Virginia
- Virginia’s Data-Center Boom Runs on Water and Diesel: Loudoun’s Billion Gallons and 8,910 Generators
Unconstrained Demand tallies Loudoun data centers above 1 billion gallons of water in 2023, statewide use above 2.1 billion, and 8,910 mostly Tier 2 diesel generators permitted for up to 500 hours a year.
- Governor Spanberger Celebrates Virginia Wine Month, Invites Virginians to Support Local Growers
RICHMOND, VA — Governor Abigail Spanberger today is celebrating the start of Virginia Wine Month and inviting Virginians to support the growers, winemakers, and small businesses that make the industry an important part of local economies and communities across the Commonwealth.
- Abigail Spanberger Signs Executive Order 22 on Data Center Accountability and AI Task Force
Governor Abigail Spanberger’s Executive Order 22 and 2027 legislative slate target NDAs, local approval for large loads, noise and backup power, and an AI task force—without a statewide moratorium.
- Dinwiddie Residents Grill Haven Oak Data-Center Developers on Water, Power, and Battlefield Land
Tract’s ~1,000-acre campus proposal draws sharp Q&A at VSU as the company pivots to closed-loop cooling and drops buildings over a Civil War battlefield core.
- Virginia Warned in 1999 That Power-Line Easements Leave Landowners Paying for Residue Damage
RICHMOND — Long before Data Center Alley turned Northern Virginia into a magnet for 500 kV and 765 kV corridors, the General Assembly already knew what transmission easements do to private land.
- Meeting Unconstrained Virginia Data-Center Power Demand Will Be “Very Difficult” — Households Face Rising System Costs
December 2024 JLARC Report 598 finds unconstrained demand could double Virginia power need in a decade, new build rates look unachievable, and Dominion residential customers could see $14–$37 more per month in generation and transmission costs by 2040.
- Democrat CA Called Laken Riley Act a “Heinous Bill,” Said Murder Had Nothing to Do With Immigration
House Judiciary report: Parisa Dehghani-Tafti stood by calling the bipartisan Laken Riley Act “heinous” and said Laken’s murder was unrelated to immigration — while the killer was an illegal alien released in sanctuary jurisdictions.
- Loudoun’s Substation Swarm: 95 Existing or Proposed, 30–40 More Coming — Every Data-Center Vote Becomes a Wires Vote
County presentations tied to Aspen put Loudoun near a hundred substations with dozens more planned; Democrat supervisors admit approving a campus means approving the substation and line that follow.
- Virginia House Advances Bill Creating Education Advisory Board for African-American, Asian-American and Indigenous Students
House Bill 814 would establish a new state advisory board focused on African-American, Asian-American and Indigenous education issues in Virginia public schools.
- Virginia education board approves new rules for local student assessments
Students in a classroom.
- Spanberger’s energy plan keys in on clean energy to meet growing demand and VCEA goals
Gov. Abigail Spanberger unveils energy plan that models how the state can meet energy demands while meeting clean energy goals.
- Virginia Faces $1.7 Billion Highway Maintenance Funding Gap
Virginia transportation officials are confronting a projected $1.7 billion gap in highway maintenance as costs rise and older roads, bridges and drainage systems require more work.
- Spanberger presents slate of data center regulation proposals, puts first directives in motion
Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed Executive Order 22 on Friday, Sept. 18 to kick off her data center regulation package.
- Mike Turner 2026 Deck: Loudoun Data-Center Load Hit 5.33 GW — Planned Adds Still Short of 14–20 GW Path
Ashburn supervisor’s June 15, 2026 paradigm slides and strategy paper put 53M sq ft built, 60M in pipeline, and microgrid/SMR/HVDC scenarios against a Democrat-board boom that March 18 only partly closed.
- Data-Center Growth Adds Tens of Billions to Plan NPV vs “No Data Center Growth”
SCC-directed 2024 IRP supplement (PUR-2024-00184) shows portfolio NPVs about $100.2–$103.3 billion with data-center growth versus about $77.2–$80.9 billion when data-center load growth is frozen.
