PART 18
On July 12, 2022, Cindy Burbank stood up at a Warrenton Town Council meeting and issued a warning about Amazon Web Services’ plan to build a data center just inside the town limits.
“A large and growing number of us are concerned that approval … will unleash a powerful storm that will destroy the special character of this place and will generate a great deal of anger and distrust,” Burbank said.
Four years later, Amazon’s project is mired in controversy and lawsuits. Burbank’s words proved prescient, not only for Warrenton but for Virginia and the nation, as a tidal wave of AI-fueled data center development has washed from coast to coast.
In the seven months before the Warrenton Town Council approved the Amazon project 4-3 in February 2023, residents organized into a grassroots resistance that exerted tremendous pressure on elected officials.
They also conducted their own investigations that uncovered months of secret negotiations among Amazon, town administrators and town councilors. It was a pattern that would repeat.
From Prince William County to Carroll County, Virginia residents have fought data center sprawl with grassroots organization and hundreds of Freedom of Information Act requests uncovering secret negotiations between government officials and data center companies. The Piedmont Environmental Council called for a statewide moratorium on Sept. 10.
The industry exploded in early 2023, just after ChatGPT turned AI into a global phenomenon. Since then, AI has spread faster than any technology in Internet history, including the Internet itself. That, in turn, has kicked off a surge in demand for new data centers.
Data centers store all the information on the Internet, from the most private personal information to military secrets to random photos of cats. AI, which needs massive amounts of computing power, dramatically increased the need for data centers.
Some local governments see data centers as a huge economic boon. Although they don’t create a lot of long-term jobs, they are a significant source of short-term construction jobs and tax revenue. Loudoun County, home to more data centers than any other county in the U.S., collects more than $1 billion a year in data center-related tax revenue. Prince William County collected $465.9 million in 2025, according to county financial reports.
In 2022, resident Cindy Burbank told the Warrenton Town Council that data centers would “destroy the special character” of Fauquier County. Staff Photo.
Opponents mobilize
Data center opponents have scored notable successes. The Prince William Digital Gateway — a proposal to build up to 37 data centers in a 1,760-acre area that was part of a formerly established rural set-aside — died in July after a two-year court battle. At least two were canceled in Hanover County, and one was abandoned in Henrico County.
Just in the first quarter of 2026, 34 new groups organized in Virginia, according to Data Center Watch, which tracks the issue.
“We are under attack by these things,” said Kathryn Hatam, spokesperson for the Southwest Virginia Data Center Transparency Alliance. The Alliance was organized in response to an announcement in June last year that Google planned to build in Botetourt County on 312 acres that included recreational green space. The Alliance’s Facebook page has grown to 4,700 members.
Google’s project in Botetourt, which is near Roanoke, followed a playbook familiar to other activists across Virginia. Google negotiated with county officials, including the Economic Development Authority, to purchase the land and secure rights to millions of gallons of water before the deal was made public.
“One of the biggest red flags in the community is how late in the game we found out about it,” said Hatam.
Residents were stonewalled when they asked questions about the size of the data center, the amount of water and electricity it planned to use, and even the ownership.
In Botetourt and other counties, officials said they could not provide the information because they signed nondisclosure agreements with data center developers. The developers say the NDAs protect them from rival developers. Data center opponents insist they are used to hide potential data center developments from the public.
Using state laws
Botetourt activists and local media outlets responded with a flurry of Freedom of Information Act requests that forced the county to turn over previously confidential information. Among the revelations was that Google — referred to as Helio Capital in the documents — had negotiated a contract to withdraw huge amounts of water from a local reservoir: 2 million gallons a day with the possibility of ramping up to 8 million.
It was a stunning revelation. Unlike many other areas where data centers locate, Botetourt does not get its water from a river such as the Potomac. It depends on a reservoir fed by a local watershed.
While the decision by the Western Virginia Water Authority became a focus of opposition, activists were also alarmed to find out that the county had agreed to sell the 312-acre parcel to Google for $14 million, or $45,000 an acre. In addition, Google committed $4 million for fire trucks, ambulances, police equipment, a community center and other resources.
While land values vary greatly from one area to the next, one thing is clear. The price Google paid was a fraction of the $2 million to $6 million per acre developers are paying in Northern Virginia.
”Google ate their lunch,” said Hatam of the county officials who negotiated the deal.
County officials say the project will provide benefits to Botetourt. “This project positions us to address important long-term needs, like schools and a future water source for the region that had been planned for 2060,” said county administrator Gary Larrowe in a March press release, The county expects to collect $30 million a year from the Google campus.
