General Assembly Required: The (Data) Center of VA Politics

Rich Meagher:

Data centers may be the two biggest words in Virginia politics right now. These big industrial looking buildings host thousands of servers, the computing power that runs today’s internet and tomorrow’s AI. They also might be powering Virginia’s economy, bringing in jobs and tax dollars, all while the communities they’re in complain about the noise, pollution, rising energy bills.

Clint Robertson:

I will be fighting against every data center no matter where it is in Hanover County. And we need everyone here to make that commitment and join us.

Rich Meagher:

Now, data centers are at the heart of a huge budget battle in the general assembly. How is all this going to shake out?

Louise Lucas:

I keep getting asked if my position is firm. Well, let me state that my position is as strong as high tensile steel.

Rich Meagher:

I’m Rich Meagher. This is RVA’s Got Issues from VPM. On today’s episode: Data Centers. How did they land in the very center of Virginia politics? Part of our special series on state government’s, General Assembly Required. That’s coming up on RVA’s Got Issues.

Reporter Patrick Larsen joins us now. He covers energy and the environment for VPM News. Patrick, welcome.

Patrick Larsen:

Hey, Rich. Thanks for having me.

Rich Meagher:

So Patrick, let’s start here. Data centers, data centers, however you wanna pronounce them, right? Why are these things so controversial?

Patrick Larsen:

Well, there are a lot of reasons. The first thing that comes to mind for me is electricity. So these facilities have, uh, sometimes really mammoth electric demand. You know, some of the biggest ones you can think of as being on the scale of even like a small city. And we have a lot of them. We have hundreds of them in the state, which is causing our electric demand to skyrocket. That’s a problem because we need to build a lot of new infrastructure to serve that demand. And it’s, you know, it sort of challenges our state clean energy goals, right? We have this, this big goal to get to 100% carbon neutral, uh, energy by 2050. Uh, that gets a lot harder when you are, you know, doubling your peak electric demand in, in 10 years, right? Another issue is their water usage. And, you know, land use is a concern too, impacts to farm and forest land, which are sort of compounded by the, the energy needs, all those solar panels you gotta build.

There are emissions concerns. All of these facilities have rows and rows of backup diesel generators, which are periodically, but briefly tested and are used if they ever have to go off the grid for some reason. Y- you know, for people who are neighbors of these facilities, there are a lot of salient issues there.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah. So it’s, it’s the water, it’s the electricity, it’s the land use, it’s the emissions. Um, so this has been rising to the level of, of the interest of state government because of all these concerns, right? So in December 2024, JLARC, which is the fancy name for the research arm of the state legislature, they issued this big report on, on data centers, right? Lots of recommendations about all these problems you’ve been laying out, but not a lot actually happened immediately. I kind of feel like the General Assembly sat on in a bit. They didn’t really do very much during last year’s session. But to me, it seemed like this, the 2-0-2-6, as the kids say, right? This year was going to be the year that the state legislature finally took on data centers. When, when you were covering this story, uh, heading into the 2026 session, how were you seeing things?

Patrick Larsen:

We were seeing basically a lot of proposals, like dozens of bills coming forward having to do with this issue. You know, it’s sort of the, the Virginia way to get information, think about it for a while, and then act.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah.

Patrick Larsen:

And so it seemed like this might be the year. But there were still really significant splits in the legislature and not necessarily along party lines because, you know, as we talked about, the impacts of this, of this industry are, are very real for, for people living next to them. The industry wants to expand. So, uh, it’s getting the attention of a lot of legislators. But, you know, it also brings a lot of investment. Uh, it brings a lot of jobs. In, in just, uh, fiscal year 24 and 25, the industry invested over eight and a half billion dollars in Virginia. In terms of, like, the overall economic contribution, uh, the estimates range, you know, in the tens of billions. And, you know, o- on top of that, localities that host these facilities really have the boon of their local tax income-

Rich Meagher:

Mm.

Patrick Larsen:

… being inflated by these things.

