New Campaign Gives Virginians the Resources They Need to Advocate for a Smart, Transparent Approach to Further Data Center Development
Warrenton, VA , August 18, 2025 The Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) announced the launch of “Virginians for a Smarter Digital Future,” a statewide campaign designed to raise awareness of the impacts of data centers for all Virginia residents — and provide the tools they need to advocate for themselves, as well as their families, businesses and communities.
“The campaign is a much-needed counterweight to the skewed approach data center developers are using to inundate residents and lawmakers with both short-term and speculative benefits of data centers while conveniently leaving out the long-term, definitive impacts every Virginian will feel, not least of which is a huge increase in their electric bills. Data center developers are pushing rapid development that is ruining our communities, degrading air quality, depleting water resources and putting an unfair burden on ratepayers regardless of where they live in the state,” said Chris Miller, president of The Piedmont Environmental Council. “This should be a kitchen table issue for every Virginian. It’s time all citizens understood the actual facts, not just what big tech wants them to believe.”
When it comes to the facts about data centers and their impact on the state, Virginians are alarmingly underinformed.
“Virginia should be the most enlightened and responsible state in the nation based on our long experience with data centers. But we have moved so fast over the past decade and failed to take into account the aggregate impact on communities, air, water, land and historic and natural resources. We need to assess those potential impacts, avoid them if possible and mitigate those impacts we cannot avoid,” said Miller. “Virginians haven’t had access to all of the information, we hope this campaign gives them the tools and information they need to take action and urge state leaders to ensure we’re being smart about building our digital future.”
Virginians for a Smarter Digital Future includes statewide advertising aimed at educating residents about the role of the State Corporation Commission (SCC) and their impending review of Dominion Energy’s rates, as well as its terms and conditions for transmission and infrastructure, and coincides with increasingly prevalent media coverage that the expected surge in electricity prices that will burden all Virginia ratepayers. Former Virginia SCC Chairman, Mark Christie, even weighed in urging policymakers to not forget about “the people who pay the bills… the Virginians who pay the bills.”
PEC and its data center reform coalition partners are advocating for a smarter digital future based on the following four principles:
- Transparency: Require local disclosure and statewide reporting on data center energy use, water consumption and emissions
- State oversight: A regulatory review process by the State Corporation Commission, in addition to the existing local review, to evaluate the regional impacts of data centers
- Protections for families and businesses: Prevent residents and businesses from shouldering industry risks and subsidizing the billions of dollars to build data center industry’s energy infrastructure
- Incentives for efficiency: Rather than a rubber stamp, make state sales and tax exempt status for data center purchases be contingent upon the highest possible clean energy and efficiency standards to incentivize best practices that reduce – rather than increase – pollution.
As the data center capital of the world, Virginia must establish a gold standard for what a smarter digital future looks like, not be a cautionary tale of what happens as a result of uncontrolled, unregulated growth.
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Media Contact: Mike Doble, [email protected], (703) 579-7963
The Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) works to protect and restore the lands and waters of the Virginia Piedmont, while building stronger, more sustainable communities. Founded in 1972, PEC is a locally based, community-supported 501(c)3 nonprofit and accredited land trust. At the core of PEC’s approach is a focus on educating, engaging and empowering people to effect positive change in their communities.