The planned merger of NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy would create the largest regulated utility company in the world — a development that could have big impacts on everything from the price of electricity to the time it takes to power data centers. The $67 billion agreement is not yet a done deal. It still needs state and federal approvals, a process estimated to take between 12 and 18 months. But if it does move forward, one thing seems certain, analysts say. The merger

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - A proposed $1 billion transmission line project route, which would span roughly 115 miles of land throughout Central Virginia, has been named to Preservation Virginia’s 2026 list of most endangered historic places. The designation identifies the multiple counties that would be impacted by Valley Link’s Joshua Falls-Yeat Transmission Line project as one of 10 that are experiencing “the increasing pressure of new development on historic communities

The Potomac River ranks as the most endangered river in the U.S. according to American Rivers’ 2026 list, released this month. The designation is largely driven by rapid, uncontrolled data center expansion in the watershed and by the impacts of a major sewage spill into the river in January 2026. The Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) issued a statement on April 16 in response to the report. PEC President Chris Miller stated that the listing underscores the cumulative impac

Fifteen minutes after Susan Bourgeois was appointed to lead Louisiana Economic Development , the state agency responsible for strengthening business growth, she got her first data center pitch. "I was pulled aside in the lobby of the Hilton hotel by the CEO of Entergy Louisiana, who said, 'We have a project and need to talk,'" Bourgeois said. It was a proposal from Meta to build one of the largest-ever AI data centers in the world. Bourgeois jumped on it. Data centers, which

long with wineries, equestrian farms and George Washington's estate, Virginia's known for being the data center capital of the country, with at least 665 facilities servicing major companies including Google, Amazon, Oracle and Meta (1). It's a Vantage data center, however, in Loudoun County — dubbed "Data Center Alley" — that's raising particular concerns after a recent study by the Piedmont Environmental Council found that emissions of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) from i