Media Advisory
Citizens from throughout the county will be speaking up at a citizen-led press conference supporting a commonsense lame-duck resolution to refrain from voting on contentious land use applications post-November election until the new Board returns in January, after their scheduled winter break. Chair Ann Wheeler lost her primary election due to citizens rejecting her vision, pushing data center proliferation throughout the county but, in particular, across the western portion of Prince William County.
What: Citizens, representing a broad swath of Prince William County, will share their reasons for supporting Resolution 23.
When: Tuesday, July 11th – 1:15 pm
Where: One County Complex, McCoart Building, Woodbridge 22192
Media Contact: Elena Schlossberg – Coalition to Protect PWC 703-587-0765
To date, over a mere nine-day period, the Prince William County Board of Supervisors has received over 800 citizen emails in support of this lame duck moratorium resolution. The time of ignoring the concerns of citizens must cease. Democracy has spoken in the last two elections. First, with the special election of Supervisor Bob Weir in the Gainesville District who ran on opposing data center proliferation and won despite significant contributions by the data center industry to the coffers of his opponent. And next, with the same result occurring in the primary race between incumbent Ann Wheeler and unknown challenger Deshundra Jefferson, who also ran in opposition to the spread of industrial blight anywhere and everywhere outside the data center opportunity zone.
In addition to the Digital Gateway garnering national attention, this county has multiple land use applications that have drawn overwhelming citizen outcry including: Devlin Tech Park, John Marshall Tech Park, and Potomac Technology Park (within the legislative boundary of the Prince William Forest “National” Park.)
Citizen Participants:
Ricky Buffington – Neabsco district
John Steinbach – Coles district
Nancy Armour – Occoquan district
Rhonda Reese – Gainesville district
After the press conference, county citizens will speak before the board of supervisors. We expect Pageland homeowners to show up in opposition.
About The Coalition to Protect Prince William County
The Coalition to Protect Prince William County is a grassroots movement originally formed in 2014 in response to Dominion Energy’s proposal to erect 100-plus-foot-tall transmission lines and towers and a new substation for a single customer — Amazon – that wanted to establish a data center campus in Haymarket, Va.
The Coalition is a registered 501(c)(4) corporation. It is a group of volunteers; there are no paid directors. Because it is tax-exempt, all donated funds are dedicated to expenses. www.protectpwc.org
Prince William data center opponents hope to kill plan by delaying vote – The Washington Post
Prince William Co leaders propose to limit ‘lame duck’ votes on controversial data centers | WJLA
Backlash to data centers prompts political upset in northern Virginia | AP News
GOP Weir wins Prince William County election highlighting data centers – The Washington Post
Demand for Data Centers Is Soaring – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Experience for yourself data center development in the wrong places: (1) Facebook