Over and over, the data center industry has crowed in Virginia that if we ended the the data center sales tax exemption, then they‘d be forced to flee to states like Texas…which is now revolting against the industry as residents demand a special session. 🙂 www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2026/...

In rural Texas, data center opposition is scrambling conservative tradition

A preference for small government has faded as Republican voters press leaders to block the massive projects.

washingtonpost.com

This weekend in Virginia, you can buy some goods at the same sales tax rate data centers get daily. Unlike families needing help, the data centers don’t need a break. In 2027, I’ll once again file the budget amendment to end the data centers sales tax exemption. www.12onyourside.com/2026/08/05/v...

Virginia sales tax holiday starts Friday: Here’s how to make the most of it

Virginia's sales tax holiday begins Friday, offering shoppers savings on qualifying items including school supplies, clothing and hurricane preparedness gear, even as a VCU economist warns that elevat...

12onyourside.com

Even when you do your part to lower your own electricity use, your energy bill in Virginia keeps rising while Dominion and the data center industry keep profiting. It’s corporate greed run amok. End the data center sales tax exemption + enact a statewide moratorium. www.reuters.com/business/ene...

Top US data center-serving utility Dominion tops profit estimates

Dominion Energy , ​the U.S. electric utility covering the world's biggest data center territory, ‌reported better-than-expected second-quarter profit and revenue on Friday as demand from server wareho...

reuters.com

My heart goes out to the family of former Virginia state Senator Janet Howell. She was a champion for making Virginia a more inclusive commonwealth. I’m especially grateful for her helping guide my school meals bills through he Senate when I was in the House. She leaves a tremendous legacy.

In which Dominion Energy gives away the game: making the most money possible at the ratepayers’ expense: “At the hearing, Dominion argued that approach would not allow it to earn a rate of return on such assets, as it does with other things it builds.” www.princewilliamtimes.com/localnews/bi...

Big question: Should data centers pay for billion-dollar transmission lines?

New, billion-dollar transmission lines for data centers are prompting protests about their routes as well as a new debate in Richmond: Should data centers pay for them? Nearly everyone thinks so -- ev...

princewilliamtimes.com

If you’re driving along the Parkway today through Manassas and see a clay-colored haze not too far from Clover Hill Rd, that would be from construction of one of the frickin’ data centers, because of course it is. That land used to be woods. This is why we can’t have nice things, like clean air.

Manassas! 💙 —— “We had a motor that blew up in our ambulance that we couldn’t afford to replace, and we had an engine that we needed to replace. We wrote a letter, and they matched our need with what was available and we ended up getting an ambulance from Purcellville and an engine from Manassas.”

Cardinal News@cardinalnews.org · 2w ago

Equipment donations from Northern Virginia are making a difference at Southwest fire departments

It was good to be back on #Hardball this afternoon talking about #Virginia becoming a stand-alone pre-Super Tuesday state for the 2028 Democratic presidential primary. Our conversation starts near the 31:20 mark. #valeg thechrismatthews.substack.com/p/hardball-w...

Hardball with Christopher Peleo-Lazar + Vice-Chair of the Board of Bucks County Commissioners & Democratic Nominee for Congress Bob Harvie (D-PA) and Virginia State Senator Danica Roem

A recording from Christopher Peleo-Lazar's live video

thechrismatthews.substack.com

Data center policies in Maryland counties bordering NOVA: MoCo: 18-month moratorium PG: 24-month moratorium Frederick: 6-month moratorium No excuses for us here in the commonwealth. I‘ll be introducing a moratorium bill for us during the 2027 #Virginia General Assembly session. Let’s pass it.

NBC4 Washington@nbcwashington.com · 2w ago

The Montgomery County Council has voted to ban new data center development for the next year and a half.

“Morning slug line locations will be offered at the Monument Drive garage in Fair Oaks and University Boulevard park and ride in Gainesville, with drop-off locations at the Rosslyn, L’Enfant Plaza, Navy Yard, and Metro Center transit stations.” #Virginia www.insidenova.com/headlines/sl...

