A Henrico reader's open letter to local, state officials about data center rezoning projects

Dear Editor:

As the General Assembly decides to wait for results of a Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) study of data centers before taking action to reform the industry, we residents of Henrico (and other localities) have little choice but to act with greater urgency, armed with lessons learned in NoVA. Soon, our Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission will consider a rezoning case for the expansion of this resource-intensive industry. Northeastern Henrico County faces a precedent-setting proposal (REZ-2023-100017) that would bring a new data center campus to 622 acres currently zoned for agriculture. In order to make a responsible decision on such generation- impacting changes, local leadership should answer some important questions — to the satisfaction of residents and of their constituents.

• How many data centers will be involved? What companies want to build and operate them? How reputable are these players? What do other communities have to say about them? What are the downsides? Do we know?

• What is the maximum total square footage of data centers that could be reasonably accommodated on this site at full build out?

• What will be the source of the data centers’ water supply? What percent of our potable water would this data center use? What happens in times of drought when supplies may be low? Will this data center use groundwater? Will its operations use water efficiently?

• What about stormwater? How much impervious surface will be created at this site and how will this runoff be handled? What are the threats to the watershed? Is no net site runoff a possibility?

• Wastewater from chillers is also a concern. Can it be captured and reused? What volume of wastewater will be generated and added to our sewer system/ wastewater treatment facility? Do these already- stressed systems have capacity?

• How about energy efficiency? What incentives are there for a data center to conserve energy? How will the data centers affect our state and our locality’s carbon footprint and net zero goals? What percent of electricity supply and backup generation would be from clean renewables?

• How much electricity will the proposed data centers need? Where will it come from? Can the grid in this area handle the load? What happens at times of peak power demand, power outages, or blackouts? To what extent would meeting multiple data centers’ power supply needs take precedence over those of other customers in an emergency?

• Is on-site generation being considered? On-site small modular nuclear power? On site natural gas generators? If so, where will fuel be stored and how will it be transported? What about nuclear waste?

• Will backup power supplies be absolutely restricted to backup use and only for use at the site ( and not to backfill the electrical grid as is being discussed in the electricity industry)?

• Will new offsite electric transmission, substations or generation be required? If so, how many and where will they be located? Would new offsite power lines be underground? How much will ratepayers and taxpayers pay for all this? How much will it cost? How much will my electric bill increase?

• What kind of backup power will be used? Battery storage? On-site solar? Natural gas? Diesel generators? If the latter, what is their size ( think boxcar)? How many and where will they be located? How often will they be run and what are noise and air quality impacts when they do? What about the synergistic air quality effects when all backup generators are used at once? Is anyone looking at this? Where will fuel be stored and how will it be transported to the site?

• How can the public be assured of appropriate regulation, monitoring and oversight of the extremely important question of energy use by this proposed project during a well-established global climate emergency? What state or local agency does this for us?

• Is supporting more unrestricted data center development compatible with a commitment to a clean energy future?

• What will be the direct impacts of constructing these data centers on the landscape? Is this greenfield construction? If so, what historical, archaeological and cultural resources will be affected? What about impacts to forest, streams, habitat, wildlife, intact soils, dark skies and ecosystem services? Any loss of prime agriculture? Will there be a baseline ecological study? A visual impact study? To what extent can losses be mitigated?

• Data centers have broad offsite impact. What would be the effect on adjacent land uses and values, including on homes, farms, forest and wildlife? Will the power company and county condemn private land in order to serve the data centers? What are likely routes of the related linear projects (new gas, water, sewer, electric, roads) that would need to be built?  What about traffic, both during construction and after?

• How noisy is a data center?  Will there be reputable baseline and ongoing acoustical studies of the site? What does research say about acceptable levels of noise on human health and on wildlife? What processes do continuing and intermittent noise come from and what noise abatement processes will be employed to address these? How does building height affect noise from rooftop chillers? What about synergistic effects of multiple data centers running chillers and diesel generators 24-7-365?

• Is there a plan for decommissioning?

• What would be the actual net benefits of a data center campus here? Has this been studied? How many jobs? How much local tax revenue? Take into account local and state tax incentives and the cost of all infrastructure to serve it, including tax rates.

• What are the opportunity costs of committing to a data center campus? Is this the best thing for the community? Is this what citizens want? Have you asked us?

• How can we be assured of hosting  world class data centers, not ones using outdated technology or that aren’t good neighbors?

• Many promises are made by industry and its boosters proposing to come into a community. What mechanisms for monitoring and oversight will hold them accountable to the agreements citizens are asked to buy into?

• What are the most reliable and independent sources of information about this industry and its impacts? How did this project come to be? Have our elected officials, affected communities, and citizens been kept informed? What potential conflicts of interest should we guard against?

• What are concerned citizens saying? Do their arguments have merit and are they respected? Should industry and economic development interests be given the benefit of any doubt, outweighing well-founded concern raised by citizens?

• What have we learned from the data center experience of localities in Northern Virginia? In hindsight, what do they say were their mistakes? How will we avoid repeating them?

Henrico County should stop all zoning action on this rezoning project - and on any other project relating to data center expansion - to make time for serious public discussion of how this high impact industry should best be accommodated in our comprehensive plan and zoning ordinances. Thoughtful integration of best practices (ISO, LEED) can be accomplished, but not in a rushed zoning action masterminded behind the scenes. Participation on the part of a broad-based local stakeholder group can help monitor compliance and ensure transparency and good government process.

When data centers are looming in any locality, leaders must take time to fully understand the impact of this far-reaching industry and how best to manage and mitigate it, before inviting it to town. In Henrico, the Henrico Conservation Action Network, of which I am a part, can help us all get up to speed on the impacts and models of best practice. For more information, visit www.conservehenrico.org.

Sincerely,

Lynn P Wilson
Sandston