Residents, frontline advocates, and community partners rallied and marched outside proposed Plaza 500 data-center site, calling for an immediate statewide pause on new data-center approvals

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Virginians launched today a two-week, statewide March for a Moratorium campaign in Alexandria, calling on state leaders to pause approvals for new data centers across Virginia. The Alexandria event brought together residents and community advocates outside Plaza 500, a huge data-center campus approved by right but not yet built in the Bren Mar community. Organizers say the site, located near homes and Metro, illustrates why Virginia needs stronger statewide safeguards before any additional data centers move forward. 

“The Plaza 500 proposal exposes the full danger of unchecked data center expansion,” said Tyler Ray, Founder of the Save Bren Mar Coalition. “We need an immediate moratorium so state and local leaders can establish tough guardrails. Approving projects of this scale by right without public hearings cannot stand. Local elected officials are ceding their oversight under outdated rules simply to benefit deep-pocketed developers. Without statewide action, our communities are left entirely at the mercy of data center developers, Dominion Energy, and the elected officials prioritizing corporate interests over residents.”

The March for Moratorium campaign calls for a pause that would give policymakers time to establish meaningful protections for residents, public health, the environment, and transparent local decision-making. Advocates say the state must pause and evaluate the consequences of unchecked data-center development, including increased strain on the electric grid, water resources, air quality, land use, and nearby communities, before more projects are approved.

“Communities across the Commonwealth are fed up,” said Victoria Higgins, CCAN Action Fund Virginia Director. “Data center impacts on clean air, water reservoirs, household energy bills, and neighborhoods have been left unaddressed for years. Across cities, suburbs, and rural localities, and across all political ideologies, Virginians have been very clear: pause data center approvals until we can truly protect communities.” 

Big Tech companies are racing to build energy-intensive data-center campuses before public policy catches up with the scale of the industry’s impacts. Organizers are urging Virginia leaders to halt new approvals until the Commonwealth puts protections in place to address energy demand, water use, pollution, community impacts, transparency, and rising electric-bill concerns.

“Plaza 500 is the poster child for where NOT to place a data center and substation,” said Whitney Redding, Director of Friends of Holmes Run. “Too close to high-density residential, on a parcel that was supposed to be protected from such intensive impacts because of two streams that contribute to our drinking water. By allowing it to proceed by-right, Fairfax County opted to be a bystander in a process they set into motion. There can be no site-specific accommodations. Data center land use decisions are local, but their impacts extend well beyond the nearest neighbors and local environment to those of us living downstream or downwind. That includes the City of Alexandria and anyone who pays an electric bill. This is why we need a moratorium.” 

The Alexandria action began a statewide series of marches to show that resistance to unchecked data-center growth spans regions and political affiliations. The series brings together Virginians from Northern Virginia, the Shenandoah Valley, Southside, Hampton Roads, Roanoke, Richmond, and beyond. The series will culminate in a major rally in Richmond, where the governor and state lawmakers have the authority to enact a pause on data-center approvals.

“We can’t continue rolling out the welcome mat for data center developers at the expense of communities and the environment that sustains us,” said Renee Grebe, Northern Virginia Conservation Advocate at Nature Forward. “Virginians are already dealing with the negative impacts of the data center build-out, from cumulative air pollution to constant noise and fractured natural and human communities—all done with little transparency. Reliance on more dirty fossil fuel power generation, with scars on the land from their transmission lines, further puts communities at risk. We need meaningful, statewide protections in place before another data center is built here!” 

“Moms across Virginia are calling for a data center time-out,” said Bobby Monacella, Senior Campaigner for Mothers Out Front. “The health impacts on our kids from data center diesel generator emissions are unacceptable. A recent study estimated that emissions from these generators could trigger roughly 14,000 episodes of acute asthma symptoms annually in surrounding residential areas. Meanwhile, we’re watching our kids playing soccer in the shadow of data center monoliths, with the high-pitched hum drowning out their laughter and cheering. Our neighbors are worried about how they’ll afford their ever-rising electric bills, and our communities are being torn apart by new transmission lines and constant construction. This is not OK with us, and enough is enough. We need to put data centers in a time-out, NOW.” 

The Alexandria March for Moratorium is sponsored by CCAN Action Fund, Nature Forward, La ColectiVA, Third Act Virginia, Mothers Out Front VA, Sierra Club Virginia Chapter, Virginia League of Conservation Voters and Friends of Holmes Run, with thanks to the Save Bren Mar Coalition and Aslin Beer Company. 

Next stops in the Virginia March for the Moratorium include:

• Winchester – Thursday, October 15 at 6:00 PM
• Leesburg – Saturday, October 17 at 1:00 PM
  
• Culpeper – Sunday, October 18 at 1:00 PM
• Danville – Monday, October 19 at 12:00 PM
• Virginia Beach – Tuesday, October 20 at 6:00 PM
• Roanoke – Wednesday, October 21 at 4:00 PM
• Richmond – Saturday, October 24 at 11:00 AM

For more information and to see other events in the March for a Moratorium, visit the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) Action Fund’s March for a Moratorium page here.

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Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) Action Fund is dedicated to driving change in public policies at the local, state, and national levels to address the climate crisis. Through voter education, lobbying, and participation in the electoral process, we seek to advance our country’s leadership in the global movement toward clean energy solutions — focusing our efforts primarily in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC. We know that a vibrant democracy is central to our success so we work to defend democratic integrity wherever we can.