They’re used to fund services, to keep property taxes low for other residents. So there’s, like, a, a big disconnect between those two sides, right? An issue that really became salient though as, as, uh, a- as the session carried on is that the state is providing a pretty big, uh, sales and use tax exemption to these facilities, which is something that went into effect years and years ago. <laugh> Basically, they can buy, uh, certain computer equipment, software, that sort of thing, and not have to pay this state tax on it. And like I said, that really, that really ramped up to, to be the, the kind of top line issue of session.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah. And it, it, it really did come out of nowhere. I mean, uh, I was thinking of that meme where it’s like nobody, and then Louise Lucas-

Patrick Larsen:

<laugh>

Rich Meagher:

… Suddenly, you know, let’s cut the tax.

Patrick Larsen:

<laugh>

Rich Meagher:

I mean, how did this happen, right? So it suddenly was the case that we were all talking about this, this sales and use tax exemption, and a- apparently it’s like billions of dollars. Where did this come from?

Patrick Larsen:

It started years and years ago when it started. The industry was a, a good bit smaller. You know, it was looking at, you know, somewhere in the millions of dollars every year of, of tax benefits. But over time, it has grown. The latest estimates I’ve seen from the Virginia Economic Development Partnership put it at, uh, nearly a $2 billion overall tax benefit for the industry, uh, just last year. And I, I think, you know, it, it became a big issue in this session in particular because of a sort of confluence of that number getting really high and, uh, actions at the federal government level that were going to cost the state a lot of money. You know, before session started, former Governor Glenn Youngkin, who was a major proponent of the industry, he actually proposed in his final budget, uh, extending this tax credit to 2050.

And that’s when you started to really hear legislators basically saying, like, “This, uh, this industry, we get a lot from it, but it also has, you know, serious impacts and we’re concerned that they’re not paying their fair share.”

Scott Surovell:

They have to meet certain environmental regulations, you know, they maybe have to conserve water, maybe they, they have to, you know, contribute to infrastructure in a certain way. I don’t know, but we, we have to have a conversation about that instead of just giving away a billion dollars with no strings attached. So we’ll be talking about that.

Patrick Larsen:

So I spoke with Senate majority leader Scott Surovell after Youngkin’s presentation, um, and his idea, uh, which was what I kind of was hearing most often was to sort of condition that, that tax credit on certain criteria.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah, so Surovell is, is certainly saying here, like, no strings attached. He doesn’t like that idea. We’re gonna maybe add some conditions. We’re gonna use this tax benefit as a kind of leverage to get the data centers to maybe behave better. And that probably was the, the things about water and emissions and energy bills that we were talking about. That’s, it’s a big way to get from there, what Surovell’s talking about to w- what Louise Lucas came up with, like, let’s eliminate this tax entirely. How did we get there?

Patrick Larsen:

Yeah, I think that’s, uh, an interesting question. You know, Louise Lucas is … Well, she’s a senator, um, representing Portsmouth and Chesapeake. Uh, she’s really seen as a fighter, right? She, she’s been around since the early ’90s. She’s president pro tem of the Senate and the chair of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee, so obviously a very powerful individual. Um, and she was also kind of like a chief thorn in Youngkin’s side while he was in office.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah, there was a big battle about that stadium that he tried to get and, and, and she sunk that. That was one of the things that they were at loggerheads about.

Patrick Larsen:

Yeah, certainly. Youngkin, of course, has left office, but I would say the fight has not left Lucas. She has sort of turned it on to this, this big industry. And she was sort of showing signs of that throughout session. She amended one of her bills to sort of put some, some data center costs that are currently born by Dominion’s rate base as a whole back onto the industry itself. Uh, but the, the big move really came later in February when she proposed scrapping this data center tax credit entirely, and we have a clip here of her explaining her thoughts on that.

Louise Lucas:

As data centers have expanded, we have all become concerned about subsidizing the energy demands and their environmental impact. As I said on Sunday, we’re asking data centers just to pay their fair share in sales tax to help deliver our core services, education, transportation, and social services.

Rich Meagher:

But when she says fair share, she’s basically saying, “We’re gonna get rid of this tax exemption,” right?

