As home to an impressive — and alarming — one-third of the world’s data centers , Virginia urgently needs proper oversight and regulation to prevent the economic benefits from being short-circuited by rising energy demand and costs, noise and other unwanted outcomes. In January, the incoming governor and House of Delegates will need to join the state Senate in resuming work left unfinished earlier this year. At least 33 bills were introduced in this year’s legislative session

with wealth to be had, four factions form a juggernaut of power: data centers, utilities, developers, politicians . Anyone wondering why data centers are so hard to stop can find the answer in history. In his farewell address on Jan. 17, 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned the nation about the growing “military-industrial complex, ” a powerful alliance of defense contractors, the Pentagon and politicians who he feared would dominate the weapons industry to benefit the

Data centers are spreading across the country and contributing to rising electricity bills. It’s becoming a political issue as lawmakers are still workshopping their response. Leaders in both parties are locked in competition to encourage tech giants to put sprawling data centers in their states, looking for an economic leg up and an innovation edge in the early days of the artificial intelligence boom. Now, those same leaders are dealing with a downside that’s more apparent

Google recently courted the township of Franklin, Ind., so that it could construct a giant campus to house the computer hardware that powers its internet business. But the company needed to rezone more than 450 acres in the Indianapolis suburb, and residents weren't having it. Many were concerned the facility would consume huge amounts of water and electricity while delivering few local benefits. When a lawyer representing Google confirmed at a September public meeting that t

GAINESVILLE, Va. — On Friday night, dueling candidates for a board of supervisors seat in this suburban county found a cause that united them: banning new data centers. “I think we should, personally, block all future data centers,” said Patrick Harders, the Republican running for an open seat on the Prince William County board. George Stewart, his Democratic opponent, agreed that “the crushing and overwhelming weight of data centers” was a crisis, with massive companies “hav