- Democrat Trust Policy Bars Arlington Police From Calling ICE — Even for Violent Felons, Gangs, and Terrorists
House Judiciary report: Democrat-run Arlington County Board Trust Policy blocks ACPD from contacting ICE for violent felons, gang members, traffickers, or terrorists; ACSO honored only 2 of 310 ICE detainers (0.65%).
- Valley Link’s 765 kV Northern Line Is PATH Reborn — Aimed at Loudoun Data Centers, Critics Say
RICHMOND / LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. — A roughly 260-mile, 765-kilovolt transmission line from West Virginia into Maryland — the northern spine of PJM’s Valley Link portfolio — is being pitched as new reliability steel.
- Virginia DMV wait times plummet to record lows after major reforms
The customer service center at the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles Headquarters in Richmond.
- Kimley-Horn to Loudoun: Data-Center Pipeline Implies ~8,190 MW — More Transmission Than PJM Had Approved
County-commissioned September 2024 due diligence tallies ~117 pipeline buildings at ~70 MW each and urges corridor mapping, undergrounding, collocation, and reconductoring as Democrat-led Loudoun faces the grid gap it helped create.
- Western Loudoun Push: One Underground HVDC Instead of MARL and Valley Link North Overhead
LOVETTSVILLE, Va. — Theresa Ghiorzi and a JotForm petition urge Loudoun, Frederick, and Clarke officials to back a single underground HVDC alternative to FirstEnergy’s MARL/Gore–Doubs–Goose Creek 500 kV and Valley Link North 765 kV lines into Data Center Alley.
- CarMax Cuts About 145 Corporate Jobs, Including Roughly 60 in Richmond Area
Latest round hits tech, HR, product, accounting, and marketing as CEO Keith Barr’s tenure pushes a leaner headquarters model.
- Airport leaders in the region seek to expand service from Dulles airport to Asia
Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority officials attended an event in Taipei (via MWAA).
- State Releases Draft Rules for Recreational Cannabis Market Opening in 2027
CCA outlines retail, microbusiness and cultivation fees; applications expected to open by Feb. 1 ahead of a July 1, 2027 launch.
- Jason Ballard House Bill 103 Seeks to Extend Vital Early Intervention Services for Virginia Infants and Toddlers
A bill introduced by Delegate Jason Ballard would extend Virginia’s Early Intervention Program for Infants and Toddlers for children with disabilities.
- Fast-Track Large-Load Queue Is Not in the Public Interest — Preferential Power for Speculative Data Centers
RICHMOND — In a June 30, 2026 brief in PUR-2026-00011, Theresa Ghiorzi tells the SCC a paid ‘fast-track’ interconnection preference for large loads fails Virginia’s public-interest and public-use tests, citing Norfolk Southern (2025) and Dominion’s own ~70 GW speculative queue.
- Virginia House Bill Extends Procurement Preference for Local Agricultural Products
House Bill 1086 grants Virginia producers of school nutrition goods an option to match out-of-state bids within 20 percent while extending related preference laws to 2028.
- Alexandria Schools Race Toward September 30 Decisions on Hazardous Walk Zones and Bus Routes
ACPS and City Hall are reviewing parent hazard claims at key Alexandria intersections before a Sept. 30 ParentSquare deadline on walk-zone bus exceptions amid driver shortages.
- Construction Cost Inflation Strains Virginia State Capital Projects
Post-COVID construction inflation has established a higher cost baseline for Virginia state projects, with further increases projected amid labor and market pressures.
- Virginia Lawmakers Weigh Bill to End Common Law Suicide Crime
A measure discussed by Delegate Simon would abolish the common law crime of suicide to ease benefit denials and stigma for surviving families.
- Virginia has a new law that regulates the use of license plate readers
The General Assembly has decided to take action to curb the use of automatic license plate readers by law enforcement.
- Warner, Kaine and Local Candidates Push to End NDAs on Data Center Deals
Senators urge voters to put officials on the record as secrecy surrounds projects like Wood Haven Technology Park.
