Orange County Residents: Demand Commonsense Data Center Regulation
This coming Tuesday, Dec. 16, the Board of Supervisors is likely to vote on a proposed zoning ordinance that does not go far enough to protect the residents and natural resources of the county. We …
The PEC Leadership Felt ‘Round the World
Finally, the world is hearing the alarm that The Piedmont Environmental Council has been sounding for years: that the unconstrained and unregulated explosion of the data center industry is forever changing the face of not …
Wild & Connected: Shenandoah Borderlands property conserved
Nestled on the eastern slope of Saddleback Mountain, a small cottage in the woods has been a family retreat for sisters Gayle and Cathy Soloe for decades, since their father first purchased the 89-acre parcel …
AC44 adopted: PEC’s engagement secures smarter land use planning in Albemarle
Throughout our 50+ year history, PEC has weighed in on comprehensive plan updates across our nine-county service area, an approach that has been foundational to our success conserving and restoring the lands and waters of …
The friendliest type of energy generation: a conversation on agrivoltaics
PEC’s Senior Energy & Climate Advisor Ashish Kapoor and Community Farm Manager Teddy Pitsiokos sat down to tell us more about PEC’s groundbreaking agrivoltaics project, which has the potential to revolutionize the conversation around solar …
General Assembly Snapshot: 2026
The Virginia General Assembly will convene for a 60-day session beginning Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. PEC staff have co-authored several briefing papers that form the framework of the Virginia Conservation Network’s legislative priorities. Below, we …
On the Ground Updates — December 2025
A series of short updates from around the PEC region – Albemarle & Charlottesville, Clarke, Culpeper, Fauquier, Greene, Loudoun, Madison, Orange & Rappahannock …
President’s Letter: Looking to the Future
One of the most difficult roles that PEC plays is as an organization that anticipates and plans for the future. Imaging scenarios — both positive and negative — is inherently subject to doubt and critique …
Press Release: Virginia Department of Environmental Quality Should Not Loosen Rules on Data Center Use of Diesel Generators
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has proposed a major change that would allow data centers to run polluting Tier II backup diesel generators during planned outage events, such as during construction projects and …
Dominion Energy’s Proposed Changes to “Net Metering” Would Undercut Small-Scale Solar
In May 2025, Dominion Energy petitioned the State Corporation Commission to cut the net metering credit by nearly half. Unfortunately, this proposed change will severely undermine the practicality of rooftop solar and critically hamper increased distributed energy generation and …
