Dear Fellow Citizens,
YOU ARE making a difference. Every person who adds their voice creates the momentum to support the conservation community and their efforts to protect our historic and environmental resources.
MANASSAS — Data-center development increasingly threatens some of Northern Virginia’s major Civil War battlefields, leaders of four U.S. and Virginia preservation groups said at a press conference Tuesday on the Manassas battlefield.
Preservation Virginia, one of the nation’s oldest historic-preservation groups, called out the danger in its 2022 “Most Endangered Sites” report released Tuesday.
The report cites specific threats to Manassas National Battlefield Park and Culpeper County’s Brandy Station Battlefield from recent data-center proposals.
As part of the coalitions opposing these data centers, the American Battlefield Trust stresses how such projects can ruin pristine Civil War landscapes prized by visitors. The centers use gobs of electricity, impinge on historic viewsheds, require paving, increase runoff and create noise, the trust said in a statement Tuesday.
Watch the Facebook Live recording of this press conference
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WASHINGTON – Today, the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), in partnership with CEA Engineers, released new analysis revealing the extensive negative impacts that proposals for two data centers could have on waterways and national parks in Prince William County’s Rural Crescent.
If approved, water quality would suffer at Manassas National Battlefield Park, Prince William Forest Park and the surrounding areas. This inappropriate development would negatively impact drinking water, wildlife, and outdoor recreation, as well as increasing flood risks for the entire community.
These two national parks have enormous historic, recreational, and cultural significance, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors and contributing $54 million to the Prince William County economy each year.
New analysis from water quality experts at CEA Engineers reveals that if these two developments are built as planned, could result in more than 57,000 tons of sediment dumped into the Occoquan Reservoir – an important drinking water supply for more than 800,000 people who live and work in Northern Virginia. Another 1,350 tons would flow into Quantico Creek.
Watch the Zoom meeting announcing these findings.
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Other news of note:
Video of the 4/28 Town Hall coming very soon!
Guess the third time is NOT the charm in this case: PWC Historical Commission rejects the Digital Gateway submission again. (listen from timemark 47:36 – 1:01:38)