- Theresa Ghiorzi Moves to Dismiss Golden-Mars, Citing Loudoun Route Rigging and Untallied Homeowner Takings
RICHMOND / LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. — In PUR-2025-00056, Theresa Ghiorzi asks the SCC to dismiss Dominion’s Golden-Mars 500/230 kV application, restart siting de novo, finish Line #514 first, and stop connecting high-demand customers until Data Center Alley load drops below NERC-violation thresholds.
- Wittman and Taylor Clash in VA-01 as National Spotlight Hits Virginia Midterms
Healthcare votes, H.R. 1 fallout and data-center costs define a district Trump won in 2024 but Spanberger carried in 2025.
- Prince William Supervisors Unanimously Block $300M Vint Hill Switching Station
Board denies Dominion special use permit after residents and supervisors say the utility failed to clarify data-center loads near Braemar and Vint Hill housing.
- Virginia Beach schools, Civil Rights Office reach agreement over sexual misconduct investigations
The Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building pictured on Nov. 25, 2024.
- Franklin County Jury Awards $750,000 in Smith Mountain Lake Housing Discrimination Case
A Franklin County jury awarded $750,000 to two families that were evicted after the campground owner discovered one family member was Black.
- The battle over data centers isn’t just about data centers, but they’re the battleground we have.
Marvell data center in Culpeper County, Virginia.
- We must solve Virginia’s other health care workforce crisis: A lack of educators
America’s health care workforce shortage is a known crisis: Over 85% of health care facilities lack adequate staff.
- Ghiorzi Family Tells SCC to Reject Dominion’s IRP: Co-Locate Generation or Make Data Centers Pay for Underground HVDC
LOVETTSVILLE, Va. — In April 2025 comments on Dominion’s 2024 Integrated Resource Plan (PUR-2024-00184), Theresa Ghiorzi and relatives urge the SCC to reject the plan, require campus co-located baseload, and stop socializing ‘multi-driver’ 500/765 kV extension cords from West Virginia coal across 13 PJM states.
- Virginia’s Democratic Trifecta Passes 49 Election Bills as Felony Voting Rights Head to November Ballot
Ballotpedia counts a 250 percent jump in election measures; ranked-choice voting is now permanent, Virginia joined the National Popular Vote compact, and automatic rights restoration awaits voters November 3.
- Higher Standards of Learning Cut Scores Coming, but Not This Year, Virginia Board Says
Virginia Board of Education Members listening to Superintendent Emily Anne Gullickson at the board’s business meeting on Nov. 13, 2025.
- Attorney General Jones Says DHS May Have Violated Virginia Election Law
Letter to Homeland Security demands written confirmation and preservation of voter-lookup access logs after a whistleblower report.
- Opioid authority awards $12.3 million for prevention, treatment and recovery in Virginia
The Virginia Opioid Abatement Authority has awarded more than $12.3 million to support opioid prevention, treatment and recovery efforts across the commonwealth.
- With United States House control hanging in the balance, Wittman faces Taylor in contentious Virginia-01 race
U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Westmoreland, left, is running for reelection in Virginia's 1st Congressional District, as Democratic challenger Shannon Taylor aims to unseat him.
- New guidance limits voting disqualifications to murder, manslaughter convictions
Among Virginians who are no longer incarcerated, only those convicted of murder and voluntary or involuntary manslaughter remain disqualified from voting under new guidance from the Virginia Department of Elections.
- Richard Bland College and Live Casino Hotel Virginia Launch Workforce Training Initiative in Petersburg
Richard Bland College, in partnership with Live!
- Peter Francisco, the ‘Hercules of American independence’
The year 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
- Petersburg Sets $60,000 Starting Teacher Pay After City Council Funds Salary Overhaul
FY2027 budget advances Phase I of a compensation study, with recurring city dollars aimed at filling vacancies and slowing exits to higher-paying neighbors.
- Virginia confronts $1.7 billion shortfall in highway maintenance funding
Construction work along the Dulles Connector in Northern Virginia, with roadwork equipment and activity visible along the roadway.
- Century-Old Law Gives Virginia Legislator-Lawyers Broad Power to Delay Court Cases
State law allows attorneys serving in the General Assembly to obtain continuances in court proceedings when legislative duties interfere.