Virginians share concerns about data centers at Ashburn town hall

Elected officials and residents in Loudoun County are becoming increasingly vocal about their opposition to data centers, expressing concerns about their potential health impacts.

Dozens of people attended a town hall at Stone Hill Middle School in Ashburn on Thursday night to raise concerns about data centers and the energy needed to power them to US Rep. Suhas Subramanyam of Virginia’s 10th congressional district. 

Subramanyam, a Democrat, organized the town hall to hear constituent concerns about data centers. He was joined on stage by state Sen. Kannan Srinivasan (D-Broadlands), state Del. J.J. Singh (D-Ashburn), and Loudoun Supervisor Laura TeKrony. 

The elected officials were in agreement that while data centers have provided some benefits to Loudoun, it was time to stop their development in a county already home to about 200 data centers. 

“They’re building these data centers, they’re building the power infrastructure through our homes, and they don’t seem to care,” Subramanyam said. 

The town hall comes amid growing national backlash to data centers, especially in Virginia and Loudoun County, home to the largest concentration of data centers in the world.

Americans living in communities located near data centers have reported a rise in a contaminated water supply. Data centers also require a lot of water and energy to operate, and those costs can be passed on to nearby residents, raising utility bills. Environmental experts and advocates have also sounded the alarm about the rise in data centers and the harm they can cause to both the environment and community health. 

A recurring concern from attendees at the town hall was over the possible health impacts of the huge transmission lines needed to power data centers. Multiple people worried living near them could cause cancer, though studies have not proven that to be the case. But residents, especially parents, fear the health impacts on children won’t show up for years. 

“Maybe they don’t show any ill effects after one month, two months, six months, eight months,” Singh said in an interview. “But who’s to say that they’re not gonna have any ill health effects 10 years from now? We don’t know the answer to that.”

There were many calls for transmission lines to be buried underground, which is more expensive than having them above ground. Singh and Srinivasan have been working in the General Assembly to put transmission lines underground, but it’s proven to be no easy task.  

“ We are fighting for you because we want this to happen and we don’t want these lines at all to begin with, regardless of whether they’re overground or underground,” Singh told the crowd. 

Mike Hummer owns a private preschool in the path of a proposed transmission line that would power a data center. He worried about the impact the power line would have on the 200 children who attend his school. He added even if there are no health risks, the stigma around them will be hard to get over for many.

“As we heard tonight, lots of families move here because of the wonderful atmosphere, neighborhoods, the people, the schools, healthy air: all of that is being impacted, even if it’s just in their minds,” Hummer said. 

Sahara Sajjadi contributed to this story.