Patrick Larsen:

Right. Yeah. She’s not saying we should condition this tax credit on clean energy commitments or anything like that. She’s saying we should get rid of it. I think one side of that is they should pay their fair share, right, as she says. And another side to her is that, you know, as I mentioned earlier, there’s a sort of big gap in federal funding, particularly with things like food assistance programs, uh, SNAP that the state has to cover. You know, can you get rid of this tax credit, that’s, that’s a pretty, uh, easy billion dollars you can get your hands on as a-

Rich Meagher:

Yeah.

Patrick Larsen:

… a chief budgeter, right, to, to sort of solve some of those problems, fund some programs you wanna fund.

Rich Meagher:

So Louise Lucas, Senator Lucas is really, I don’t wanna say going out on a limb here, but this is certainly, uh, not something that, you know, was planned by the, uh, Democratic Caucus. It doesn’t seem like Spanberger had a, an idea that this was happening. Uh, the House has their own ideas about how to do this stuff. W- why is she doing this? Like, why is she, like, taking this big fight on, uh, this year?

Patrick Larsen:

Well, I think, you know, she kind of saw an opportunity. She, she thought that this was, like, the right time to do it. And, and I would say that, you know, this is not a, a clean party line issue, right? She had Republicans speaking on the Senate floor in favor of, of this move. Um, you know, some of the Republicans representing, you know, Central Virginia and Henrico, places that could see a lot of data centers come in are, are supportive of this move. I think it comes down to she, she wants to be a, a politician who’s, you know, seen as, um, protecting the little guy, right, against these, what are essentially <laugh> some of the biggest corporations on the planet, right?

Rich Meagher:

So that’s Louise Lucas, right? And so she wants to get rid of this tax, but not everybody agrees with this, right? So what was the House response to this? And, and how are they navigating the whole, like, “We’re all in the same party here, but, um, we don’t necessarily agree.”

Patrick Larsen:

Well, uh, during session, there was a lot of concern expressed about what exactly this would mean for Virginia’s, you know, position as a state that can bring lots of business, right? I think that’s also a concern of Governor Spanberger. Uh, she’s only a few months into her term at this point, and I, I, I highly doubt she wants to do anything that could, you know, threaten Virginia’s status as, as a pro- business state. And so here, here’s a clip of, of delegate Luke Torian, chair of the House Appropriations Committee, uh, basically arguing, yeah, that, that eliminating the tax credit could negatively impact Virginia’s stance with this industry.

Luke Torian:

Virginia’s reputation as a reliable place to do business would be called into question. Companies across industries, not just the data center sector, may begin to wonder whether Virginia is a partner they can depend on.

Rich Meagher:

Would you describe it like this, that Louise Lucas is, is kind of taking in the, the populist stance, whereas that House maybe is, is a little more, um, a- attuned to the, the industry and, and thinking about, um, you know, business-friendly Virginia?

Patrick Larsen:

Yeah, I think you could, I think you could say that. I think certainly people are really worried about data centers. Cost of living is a huge issue these days, um, and there is a sense that the sort of broader public is subsidizing, again, some of the biggest corporations on the planet, you know, whether it’s, uh, to, to service their water needs, their electricity needs, whatever it might be, right? And that’s not something people <laugh> like, obviously. The House side and the sort of, uh, pro tax credit side would, would argue that they’re taking somewhat of a populous position too, you know, by protecting jobs, by creating tax revenue that can turn into services. So I think it’s, it’s a little bit complicated, but I, I, you could definitely use that framing, yes.

Rich Meagher:

So definitely a lot of interest involved in this issue, um, but we’re not gonna know how this plays out, right, until the legislators come back in April to finish the budget. I mean, this was one of the big reasons why they weren’t able to finish the budget, right?

