the Goose Creek substation on the east side of Leesburg. The project will replace the aging structures, which carry a 500 kilovolt (kV) line and a double circuit 230kV line, with three monopoles. Two of the monopoles will each carry a 500kV and a 230kV line, and the third monopole will carry an additional 500kV line.
Other than a possible right-of-way expansion next to an existing substation in a non-residential area near the Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) trail, the project will stay within the existing 250-foot right of way.
The first meeting will be in-person tomorrow, Tuesday, Jan. 13 from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. at the National Conference Center in Leesburg and the second meeting will be virtual, on Thursday, Jan. 15, 12 – 1 p.m.
For more information on the project and meetings, visit Dominion’s project webpage. For the meeting information and Webex link for the virtual meeting, click on the Community Engagement tab (second tab from left at the top of the page, below the heading).
Loudoun Joins PEC and Other Counties as Intervenors to Uphold Net Metering
At Supervisor Laura TeKrony’s request, the board agreed to participate in an active SCC case to oppose Dominion Energy’s proposed cuts to the net metering credit structure and has added support for net metering to its state legislative program.
Net metering is a program that pays small-scale solar producers, such as those utilizing rooftop solar, parking lot solar and brownfields, as well as agrivoltaics, for excess energy that cannot be used in that moment. When the energy goes back to the greater grid, producers get full credit for each unit produced. Dominion’s proposed regulatory changes will make this approach — which people tend to like for its environmental and financial benefits — economically unviable.
We encourage you to submit your comments by this Tuesday, Jan. 13 ahead of the net metering case, scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 20. Your comments can be simple — ask the SCC to keep the current net metering structure in place — or more detailed, using your takeaways from personal experience or our Value of Solar report.
Loudoun Researches Alternative Transmission Lines
At Vice Chair Mike Turner’s request, the board has directed staff to research High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission lines, an alternative to standard alternating current (AC) that can be more easily undergrounded. While typically used for long distances, a proposed new HVDC line terminating at Loudoun’s southern border might allow for a short underground extension, hopefully in existing corridors, to connect into Data Center Alley.
The Golden to Mars transmission line SCC case has highlighted the need for undergrounded alternatives. Your record-breaking SCC participation included over 1,000 comment letters and about 600 registered speakers!
The case is now in Evidentiary Hearing, with arguments being presented by the applicant, Dominion Energy and the respondents, including PEC, the Loudoun Valley Estates (LVE) HOAs, Loudoun County, Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) and the HOA Roundtable. Opening statements and all case documents, including your comments, are available on the case page.
View our Golden to Mars transmission line map with substations here. →
Western Loudoun Rural Uses & Standards Updates
The Transportation and Land Use Committee (TLUC) has held stakeholder listening sessions on topics like agricultural processing, mountainside overlay districts, overnight stay venues and ABC-licensed businesses.
While the agricultural preservation and business/tourism sectors have provided robust input, non-business-owning residents have been under-represented. PEC continues to urge all impacted residents to submit comments through the official Loudoun County project page. While many of you showed up to submit comments in force during the Zoning Ordinance Rewrite, previous comments have not been carried forward into the packets for this deferred western Loudoun portion.
Draft outputs from the Western Loudoun Rural Uses & Standards Comprehensive Plan/Zoning Ordinance Amendment have been delayed. The county attorney’s office and Board of Supervisors have decided that TLUC input must go back to the full board for a vote prior to staff drafting language for the new ordinance. Once that has taken place, new language can be developed and the new ordinance will move forward, first to the Zoning Ordinance Committee (on which PEC holds a seat), then the Planning Commission, and finally back to the board, adding at least six months to the process.
This month, TLUC will hold two sessions to provide its direction to staff and formalize its recommendations to the full board for endorsement. The first meeting on Thursday, Jan. 22 will focus on the Mountainside Overlay District, proactive zoning enforcement, and food sales/food trucks for western Loudoun businesses. The second meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 27 will focus on the issues surrounding ABC-licensed venues, including hours of operation, noise, and active onsite agricultural requirements. The final meeting is currently scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 18.
In particular, we encourage you to write to the members of TLUC for the first meeting on Jan. 22, as there currently is no proposal in the agenda packet to reduce commercial development in the Mountainside Overlay District. The desire to stop new commercial operations from consuming the mountainside is a top priority for many residents, PEC and our partner organizations, like Friends of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Update on Proposed Eastwinds Blue Ridge Resort
As mentioned in our last update, the proposed Eastwinds Resort, along the Blue Ridge mountainside between Ashby Gap and Snickers Gap, comes just as the Mountainside Overlay District is being adjusted. This resort complex and its sizable impacts to traffic, the environment and resident quality of life is a prime example of why PEC and many other groups are seeking to prohibit future non-agricultural commercial operations for the mountainside overlay district.
A group of 18 organizations, including PEC, have formed the Paris Mountain Alliance to oppose the resort project and encourage responsible land use and conservation on the mountain, which is a crucial area of forest and groundwater recharge that needs stronger protections.
PEC hosted a second resident information session via zoom in December to keep the community updated on the project and how to get involved. Future in-person information sessions are planned when more information is finalized. Yard signs are now available for anyone looking to protect Paris Mountain. Contact Tia Earman if you’d like to be involved in future meetings or if you’d like a yard sign.
Groundwater Updates
Groundwater sustainability has been in the news with a report on lower water table levels released by the Ag Working Group of the Loudoun Preservation and Conservation Coalition. The findings are in sync with reports from elsewhere in Virginia, across the nation, and around the world about diminishing groundwater supplies resulting from various causes. PEC has been working to get the word out and considering recommendations the county and residents can take to reduce further impacts. Stay tuned for more information regarding three upcoming community meetings, the first planned for late February or early March.
Thank you for your continued support and engagement on important community issues. Please let us know if there are other topics you’d like to see included in future updates and feel free to contact us with any questions at [email protected], or contact any of us individually.
And if you know anyone who would like to receive these email updates about Loudoun, please forward this email to them and let them know they can sign up for updates here.
Sincerely,
Gem Bingol
Loudoun County Senior Land Use Field Representative
540-347-2334 x7041
[email protected]
Tia Earman
Senior Land Use Field Representative
Loudoun and Clarke Counties
[email protected]
(540) 347-2334 x7040
Emily Johnson
Land Use Field Representative
Loudoun County
[email protected]
(540) 347-2334 x7044
