See also: “Data center transparency must be a priority.“
Del. Josh Thomas, D-Prince William County, and Sen. Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria, have proposed legislation requiring data center site assessments in advance of permitting and construction. The legislation states the assessment must include water impacts, agricultural resources, historic sites, forest land and immediate contiguous land. It does not prohibit local zoning authority.
Data center sites can be quite large, up to and exceeding 100 acres. All of the mentioned areas to be assessed would be impacted. What was left out was noise impacts on adjacent properties and land owners, as well as wildlife impacts, especially in rural areas.
These impacts of the size and number of data centers proposed are valid and important to maintaining the environment and conservation principles the VECT believes in and supports. What is incredibly hypocritical of these two legislators and their party is that they did not propose the same requirements for solar fields, which are many times larger, and have a significantly larger negative impact on the environment than the footprint of a data center.
This hypocrisy is not lost on true environmentalists and is unfortunately indicative of the attitudes and positions of our majority legislative parties. The Democrats want to create barriers and limitations on data centers in this legislation based on environmental considerations. The Democrats do not want any limitations on solar fields, environmental or otherwise. The Sierra Club and the Southern Environmental Law Center have taken the same positions as our state Democrats, limit data centers, but no limits on solar fields. Again, very hypocritical and absolutely questionable whether they are truly environmental and conservation advocates.
The Virginia Energy Consumer Trust would support HB 1601/SB 1449 only if there were sponsored companion bills that require the same for solar fields. The VECT solar field “Best Practices” clearly states the need for environmental assessments in advance of any site and Conditional Use Permits. The difference between the Virginia Energy Consumer Trust and the state Democrats, Sierra Club and Southern Environmental Law Center is that the VECT is not hypocritical in our positions and advocacy.
David DelGuercio is executive director of Virginia Energy Consumer Trust in Richmond.
