Fairfax leaders to push General Assembly for stricter data center rules.
Fairfax County supervisors will advocate for data center regulation to be a primary focus of the General Assembly’s 2025 legislative agenda.
Board members expressed support this week for several new recommendations from county staff aimed at granting state agencies and local governments broader authority to regulate data centers, including increased oversight of their environmental impacts.
Among the recommendations, which will be presented to the Virginia General Assembly when it reconvenes in January, is a requirement that data centers publicly report their energy and water usage to the Virginia Department of Energy.
County staff also recommend that supervisors push for amendments to strengthen local authority in addressing the environmental and community impacts associated with data center growth.
Jeff McKay, Chairman, said:
I think one of the things that we forget is that the environmental impacts of these aren’t just limited to the jurisdictions they’re in, and so, that’s another reason why the state should be doing this, as opposed to jurisdiction by jurisdiction.
Chairman Jeff McKay said during the board’s legislative committee meeting on Tuesday (Oct. 29). “I mean, there is no doubt in my mind that some of the data centers construction around Fairfax County has an environmental impact on Fairfax County.”
Data center oversight at the forefront
The new legislative priorities come as the county works to address growing concerns from community members about the expansion of data centers within and beyond its borders.
With new developments increasingly facing public opposition, the Board of Supervisors amended its zoning laws for data centers in September to limit the size of data centers in most industrial zones, enhance screening and equipment enclosures, and establish minimum distances from residential areas and Metro stations.
Many residents advocated for even greater setbacks from residential neighborhoods. Some also worried that the regulations failed to address broader environmental issues, such as energy and water consumption and carbon emissions.
County officials echo resident concerns
There’s some debate over the actual water usage of data centers, with experts claiming that newer facilities consume significantly less water. However, county officials emphasized that the concerns are valid and could have serious consequences if the General Assembly doesn’t address them.
Claudia Arko, the county’s legislative director and registered lobbyist, told the supervisors, said:
The demand for [data centers] has grown significantly as more things have just become connected to online and technology and things like that.
“And because of the kind of facilities they are, because of the kind of equipment that they house, they do place a lot of energy and water demands on the electrical system.”
During the committee meeting, county staff flagged several major concerns, including the strain data centers could place on energy reliability for current and future developments, the need for more transmission lines and substations, rising costs for ratepayers, potential water and air quality impacts from diesel backup generators, and increased greenhouse gas emissions.
A recent report by Dominion Energy highlighted data centers as a major driver of power demand in Northern Virginia, alongside the rapid growth of electric vehicles.
According to the report, Dominion estimates it will need an additional gigawatt of capacity — enough to power roughly 250,000 homes — to support data centers in 2024 alone. Demand is expected to continue growing due to advances in technology like cloud computing and so-called artificial intelligence.
Last year, Dominion projected that customer orders could double the state’s data center capacity by 2028, bringing the total market size to 10 gigawatts by 2035 — a 2.67-gigawatt increase from 2022.
State prepares for JLARC findings
This year, the General Assembly considered various proposals for data center regulations, focusing on placement, energy and water usage reporting, and environmental impacts.
Instead of enacting immediate legislation, though, state lawmakers assigned the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) to further analyze the industry’s impact on energy demand and regulatory practices to inform the 2025 legislative session.
JLARC is expected to deliver its final report in December, per county staff.
Concurrently, the State Corporation Commission (SCC) is examining how the growth of data centers affects the state’s electrical grid.
In anticipation of the JLARC report, Fairfax County supervisors hope state lawmakers will recognize a need for increased local authority to manage better and mitigate the environmental impacts of data centers.
Specifically, they advocate for state-provided tax incentives prioritizing environmental sustainability in data center development. The targeted incentives would align with the county’s Community-wide Energy and Climate Action Plan, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and boost energy efficiency in local government operations.
McKay said:
“Right now, Virginia is very aggressive in this space, through tax incentives, and for me, I’d love to see some specific ones related to environmental stewardship,”
“I just don’t know if that’s in the scope of the JLARC analysis.”
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Fairfax leaders to push General Assembly for stricter data center rules. source