Patrick Larsen:

Yeah, I think it’s perhaps the big reason <laugh>

Rich Meagher:

<laugh>

Patrick Larsen:

… that they were not able to finish the budget. You know, there was some really interesting, uh, scenes in the Capitol in the last days of session. You know, it’s pretty normal that you see a lot of, you know, people going back and forth between the chambers. You see lobbyists sort of walking around, lots of late minute, like last minute changes to bills being made. Um, but a group of, of tech lobbyists had essentially locked down the old Senate chamber, which is sort of in between the current House and Senate and, you know, lawmakers were walking in and out of there, they were carrying pieces of paper back and forth, people were having sort of hu- hushed conversations on cell phones. And, uh, you really got the sense that, you know, they were sort of scrambling to come to an agreement, but, uh, that, that Torian clip we just played actually took place after all this, and it’s basically him saying, “We’re not gonna have an agreement tonight.” It’s probably, you know, it’s not gonna happen before the end of session.

And that’s, you know, essentially where we are now, I will say that Lucas and, uh, Torian sort of came out together and did a little press conference where they said, you know, “We’re making progress. We’re gonna have an answer to this by April 23rd,” uh, which is officially now when, when the legislature will come back.

Rich Meagher:

So we’ll wait and see on the, on the budget battle, but in, in terms of all the other issues we’ve been talking about, right, the idea that there was gonna be this flurry of legislation about data centers, what did happen this session in terms of the emissions and the water and all that stuff?

Patrick Larsen:

Yeah, so a bunch of bills got passed. Um, I would say that a lot of them got sort of passed in a, like a, a watered down state, you could say, but that, that’s, that’s, I think that’s pretty normal for, for legislation. Uh, Lucas’s bill, uh, on sort of, you know, shifting some costs to data centers that passed, uh, there are new requirements for onsite diesel generators that are just basically intended to ensure that the most advanced, lowest emissions options are used. There are a couple water usage measures that try to get at, you know, a little bit more transparency in that area, um, and, uh, some site assessment requirements that basically would require developers to say like, you know, these are potential impacts to forest land, agricultural land, the, the sound pollution issue, right? But I would say that the, uh, the Keystone Reform Bill, as it was called by reform advocates failed.

Um, so that was carried by delegate Josh Thomas and Senator Kannan Srinivasan. They were basically, you know, concerned that localities seem to hold the most power to approve or deny these facilities when in fact the impacts, uh, uh, of data centers go far beyond county lines, right? They, they wanted to set up essentially a final clearing house at the state level where regulators at the State Corporation Commission would look at individual data center proposals, look at their projected impact on the electric grid, on state clean energy goals, all that kind of thing.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah. I, I had heard about that, right? The idea that, you know, Hanover County or Henrico, they’re not really thinking about the entire electric grid when they’re approving a project. And so this idea would be that the, the state would at least take a look at it and-

Patrick Larsen:

mm-hmm.

Rich Meagher:

… take a look at the big picture.

Patrick Larsen:

Right. Yeah. And that, that did not make it through. Senator Srinivasan’s bill did make it out of the Senate, but neither, neither of them made it out of a House committee.

Rich Meagher:

So we’ve got these, um, you know, maybe incremental regulations that have been passed. We’ve got the possible elimination and/or adjustment of this tax credit, uh, tax exemption that, that the, the House and Senate are, are battling out here. And so maybe this wasn’t quite the big year for data centers that we thought it might be. It’s still a big year for data centers. I mean, what does all of this tell us about data centers and, and, and how they’re gonna operate in Virginia going forward?

Patrick Larsen:

Well, I think it tells us that the, the different sides of this issue are really pretty entrenched. Local governments don’t wanna see their tax dollars threatened. Builders and electricians see regulations as potentially threatening their livelihoods or forcing them to move to other states. And of course, you know, average Virginians are concerned too. They’re seeing their electric bills go up. They are really concerned about data center’s potential impact on that and just, you know, the energy demands of these things really threaten to overwhelm Virginia’s decarbonization goals. So this is not a fight that is going anywhere, anytime soon, and the industry is certainly not going anywhere. They have a massive footprint in this state.

Rich Meagher:

Mm.

