FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
County Coalition Grows Federal Focus on Data Center Sprawl
Executive director says: “County in the crosshairs? We’ll hold federal officials accountable.”
Haymarket, Virginia (June 4, 2024) – The Coalition to Protect Prince William County announces the expansion of its advocacy and accountability work to include officials holding or seeking federal elected office.
“Our mission is clear – protect County citizens from bad policy and bad policymakers,” Coalition executive director Elena Schlossberg said. “Data center sprawl – and the collateral damage in our communities – is driven by national issues as much as by state or county. We’re in the crosshairs. We’ve grown our focus. And we’ll hold federal officials accountable.”
Schlossberg noted, “To better arm our citizens in their own decision-making this November, we’ve asked candidates for the Senate and in the 7th and 10th Congressional Districts to share their views on key drivers of data center sprawl. Examples include the quadrupling of data center electricity demand by 2027, and the increased competition for basic resources – power, land, clean water – between some of the world’s wealthiest corporations and ordinary citizens. We’re going to publish what we learn. And let’s be clear, refusal to respond tells us a lot, too. Silence can mean complicity.”
“How does federal matter?,” Schlossberg asked. “The Digital Gateway puts 23 million square feet of data center capacity half a mile from a national park. As local power grids buckle, we’re importing coal-generated electricity across state lines from West Virginia and Maryland, while leaving them with the resulting environmental damage and seizure of property via eminent domain. We’ve got working families perched precariously in the middle class watching electric bills soar and soak up dollars needed for inflated food, healthcare, and education costs.”
“We’ve seen this before,” Schlossberg continued. “When we forced Dominion to bury Amazon’s dedicated extension cord, we faced a maze of county, regional, state, and national stakeholders. And this time, we’re putting those holding or seeking office on the record. These issues are too important for citizens to not know where their representatives stand.”
Schlossberg added, “We also remember when former elected officials boomerang into the public sphere to represent the very interests they were supposed to control. Former County Supervisors Candland and Stewart – despite tarnished reputations – have resurfaced to peddle their inside knowledge and relationships to the highest bidder. At any level – including federal – we will document and decry such unethical behavior.”
“Meanwhile,” Schlossberg concluded, “It’s citizens who bear the costs of industrialized rural and residential areas, and the everyday pain of doing ‘less with less’ as they’re priced out of basic needs. We demand to know where candidates for federal office stand on data center sprawl. We’ll find out.”
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ACCESS THE RESPONSES HERE: Coalition Puts the Hard Questions to the Candidates – The Coalition to Protect Prince William County (protectpwc.org)
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