State lawmakers try again to regulate data centers

As data centers’ soaring energy consumption and impacts on residential areas continue to cause distress, Virginia lawmakers are again trying to rein in the industry with a flurry of new bills.

They contain requirements to make the industry and its dealings with local government more transparent; to protect resident electricity ratepayers from footing the bill for data center infrastructure; and to protect and control the state’s land, water and power resources. 

Several lawmakers behind the bills held a press conference Tuesday, during which they pointed to a chart from the recent report by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission that showed that unconstrained data center development could more than double Virginia’s electric power needs in 15 years. 

“This unprecedented expansion is not sustainable for the state of Virginia,” said Sen. Russet Perry, a Democrat whose 31st District includes parts of Loudoun and Fauquier counties. “We carry the load for the rest of the world.”  

Perry is one of 10 legislators who have sponsored more than 20 bills designed to curb data centers’ effects. Last year, 17 such bills were introduced. All failed, and all but one died in committee. 

Legislators blamed the bills’ fate on data center developers’ lobbying power and Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s support of the industry.  

Northern Virginia has the largest data center market in the world. The industry contributes an estimated $9 billion to the state’s economy and supports 74,000 jobs, according to the state report. Virginia offers tax breaks to attract data centers but has no regulations about where they can be built. 

“We are not here to talk about reform,” Perry said. “There are no laws to reform.” 

Perry said she hopes this year will mark a start.  

Senate Bill 960, sponsored by Perry and Del. Mike Webert, a Republican from Fauquier County, would charge state officials with figuring out whether residents and other small electricity consumers are subsidizing data centers’ extra transmission and generation costs. Perry noted that Dominion Energy has predicted residents’ bills will rise as much as $71 a month – or about $857 a year – by 2039.The bill directs the commission to “eliminate or minimize (any) such unreasonable subsidies.” 

Other bills: 

HB 2035 would require data centers to file quarterly reports on their energy and water use. “We just want the information so we know what it is we’re doing and how we can plan for the future,” said bill sponsor Del. Shelly Simonds, a Democrat from Newport News.   

HB 2027 would require the State Corporation Commission to certify that pending data center developments will have no adverse effect on residents’ electric bills, on power reliability, or on Virginia’s clean energy policy.  

Sponsor Del. Josh Thomas, a Democrat who represents western Prince William County, said local governments are approving data centers without talking to power regulators.

“We could have rolling blackouts from unconstrained growth,” he said. “There is not an adult in the room.”  

HB 1984 would prohibit any data center from being built within a quarter mile of federal, state or local parks or homes or schools. It’s sponsored by Del. Ian Lovejoy, a Republican who represents part of Western Prince William County. 

“They don’t belong next to our schools, our parks, our homes, and quite frankly, you shouldn’t be bulldozing the woods to develop them,” said Sen. Danica Roem, a Manassas Democrat, who is sponsoring a similar bill. 

SB 1046, sponsored by Roem, would require data centers to measure and report noise for five years after construction and announce when they run their generators. It would also require localities to adopt noise ordinances that measure sound particular to data centers, such as low-frequency hums. 

HB 2028 would require data centers to pay $250,000 to any school within three miles.  

HB 2578  would require exploration of how heat produced by data centers could be used to warm or energize other facilities.  

HB 1987 would make it illegal for any county supervisor to vote for a project whose developer donated more than $100 to their campaign in the previous year. 

Roem sponsored five bills affecting data centers last year on issues ranging from siting to noise to power lines, but all died in committee. This year, she’s carrying four such bills. 

She and Perry stressed that their legislation has bipartisan support, with three Republicans among the sponsors.  

However, Roem said getting her bills out of committee and then passed in the Senate and House of Delegates – not to mention signed by the governor – is “a very tall lift.”  

“And so, I’m gonna be working with people on both sides of the aisle, in both chambers, taking the best crack at this I possibly can,” she said. “I want to give it everything I’ve got.” 

Reach Peter Cary at news@fauquier.com