SI Data Center Reality Check

Make the case for data centers on their merits. Then let the citizens who must live with them decide whether those benefits justify the sacrifices.

Ed Timperlake | October 28, 2026

Living in Virginia’s Piedmont region, I’ve watched the rapid and largely unchecked proliferation of data centers become a significant regional and statewide issue.

Virginia has hundreds of operational data centers, with more than 600 existing and proposed facilities identified in some industry inventories. Northern Virginia’s “Data Center Alley,” concentrated in Loudoun and Prince William counties, hosts the world’s densest concentration of data centers. According to a Bloomberg analysis cited by Consumer Reports, these facilities accounted for nearly 40% of Virginia’s electricity consumption in 2024.

Unfortunately, getting straight answers about this proliferation can be difficult. To borrow an old joke about mushroom farming, the apparent strategy is to keep people in the dark and feed them manure.

The darkness comes from the quiet courting of elected county supervisors by an industry promising enormous tax revenues. The prospect of holding down local taxes is understandably seductive, particularly in the short term.

But when an awakened and legitimately concerned public begins asking questions, the manure cycle begins. Suddenly, we’re told that America must approve these projects to “beat China.”

Having co-authored six nonfiction books, including the New York Times bestseller The Year........

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