Slug lines coming to I-66 corridor this September

Slug lines coming to I-66 corridor this September

insidenova.com

“Roem is calling for a statewide moratorium on data centers, ending the data center sales tax exemption, and ’taxing the damn generators,‘ noting a data center diesel generator in Ashburn ran for 23 straight hours last week on the worst air quality day of the year.“ bristowbeat.com/stories/bren...

Brentsville Residents Rally Against Aboveground Route for Nokesville 230k Transmission Line - Bristow Beat

The Civic Association of Brentsville & Surrounding Communities (CABSA) held a rally, Thursday,  at Patriot High School, protesting the Nokesville-Bristow 230kV transmission line.

bristowbeat.com

Statewide moratorium. End the data center sales tax exemption. — ”Experts say cracks in our infrastructure grid are starting to show as the data center industry consumes electricity at a rate the world has never experienced. On 7/22, a crack became visible to millions of Americans…” #valeg #Virginia

NBC4 Washington@nbcwashington.com · 3w ago

Loudoun County data centers are linked to power flickering across half the U.S. “This is what experts are worried about, right? The data centers are such a big load on the grid that they can have detrimental impact.”

This evening, I joined my constituents from Bristow, Gainesville and Haymarket and neighbors from Nokesville outside Patriot HS to fight back against Dominion Energy’s proposed above ground transmission line extension cord for a data center off Hornbaker. Not a first time & won’t be the last either.

🧵 When I worked for the Gainesville Times / Prince William Times from 2006-15, my editor and I would select someone as our Citizen of the Year. I’d pitch a name, get the go-ahead to write the story and we’d splash it on the front page a week or two into the new year. Our 2014 winner died today.

I am honored to have the endorsement of Senator Danica Roem. @pwcdanica.bsky.social "I've seen how Councilwoman Sonia Vásquez Luna prioritizes constituent service for working people in Manassas and know she'll do the same for us in Richmond...”

DEQ “has approved just 1 air permit for a data center campus with on-site gas generation... On Friday, during a historical air pollution event…DEQ reported the facility had ‘a failure of a critical 480V Circuit Breaker’ the night before, prompting the facility to run the backup diesel generators...”

Virginia Mercury@virginiamercury.com · 3w ago

As electric grid connection queues grow, data center developers plan to build their own power sources, with many of them eyeing natural gas turbines. But that method bypasses the Virginia Clean Economy Act, designed to significantly slash carbon emissions. virginiamercury.com/2026/07/20/d...

This is one of the most remarkably awful decisions that will have consequences far beyond the next 2.5 years in a string of awful decisions from the federal admin. It also means in Virginia, we need to step up and do our part with the urgency of preventing extinction of the species we can help.

States Newsroom@statesnewsroom.com · 3w ago

The Trump administration is removing protections from the key places where endangered species live, saying states can keep the areas safe. But experts say states aren’t equipped for the task. via @stateline.org

“Even if the size of the overlay is reduced, the county will still have 148 data centers built or in the works. There are 54 completed data center buildings… 31 under construction, 51 projects planned and another 12 applications under consideration…” www.princewilliamtimes.com/localnews/co...

County mulls ending by-right data center development – a move that could save Jiffy Lube Live

The planning commission voted earlier this week to recommend that the county stop allowing data center to build “by right, or without county approval – a move that could keep Jiffy Lube Live and other...

princewilliamtimes.com

The air quality here in SD-30 is rated “Good” today, so that’s an improvement over “Nope” on Friday and “Ehhh” on Saturday, so it’s a good day to mill about town or read Chapter 6 of the novel you finally lifted off your TBR pile after work Friday because of the aforementioned “nope.“ Either‘s fine.

One thing my House & Senate classmate Sen. @scvanvalkenburg.bsky.social didn’t mention but I‘d like to credit him for is working me in good faith to include tree-save provisions in the solar bills. Green energy shouldn‘t come at the expense of green nature and we worked to strike that balance.

