Plans for a gas power plant and data center campus on 750 acres of land in Virginia’s Pittsylvania County have been withdrawn for a second time, with the developer saying it could build houses instead.
Councillors on the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors voted 6-1 to reject a rezoning application from the project’s developer, Balico LLC, at a meeting on Tuesday, April 15. But prior to the meeting, the company said that it would be withdrawing its application in any case.
The news comes after a report was published detailing the potential negative environmental impact of the development on the surrounding area.
Residential development on the cards?
Balico will now consider its options for how to use the land, most of which is adjacent to Mill Creek Road. It could partner with a builder to deliver housing instead of a data center.
A Balico statement said: “While a residential development is not the ideal use we had envisioned for this property, it represents a viable alternative that could still deliver value to our stakeholders, particularly if the data center campus does not proceed.”
The land is currently zoned for agricultural use, which allows for up to two residential units to be built per acre.
Balico first revealed its ambitions for the data center campus last year, putting in an application to rezone 47 parcels of land across 2,200 acres. The company wants to build a 3.5GW natural gas power plant to provide energy for the data centers, connected to the nearby Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), a 303-mile pipeline delivering natural gas produced in the Marcellus and Utica shale formations in the Atlantic Ocean.
However, it withdrew its initial plan following opposition from residents, who were concerned about the impact of the development on the surrounding area, as well as the potential for increased pollution. Natural gas, though less polluting than other fossil fuels, still creates considerable carbon emissions.
Balico returned with a revised application earlier this year, which consisted of an initial 12 data center buildings on a smaller footprint, connected to the power plant.
Speaking to DCD in November, Balico CEO Irfan Ali said the company had decided to start with a smaller development, with 300MW of IT capacity, to “give residents the opportunity to see what we’re planning and how we’re going to minimize the impact of the data center on the surrounding area.” Ali said the site could then be expanded in future years.
Report highlights gas power plant pollution fears
News of the application being withdrawn comes following the publication of a report commissioned by environmental pressure group the Southern Environmental Law Center looking at the potential impact of the scheme.
Authored by Dr. Francesca Dominici, of the T.H. Chan School of Public Health at Harvard University, the report assesses the impact of polluting particulate matter (PM2.5) - tiny solid particles and liquid chemical droplets - that would be produced by the power plant.
It found that a plant of the size proposed by Balico would emit at least 326.53 tons of PM2.5 per year. The authors say that any exposure to PM2.5 is problematic, and that people who spend a prolonged periods of time in areas where PM2.5 levels exceed 0.1 micrograms per cubic meter can suffer severe health consequences such as “increased hospitalizations due to heart attack, pneumonia, cardiovascular issues or, in some cases, stroke or cancer.”
The report says that, per dispersion modeling it has carried out, 17,500 people in Pittsylvania County would be exposed to PM2.5 levels exceeding 0.1 mcg per cubic meter, while 1.2 million people in Virginia and North Carolina would experience additional PM2.5 exposure. This could cost healthcare providers up to $48 million in additional treatment costs by 2040, the report added.
Balico said the proposed power plant would comply with all federal and state regulations around air quality.