Members of the Coalition to Protect Prince William County and other residents fiercely opposed the Prince William Digital Gateway, approved in 2023. The project, which would have allowed up to 37 data centers at the edge of the Manassas battlefield, died after a more than two-year court battle fought by residents. Photo by Jill Palermo.
‘It’s literally an infestation’
Hatam now coordinates with activists in other counties and municipalities, from far-distant Wise County to Roanoke County. Once a data center gets rooted in one county, she says, it’s “just a hop, skip and a jump” before a neighboring county gets targeted. “It is literally an infestation."
Despite all the attention focused on data centers in Virginia, it’s not clear how many data centers are actually operating and how many are planned or under construction.
“I have logged 502 total projects,” said Ann Bennett, data center issues chair for the Sierra Club Virginia Chapter. Bennett points out that each project may include multiple buildings. “I have over 1,625 buildings that I’m watching.”
Every data center needs enormous amounts of power. The biggest campuses in Virginia can consume more electricity than a city of 1.5 million residents. To deliver that kind of power, Dominion Energy has proposed a new transmission line that would stretch across nine counties. The Valley Link calls for a 115-mile-long right-of-way from Lynchburg to Culpeper. The 200-foot-wide right-of-way would encompass 2,600 acres, according to the Piedmont Environmental Council.
“They’re talking about eminent domain,” said Culpeper resident Kristen Borden. “I have no way to sell my home because my property value will plummet.” She is now co-chair of the Richardsville Coalition, organized to oppose the line.
Along with the overhead lines comes other infrastructure, including, in Culpeper, the Yeat substation. The 88-acre substation would distribute electricity from the transmission lines to data centers.
Culpeper County supervisors passed a resolution in April opposing the Yeat substation and the transmission line. But the fight is larger than the county, with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the State Corporation Commission all weighing in.
Personal politics take a back seat
“There is heavy, heavy influencing going on right now,” Borden said. “You know, TV ads, flyers to homes, basically saying that the power is going to go out if we don't tell our board of supervisors to approve this.”
Power for Tomorrow, an advocacy group supported by Dominion and other energy companies, is behind the campaign to win over public opinion. With no mention of data centers, the ads urge support for the new transmission line. “Valley Link’s Joshua Falls to Yeat Transmission line is a critical investment in Virginia’s economy,” says the ad. Without the line, the ad states, Virginia could face rolling blackouts and rising rates.
But Power for Tomorrow is up against a formidable opposition. The Block Valley Link Facebook page has 10,000 members. Its website includes links to download yard signs and social media posts. A tab has a clear message: “Land Confiscation Ends Here.”
Like others interviewed by Piedmont Journalism Foundation, Borden says personal politics take a back seat when it comes to data center resistance.
“There are no questions about party affiliation,” said Bob Olson, who is fighting a data center in Chesterfield County. “I’m all about spreading knowledge. I don’t care who uses it.”
Olson, a retiree, has used his engineering background to analyze data center applications with the Department of Environmental Quality. He was able to determine the noise levels of specific diesel generators at specific sites. “You think that sound is not going to get into your house because you voted Republican?” he asked.
Some politicians seem to be getting the message. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican locked in a tough race for the U.S. Senate, unveiled a plan that would ban data centers in rural areas while limiting noise levels and water use. That marks a stark break with President Trump, who recently ridiculed resistance to data centers.
“The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor,” wrote Trump on Truth Social.
A recent NBC News poll found that 69% of Americans would oppose data centers being built in their area and only 31% would support that development.
For her part, Burbank is not happy with Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s recent decision to block efforts to rescind a $1.9 billion tax break for data centers.
“I’m really mad at our governor,” Burbank said. Spanberger said eliminating the subsidy would require the state to break existing contracts and harm its reputation as a state that is good for business.
Burbank is quick to note that the four Warrenton Town Council members who voted to approve Amazon’s Warrenton data center no longer serve on the council. Heather Sutphin ran and lost. Jay Heroux, James Hartman and Brett Hamby withdrew before facing voters.
Public records requests showed that both Heroux and Hamby had met privately with Amazon to create limits on the proposed data center’s noise emissions. At a public meeting immediately before the vote, Sutphin said she had received emails, messages and calls from data center supporters who were afraid to step forward because they were “scared or intimidated.”
Burbank decided to file her own FOIA to “tabulate how many people went on record in writing — not just speaking, but in writing — against the Amazon data center versus how many were for it.”
The final tally: 2,000 messages against and 11 in favor.