Patrick Larsen:

They want to build more here and, uh, you know, we’re, we’re just gonna have to kind of track it and see where it goes. But I would say, you know, right now, it’s, it’s up to the legislature to put a budget proposal before the governor, and we’ll see what they have to say on April 23rd.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah, we’ll be watching. Patrick Larsen is VPM News’s environment and energy reporter. Thanks, Patrick.

Patrick Larsen:

Thanks, Rich.

Rich Meagher:

Coming up, state officials may still be figuring out how they feel about data centers, but at the local level, a lot of residents are not happy. That’s when we come back on RVA’s Got Issues.

This is RVA’s Got Issues. We’re talking about data centers. While state legislators are wondering how best to handle this huge industry, local governments and community members are already taking matters into their own hands. To find out more, we’re joined by Lyndon German, another equally loved VPM news reporter. He covers Henrico and Hanover Counties. Welcome, Lyndon.

Lyndon German:

Thank you for having me.

Rich Meagher:

So Lyndon, you’re from Mechanicsville. You know Hanover County. And Hanover County’s, I, you know, I’m not trying to knock it. It’s a little sleepy. It’s a little rural. It’s not exactly the most exciting part of RVA, but there’s battles going on in Hanover County about data centers that are really showing us all the things that local governments have to deal with when they’re dealing with these things, right?

Lyndon German:

That’s correct. You know, Hanover County has received a myriad of interest from companies who are interested in kind of setting up shop there. Um, but it all kind of started with the approval of this project in, I want to say, March of 2024. Um, Hanover approved, uh, massive data center development that’s, uh, the property itself is 1,200 acres. Um, it’s up to, I think, I wanna say 20 to 30 buildings.

Rich Meagher:

Mm-hmm.

Lyndon German:

And this company from Denver called Tract was promising to invest upwards of, you know, 50, 70 million dollars on the site. So ever since then, I think the county has really fielding offers from, uh, dozens of companies who have realized, like, you know, Hanover’s open for business, so to speak.

Rich Meagher:

Mm. But the residents of Hanover are maybe not as excited about this big project?

Lyndon German:

Yeah. Not as excited. Um, you know, it’s one word to describe it. I would say vehemently opposed to-

Rich Meagher:

<laugh> Okay.

Lyndon German:

… <laugh> any and all kind of data center development.

Bob Nelson:

1,200 acres are before you. It will have buffers. God’s rain will fall somewhere, but won’t put out a lithium battery fire. Otherwise, two square miles of Hanover will be crucified. There’ll be no resurrection for this land.

Lyndon German:

Even in this case that was approved, we saw folks like Bob Nelson. He is a avid community minimum, has spoken on numerous environmental issues. He came to this meeting in March and really had let the board of supervisors kinda have it.

Bob Nelson:

Data centers are warehouses on energy and s- water steroids. They will be centers for machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Anonymous:

That’s time.

Bob Nelson:

These proposals are as far from God. Please reject them. Thank you.

Rich Meagher:

So that’s, that’s biblical stuff there. Uh, this guy’s really fired up. Um, you know, God’s reign, these proposals are far from God. Uh, tell us how you really feel, Bob Nelson.

Lyndon German:

<laugh>

Rich Meagher:

Right? Uh, a- and is that representative? I mean, you’re saying that a lot of residents are feeling the same way. Maybe they’re not ar- articulating it quite as biblically as Bob is, but is, is this kind of the vibe about how people in Hanover are feeling about these data centers?

Lyndon German:

Absolutely. I’ve not seen this kind of concerted effort to stop something in Hanover County in a very, very long time. This effort to stop data centers in Hanover is an interesting Venn diagram of people. They’ve got people on the left, they’ve got people in the right. They’ve got people who still abide by the Tea Party moniker who are a part of this effort to stop data centers from moving in the county. And the same folks who have no to the redistricting amendments kind of placard on front of their lawns or their farms also have stop data center signs-

Rich Meagher:

Right.

Lyndon German:

… In Hanover County.

Rich Meagher:

And Hanover is, is obviously, um, dealing with this right now, but, uh, they’re not the only ones, right?

Lyndon German:

Right. Hanover’s dealing with their f- first data center while adjacent counties like Henrico, they’ve already got a, a huge population of 40 or so data centers. So-

Rich Meagher:

Hmm.

