Dear Supporters,
Happy Hannukah, Merry Christmas, and just an overall Happy Holidays!
On December 11th, the Coalition with their legal counsel, Chap Petersen, an experienced and successful litigator who also served in the Virginia State Senate for 16 years, held a press conference.
Press Conference Digital Gateway (youtube.com)
We also submitted a letter to Chair Ann Wheeler explaining our concerns.
We all know what happened, after the longest public hearing in Prince William County history, in spite of factual and credible objections and concerns raised by hundreds from the community. The Digital Gateway was approved.
We warned them on December 11th, and now we are following through.
The Coalition is pursuing legal action.
The Coalition has experienced going up against Goliaths — and prevailing — forcing Dominion Energy to settle on the hybrid Haymarket transmission line route. We recognize this will be our biggest challenge….ever.
But never forget the immortal words of Margaret Mead:
“Never Doubt That a Small Group of Thoughtful, Committed Citizens Can Change the World; Indeed, It’s the Only Thing That Ever Has”
We can’t win this without you. Not just your financial support, but also your words of encouragement, your willingness to show up when it matters the most.
At the core of this fight is not only protecting where we live, our homes, our natural and cultural resources, and our history — it is something much bigger.
From Business Insider we pulled a few key paragraphs:
“…For Schlossberg, a self-proclaimed “big-mouth mom” who runs the grassroots group Coalition to Protect Prince William County, the Digital Gateway represents not just an invasive eyesore but also an existential threat. All over the world, data centers are multiplying at record rates — and growing bigger and more power-hungry by the year. Inside their boxy bellies is the lifeblood of the internet, miles of cables connected to racks of computers that fuel our telehealth appointments and family group chats, our Netflix binges and Google Docs. In the process, data centers gorge on electricity and guzzle exorbitant amounts of water to keep cool, often overburdening local power grids and water supplies…”
“…To keep up with power demands, Dominion says that while 95% of its new power plants will be carbon-free, it will also need to build new gas-powered plants and keep some fossil fuel plants that were set to be retired operating for far longer than expected. The utility now predicts that in 25 years, its carbon emissions will be 65% higher than it was expecting just two years ago…”
“…When we’ve spent so long detached from the physical reality of the digital world, it makes it a lot easier to just ignore the environmental and human costs. Misbelieving that the internet simply exists somewhere out there in the cloud has rendered us unprepared to grapple with what happens when it all comes crashing down to earth.”
Business Insider – Dec. 21, 2023
No more trudging down to face the Board. Now we move to the courts.
No matter how large, or how small, your contribution makes a difference. For all those who felt like your voice did not matter, now the Coalition can be your voice in the courtroom.
Fauquier County approves policy curbing data centers in Virginia – DCD (datacenterdynamics.com)