A Virginian congressman has called for a national strategic plan to address the impacts of data centers on local communities in Virginia before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
First reported by The Center Square, Suhas Subramanyam, a Democrat representing Virginia’s 10th congressional district, argued that Virginia should be taken as a “cautionary tale for the rest of the country.” He contended that the state's lack of action on limiting unfettered data center growth has caused increasing strain on utilities, grid infrastructure, and the local environment.
Subramanyam warned that Virginia is on the precipice of huge price increases on utility bills, which, according to the representative, could increase “by up to $276 a year.” He further warned that they could potentially double within seven to ten years.
As a result, Subramanyam said that a continual lack of strategic planning could have an adverse impact upon local communities, which outweighs the economic benefits data center development can have.
“One can support innovation, but it doesn’t have to come at the cost of our communities,” he claimed.
The congressman also highlighted the security risks of concentrating data centers all in one place and, according to him, increases the risk of the state being targeted by malign actors.
"You look at the Ukraine war, when Russia failed to hack Ukraine’s telecom networks, what did they target? They targeted the data centers. And so, northern Virginia is becoming more of a target than Washington D.C. itself," he contended.
Finally, Subramanyam brought into focus the environmental implications of data centers on the state.
“It’s making reaching our clean energy goals in Virginia nearly impossible; we set those in place,” the congressman said. "Even historic places like Manassas Battlefield are under threat, as well."
Despite the concern, Virginia’s data center market doesn't look like it's slowing down anytime soon. In February, Dominion Energy, the main electrical utility provider in the state, revealed it now has 40GW of contracted power for data centers as of December 2024, up 88 percent since July 2024.
Hyperscalers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) are also planning for significant expansion across Virginia. In February, AWS said it is aiming to develop a data center in each county between Northern Virginia and the city of Richmond. In 2023, the company committed to investing $35 billion in expanding its footprint in the state.