Lyndon German:

… in the, in the public comment here, we have Doug Boardman who joined Nelson in criticizing the county’s decision, making an observation that, you know, most counties now are kinda dealing with the consequences of s- of saying yes too many times to data centers. So for Hanover to be dipping its toe really shows, in boardman’s view, shows a lack of a judgment seer.

Doug Boardman:

You all are doubtless aware as you’ve heard that the court of public opinion does not currently look favorably on these data centers, and even your surrounding counties are looking to reign in the expansion. You’ve clearly seen that Beaver Dam residents have ignited against this project to an extent that I have not previously seen. Please consider your residents, your constituents, and deny this proposal. You don’t get a do over here. Please do not leave this data center as your legacy. Thank you.

Rich Meagher:

And so is the idea that residents in these other counties, and particularly Henrico who’s sort of much farther down the line here, are they feeling the same way? Are they having kind of buyer’s remorse about data centers?

Lyndon German:

I would say in some regards, yes, but for Henrico, I think they’re realizing the position that they’ve put themselves in and are now kind of using it to its fullest extent. Around the same time that Hanover is kind of dealing with its first data center, uh, in March, in May 2024, Henrico approved a smaller size data center, it’s about 600 acres. The approval with this data center came with a caveat that Henrico was going to start an affordable housing trust fund by using tax revenue generated from data centers. It started in its inaugural year with $60 million, and I believe over its first year, built around 75 homes that were targeted towards new home buyers and people who were below the median household income in the county. So in some ways, Henrico kind of recognized, they kind of, if we could go back to the biblical analogy, kind of had this come to Jesus moment, whether that be from seeing the effects that it had on residents or hearing from residents who were kind of opposed to any f- future development, they read the tea leaves and decided, you know, to reign in these data center developments.

And that really started by adjusting the code to say that if you wanna build a data center, you have to submit a permit that allows the public process to play out. And because they kinda left it unchecked for so long, they’re driving the car now, it, it feels like, you know, data centers really have to placate to the board and to the needs of the constituents in Henrico if they want approval. And I think more and more companies are starting to realize that the kind of gold rush period in Virginia is over. And for counties like Hanover, they’re, we’re really starting to see kind of the seeds being planted of, you know, constituents power and ability to kind of stop these developments from moving forward.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah. So that’s what I’m, I’m curious about here, right? Because in Henrico, it seems like, like you’re saying, the gold rush is over, uh, but in Hanover, it might be a little bit more of an open question. And, and so I’m wondering if there’s this kind of, I don’t wanna say a disconnect, but the, the Hanover County Board approving this big project two years ago and, and maybe thinking about others, but, uh, the residents don’t seem to be on board with it quite so much. So it seems like a tension between wanting to bring in this economic development at the top and then people on the grassroots saying like, “Actually, no, maybe we don’t want this stuff in our county.”

Lyndon German:

Right. Yeah. For the residents, they see this as anything but positive for the county. And their ability to organize has been a detriment to these companies who are looking to settle in Hanover. So Tract, the Denver-based developer has come back again to Hanover, to propose another data center development, and are seeing a very, very organized, concerted effort to s- say no on behalf of the constituency here. And I attended a rally recently where these two organizing forces came together and had a, a press conference, essentially, uh, ahead of a planning commission meeting where the track company was scheduled to have their case be heard, but for whatever reason, they requested a one month deferral. Maybe they weren’t ready to present or maybe that they knew that this public kind of display was scheduled to take place and they kind of backed out from the pressure.

Rich Meagher:

So it’s suggesting that these residents are having some power in the process here that, that the companies are wary of them coming out and speaking in the way they are.

Lyndon German:

Exactly. I mean, the Hanover constituency are more organized than ever. They have very clear demands, and these companies are kind of buckling at the pressure of it.

Clint Robertson:

We’ve made it clear we wanna stay rural in Hanover. Nothing rural about this data center or any of the data centers. I will be fighting against every data center no matter where it is in Hanover County, and we need everyone here to make that commitment and join us.

