(Apologies for another email so quickly, but we believe you would want to know this)
The question at hand:
Which data center company is willing to back the destruction of our historic and rural areas?
This past Thursday (1/27/22), at a county informational meeting, QTS came out strongly supporting the Pageland data center application, and the destruction of our historic natural resources along the Pageland corridor.
QTS, a Blackstone Capital Company, has stated many times that it is concerned about environmental issues, and supports equity.
Yet, by supporting this application, they have clearly stated that they do not care about the destruction of our historic areas. We are surprised that a company like QTS would be willing to destroy areas where Americans fought and died for the freedom of enslaved people.
Mounted on the wall, playing on a large flat screen TV, were QTS data center company marketing materials.
QTS company materials are now posted online in the ‘Applicant Materials’ section for the Pageland application on the county website:
https://www.pwcva.gov/department/planning-office/pw-digital-gateway
(in the ‘Public Meetings Stations’ section: ‘Applicant Boards’, ‘Applicant Exhibits’, ‘Applicant Aerials’)
From the QTS Website:
“Corporate Sustainability
QTS has made a commitment to corporate responsibility through our key Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) initiatives.”
Well –
We believe that sustainability begins with site selection!
Developing and paving over historically and environmentally sensitive lands is NOT sustainable – which explains the overwhelming opposition to the Pageland Application in the conservation community.
The QTS company motto is “hybrid and hyperscale, built on intelligent infrastructure.”
Pageland Lane data centers would be built on something – but it is definitely not their Corporate “sustainability” promise.
In addition to Prince Williams Watershed Management, and our own Historical Commission – both opposing this disastrous project….
The President of the Manassas National Battlefield Trust, Joseph Eaves, in his Washington Post op-ed also said this:
“Debate over building data centers in the rural crescent of Northern Virginia, a stone’s throw from Manassas National Battlefield Park, sheds light on a divisive topic. More than a squabble over municipal zoning and construction, this is about the dangerous precedent our leaders would set by allowing developers to build gigantic, loud industrial facilities on hallowed ground.”
“More than 150,000 men fought over the hills of Manassas National Battlefield Park, through two major Civil War battles. Thousands bled and died there, and it is likely that some are still buried there. Their actions changed the course of U.S. history.”
“Rezoning this land for risky commercial development would permanently alter the historic landscape that allows visitors to stand in the footsteps of the past and learn from it. It is a grievous insult to those who sacrificed — particularly when there is available land in Prince William County that is already allotted for data centers.”
Please feel free to share your concerns with QTS leadership:
david.murray@qtsdatacenters.com
tag.greason@qtsdatacenters.com
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
Nothing is going to get better.
It’s not.”