This page include news, information and research about data centers,
and highlights ongoing campaigns to make data centers more sustainable
and make the process of their development more transparent.
You can help Nature Forward and its partners advocate for
more sustainable data center development by:
- Speaking out! Contact your elected officials urging them to approve sensible regulations on data centers to reduce harmful impacts to nature and people.
- Staying informed! Sign up for Nature Forward Action Alerts for news about ongoing advocacy campaigns.
- Volunteering! Work with our Conservation Advocates to make data centers more sustainable in Virginia and Maryland. Become a volunteer here.
- Educating yourself, your family and friends, and local elected leaders! Use the resources below to stay up-to-date on data center development in our region.
Sign Up for
Nature Forward
Action Alerts
Help make a positive difference
for nature in your community.
Nature Forward Conservation Blog Posts
- Speak up for a stronger Data Center Zoning Ordinance
(Updated Aug 5, 2024) - Virginia’s General Assembly: some wins and a long road
(May 23, 2024) - 2024 Virginia General Assembly Legislative Priorities
(Feb 1, 2024) - What are the big issues in Virginia in 2024? Think data
(Jan 6, 2024) - 2023 Virginia General Assembly Legislative Priorities
(Feb 2, 2023) - Data Centers In The Wrong Place: It’s A Bad Deal
(Updated Nov 2, 2022)
- Take Action On Prince George’s Data Center BIll
(Updated Nov 19, 2024) - Data Center Frontiers Summit Recap
(Oct 24, 2024) - 2024 Maryland General Assembly comes to a close
(Apr 11, 2024) - Data Centers in Maryland
(March 26, 2024) - 2024 Maryland General Assembly Legislative Priorities
(Feb 7, 2024)
News About Data Centers
Dark Clouds: The RIsks of Unchecked Data Centers
– Nature Forward Quarterly (Fall 2024)
Virginia News
- Study: AI and data centers could drive the cost of energy up by 70% over 10 years
– The Center Square (Nov 21, 2024) - Data centers keep growing in Virginia — and so does energy demand
– Virginia Public Media (Nov 14, 2024) - Energy Virginia, citing data centers, projects largest growth in power demand since World War II
– ReigingerGooch Attorneys at Law (October 16, 2024) - Energy demands for Northern Virginia data centers almost too big to compute
– Bay Journal (June 18, 2024)
Maryland News
- If Maryland must do data centers, they should be done right | READER COMMENTARY
– The Baltimore Sun (Nov 23, 2024) - Prince George’s data center bill met with strong opposition
– NBC4 Washington (Nov 19, 2024) - Data center conference gets caught up in power line controversy
– Maryland Matters (Aug 30, 2024) - Proposed power grid upgrades driven by VA data centers could cost Marylanders $500M
– Loudoun Times-Mirrors (Feb 15, 2024) - Data center battle in Maryland gets early preview in rural county
– Bay Journal (Apr 17, 2024)
Watch our Conservation Café presentations on Data Centers
Data Centers and local National Parks:
Do They Compute?
Presenter:
Kyle Hart
Mid-Atlantic Program Manager
National Parks Conservation Association
Data Centers:
How AI Is Keeping Us from
Our Climate Goals!
Presenter:
Ann Bennett
Land Use Chair
Virginia Sierra Club
Information and Resources from Partners
Web Map:
Existing and Proposed
Data Centers
A crowd-sourced map that provides an easy-to-follow picture of the current and future data center footprint in Virginia.
Webinar: Data Centers in Nova
(courtesy Regional Elected Leaders Initiative)
Featuring
Honorable Rip Sullivan
Virginia House of Delegates;
Honorable Mike Turner
Loudon County Board of Supervisors;
John Larson, Dominion Energy;
Josh Levi, Data Center Coalition;
Ivy Main, VA Sierra Club
(October 2024)
Position Paper:
Sierra Club
DEMANDING BETTER:
How growing demand for electricity
can drive a cleaner grid
(September 2024)
Position Paper:
Mike Turner
Ashburn (VA) Supervisor
Loudoun County, Virginia:
Data Center Capital of the World
“A Strategy for a Changing Paradigm”
(Opinions represent the author only)
Study Resolution:
Data Centers
Authorized by the
Joint Legislative Audit
and Review Commission
(December 2023)
News Release:
US Senator Ben Cardin
Cardin Expresses Concerns with Planned Transmission Line through Western Maryland and the Drive to Increase Data Centers Fueling the Need for More Power
(September 2024)