Editorial: As data centers proliferate, greater state regulation is needed

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 to regulate the rapidly growing industry, according to an analysis by Inside Climate News, but little was accomplished.

Of those bills, only one substantive proposal passed and was signed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin — a measure enabling nonprofit electric cooperatives to set up affiliates to provide power and set rates separate from ordinary users. But that helps only about 700,000 customers of co-ops, leaving the vast majority of Virginia residents vulnerable to higher rates to subsidize energy costs for data centers run by Google, Amazon and other wealthy companies.

At current growth rates, the industry could double the state’s energy demands in 10 years and triple demands by 2040, according to a 2024 study conducted by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) for the General Assembly.

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