Schuyler VanValkenburg@scvanvalkenburg.bsky.social · 4w ago

I’m in the RTD @richmond.com with Delegate Charniele Herring, talking about how our solar siting reform legislation is good for Virginia. It produces: ☀️Energy Supply 🔌Grid Reliability 💪Energy independence 👷Job creation 💰Local govt revenue ⚡️Less fluctuation in energy bills Let’s go!

D/M/V folks:

WAMU 88.5@wamu.org · 4w ago

The good news is that the air quality is expected to improve over the weekend and the intense air pollution won't last as long as it did in 2023, the last time the region was under a code purple.

I went to a constituent meeting in Old Town and the brief time I walked to Jirani and back had a drying effect like going through a film of sawdust. For those who have to work outside and don’t get to call out, I know it’s tough and I see y’all. I hope you’re at least take a breather indoors today.

”For the 220 applicants still waiting in the queue…the company says it can study & approve only about 10/year. Meanwhile, the list of applications is growing by 10/month. Amazon estimated the wait time for new applications could be up to 24 years.” #valeg www.princewilliamtimes.com/localnews/th...

THE BIG BOTTLENECK: Power crunch keeps data centers in the dark

In Virginia, more than 300 data centers are waiting for power that would equal the output of 70 Lake Anna nuclear plants. It could take decades.

princewilliamtimes.com

Grateful to have earned a 100% rating on the 2026 #Virginia Humane Scorecard for supporting legislation to take care of animals. It includes my bill to increase vet traineeships. There are a lot of reasons to fight data center sprawl, including protecting wildlife. #valeg humaneaction.org/media/424

The #Virginia budget passed last month will help absorb some of the stress on our residents who need SNAP and food banks but we don’t have the resources of an otherwise cruel federal government that‘s making it more difficult for their constituents to eat. #valeg www.wsls.com/news/local/2...

Virginia SNAP enrollment drops 100K as federal cuts strain food pantries

One year after Congress approved major changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, enrollment in Virginia has dropped by more than 100,000 people compared with the same time last year — ...

wsls.com

The NVTA is proposing 28 bus rapid transit (BRT) routes for NOVA. For SD-30: I-66: Haymarket to Vienna Metro station Route 28: Manassas VRE to Dulles Metro station Local: NVCC Manassas campus to Manassas Park PW Parkway: Manassas VRE to Potomac Mills www.princewilliamtimes.com/localnews/re...

The fact this hasn’t been an open & shut “of course they should” answer settled more than a decade ago is an indictment of the long-standing influence of corporate greed in Virginia. Fortunately, there are those among us in Richmond taking the fight directly to Dominion and the data centers. #valeg

Shannon Heckt@shannonheckt.bsky.social · 4w ago

The SCC is considering if new transmission lines that would not need to be built "but for" data centers should be paid for by the industry. It's a move that Spanberger has signaled she supports through administrative filings in the case. #valeg #vagov virginiamercury.com/2026/07/15/s...

We could do something similar in Virginia by tying it to the definition of high-energy use facilities as defined in the final version of my bill SB 94, which we passed this year. The 2027 General Assembly session awaits. lis.virginia.gov/bill-details...

The Buffalo News@buffalonews.com · 4w ago

Gov. Kathy Hochul will sign an executive order Tuesday to impose a one-year moratorium on data centers that use 50 or more megawatts of power.

Donated blood in Centreville and then popped in my favorite Armored Saint CD for the drive back to Manassas Park because being a blood donor is metal as hell. Oh, and go Bonnies. \m/

“Companies may also seek rare earth elements used to develop and operate data centers. The massive industrial operation would use a trailing suction hopper dredge to vacuum up the ocean floor, potentially sucking in and crushing everything in its path.” #valeg virginiamercury.com/2026/07/08/v...

Virginia’s Atlantic coast should be protected, not turned into a sacrifice zone • Virginia Mercury

Introducing offshore strip mining into Virginia's endangered aquatic animals' habitat could compound threats and thrust them closer to extinction at a time when they need greater protection, not new s...

virginiamercury.com