Rich Meagher:

So this idea of staying rural, right, um, about keeping the character of the county, uh, I mean, it is this tension that some of our rural counties in Virginia are going through, right? You know, they had this problem with solar farms, right? The farms are becoming these tech farms, essentially, um, you know, and they’re looking around and seeing these data centers go up and, and farmland go away and it, and it does feel like, I imagine the ground is shifting under them.

Lyndon German:

Yes. I think, I think that’s the perfect kind of way to describe it. And it’s almost, you know, to their detriment at times, you know, this protection of the rural character, I feel it’s, it’s so, it’s kind of amorphous, you know? It doesn’t really have like a huge definition. It’s just like a feeling that a lot of people have. I can say that there, the energy that I have been encountering in Hanover is certainly of like a NIMBY crowd, um, which you wouldn’t necessarily associate with a predominantly conservative county.

Public Commenter:

If it’s not cows, corn, or “maters,” y’all need to vote it down. And so, again, cows, corn, tomatoes. Data centers are not welcome in Hanover. Thank you.

Rich Meagher:

I mean, this is sometimes a, a way that, you know, sometimes folks make fun of rural folks that, you know, this is all they care about, cows, corn and “maters,” but it is an important way of life, right? Farming life and this, this kind of rural life that, that folks in Hanover grew up with and, and maybe wanna preserve. So it, it is a real, real threat to their way of life here, seeing these giant industrial things coming up and, and popping up on the landscape.

Lyndon German:

Absolutely. Their fears are warranted. It’s been well documented how much data centers have been a burden on Virginia’s electrical grid, how much they’ve been tax incentivized to build here. And the Commonwealth itself is not always getting the benefits back, you know. The, people will say that they’re like a billion dollar industry, but take Hanover, for example, that project that was approved in March 2024, they have not received, you know, much of a dime in tax incentives from that.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah. So we talked to Patrick earlier about a big tax battle happening in the General Assembly. You know, it seems like Henrico, which was way ahead of some of the other counties around here on data centers is pulling back. I mean, y- you even said earlier, like, the gold rush might be over. Are, are counties like Hanover, uh, and maybe some of the other ones like Goochland and Powhatan that maybe are even more behind the, the curve on this, did they miss their moment, right? Is this like, uh, are, are, are the, the data centers gonna go to some other place? What are you hearing about that in your reporting?

Lyndon German:

Well, I think there’s always going to be an interest, right? Virginia is uniquely situated in that it has, you know, very close access to the coast. It’s got these, like, miles of fiber that are underground that the data centers wanna use, but it also feels like the, you know, the cat’s out of the bag in, in some cases for residents, you know? They know what data centers are. They know what the, the harmful effects are, and they know how to follow this stuff. So I think, you know, the organizing effort against data centers is only going to become stronger and stronger and proliferate more and more. So I think in some cases, you know, we’ve got counties like Goochland and Hanover who in some ways kind of did miss the boat. And we’re seeing, like, spots of data center developments pop up, but the discussion around data centers has been set in stone in a way where saying yes to one is like, it’s a, a, a political shadow that follows you.

Rich Meagher:

Lyndon German is a reporter for VPM News. You can hear him on BizSense Beat every Friday morning. Thanks, Lyndon.

Lyndon German:

Thank you, Rich.

Rich Meagher:

That’s our show. Thanks to our guests, Patrick Larsen and Lyndon German. Tell us about your issues. Visit our website, rvasgotissues.vpm.org. Follow us on Instagram @richgotissues, or send us an email at [email protected]. Be sure to leave a review on your favorite podcasting platform. RVA’s Got Issues is produced by Max Wasserman and Rachel Dwyer. Script editing on this episode by Nicki Stein and Rachel Dwyer. Audio mixed by Steve Lack. Our theme music was composed by Alexander Hitchens. Shawn Freude is our executive producer. Steve Humble is VPM’s chief content officer. Rebekah Sausmikat is our director of social media handholding. I’m your host, Rich Meagher. Thanks for listening.