PRESS RELEASE email: Rally & Press Conference against Dulles Cloud South July 7, 1 PM

Press-Release-July-4-2026-Dulles-Cloud-South.pdf


ProtectPWC.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dulles South Debacle Risks County’s Citizens, Our Virginia Neighbors
Executive director says: “Heat wave shows residents’ affordability and breathability at risk.”

Haymarket, Virginia (July 5, 2026) – The Coalition to Protect Prince William County will host a press conference/rally regarding near-term consequences of letting the data-Dominion-industrial complex force residents to outbid corporations for reliable power and clean air.

When:             1:00PM ET, Tuesday, July 7

Where:            McCoart Building, One County Complex
Woodbridge, VA 22192

Why:               Supervisors’ Initiation of 2000 acre Dulles South Comprehensive Plan – Pits Citizens’                                    Homes and Health Against Industrial Interests

Local, national, and international media will be covering the event.

“We’ve rallied this community – and Commonwealth neighbors – for more than a decade,” Coalition executive director Elena Schlossberg said. “We kept a high-voltage Amazon Data Center power line from displacing homes and habitat and organized to stop the infamous Digital Gateway.  But that’s just a symptom of a system that has proven to be coin-operated when it’s time to convert residential, agricultural and forest land to invasive industrial use.”

“While temperatures top 100 degrees, this system forces residents to outbid corporations for electric power – and to face the noise and noxious fumes of diesel generators right as air quality plummets,” Schlossberg continued. “Something stinks – and it’s not just exhaust.”

Schlossberg noted, “This is bigger than Prince William. Joining me and Ashley Studhome from the Prince William Conservation Alliance, Martin Jeter with MIDCO and a Sustainability Commissioner, we’ll have Vicky Hu, a Loudoun County resident losing half her property to a data center power line, and Patrick Harders, a small business owner residing near Dulles Cloud South. Plus special speakers Congressman Suhas Subramanyam, State Senator Danica Roem and Delegate Josh Thomas.”

“And why have we all come together?,” Schlossberg asked. “Together – across our county, Commonwealth, and country – we’re learning “That won’t happen here,” is a fantasy. Property losses continue. Dominion is warning about municipal rate hikes. An agency buying power for local towns and schools said members will see a 24.9% increase in July – plus 12% next July! 10,000 backup diesel generators are cranking in Virginia alone. Damian Pitt, associate director of the Institute for Sustainable Energy and Environment at VCU, having obtained the emissions permits from the Virginia DEQ warned diesel emits ‘more pollution than you would have living near a large natural gas power plant.’ Look online for PM2.5 to see how nasty this is. Even the so-called ‘closed system’ advanced water cooling is a pipe dream, with the Trump administration EPA investigating a 3.7 million square foot Meta facility in Georgia using 10% of local drinking water.”

“The good news is, we can still choose our path,” Schlossberg concluded, “County staff have already recommended against this 43 million square foot project – 10X the size of the Georgia project under investigation, and doubling our county’s data center density. Supervisors should listen to residents, our neighbors, and their own staff and DENY the initiation of the Dulles Cloud South Data Center Project.”

“Our wallets and water – our homes and health – can’t afford it.”

P.S.

Congressman Suhas Subrumanyan, representing both Loudoun and Prince William Counties collectively making up the largest concentration of data centers in the world, says:

“Enough is Enough. We need to start listening to communities and stop putting profits over people. That means saying no to massive projects like this one that increase utility costs, hurt our water supply, and threaten our rural lands. We must say no.”

Sen. King urges FERC to reject $67B NextEra-Dominion merger | Utility Dive
County staff recommends denial of massive data center plan | Localnews | princewilliamtimes.com
As data centers boom, Virginians breathe the exhaust of 10,000 diesel generators – The Washington Post
US Grid Congestion 2026: PJM’s Data Center Crisis
‘We are screwed’: People near data centers dread heat wave pollution. – E&E News by POLITICO
They Welcomed 37 Data Centers to Town. Now Their Schools Have to Dim the Lights to Cut Energy Costs
US’ largest power grid PJM orders emergency curbs as electricity use nears record peak
Maps show data centers in areas where power grids struggling