Fairfax County mom fights for clean air as VA data centers expand

Back in 2017, when her daughter was just a toddler, Julie Kimmel began organizing and volunteering with local climate action groups. She wanted to make sure environmental regulations were set to keep her family and others safe as Big Tech companies expanded into Northern Virginia. 

Today, nearly a decade later, Kimmel’s fight has intensified. That’s because Virginia is now the data center capital of the world, with Loudoun and Fairfax counties hosting more data centers than any other region in the world. What’s more, the Trump administration plans to boost artificial intelligence (AI) and build more data centers across the US, with encouragement from Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who is also focused on ways to increase AI development in Virginia. 

Related: Youngkin invites AI into the Virginia government—tech experts say it’s a bad idea

“This is where the economy is going, but that shouldn’t put us all at risk,” said Kimmel, adding that there are over 200 AI data centers near her home in Fairfax County. 

“There are so many data centers coming online. We’re really starting to feel the stress on our power grid.” 

But data centers aren’t just putting more pressure on the state’s data grid and jacking up utility bills for locals. Kimmel said that the gas-generated buildings are often built in areas near residential neighborhoods, schools, daycares, and local businesses, which push hazardous, cancer-causing air pollutants into local communities. A recent report to the Governor and General Assembly of Virginia found that backup generators at data centers emitted approximately 7% of the total permitted pollution levels for these generators in 2023. 

Over time, exposure to pollution related to data centers can exacerbate asthma and cause lung infections, heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, and cancer. Based on the Environmental Protection Agency’s COBRA modeling tool, the public health cost of these emissions in Virginia is estimated at approximately $200 million, with health impacts extending to neighboring states and reaching as far as Florida.

“Living in a place where you’re breathing in poor air, that’s just another layer of stress on your day-to-day life,” said Kimmel, who has shared how the negative effects of air pollution have and will continue to impact communities across Virginia with lawmakers as a member of Moms Clean Air Force—a group of more than 55,000 parents in the Commonwealth and 1.6 million across the country who care about cleaner air and a stable climate for their children’s health and future.

Recently, Kimmel, alongside her now 10-year-old daughter and other members of Moms Clean Air Force, traveled to Washington, DC, to attend a press conference with elected officials. Their goal was to defend the 2009 endangerment finding, a cornerstone ruling that recognizes the effect air pollution from sources like data centers has on public health, and which is the legal and regulatory foundation for climate protection in the US, from being cut by Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Since being selected to head the agency earlier this year by the Trump administration, Zeldin—who repeatedly voted to weaken the Clean Air Act while serving as a Congressman in New York—has expressed his support for Trump’s vision of making the US the AI capital of the world. This means expanding data centers as far and as quickly as possible, with little regard to their impact on air quality. 

During the press conference, Democratic lawmakers, including Sen. Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts), warned that repealing the Endangerment Finding would eliminate regulations that protect future generations.

“These kids deserve better than what this dangerous administration is doing to them and their future. We all deserve better,” said Sen. Markey while standing alongside Kimmel, her daughter, and other environmental advocates. 

“It was an incredible opportunity for my daughter, but also an opportunity for her to take action,” said Kimmel, adding that, over time, she hopes that events like the press conference will show her daughter how she can work alongside government officials to help advocate for issues that impact her community.

“It can’t be all doom and gloom. We can still do something about this. We are still fighting—and you’re fighting along with me.”

Related: New Google data center near Richmond sparks fears over higher bills, water, and climate