The Power Alliance

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 their own mutual interests.

His prediction proved true.

Now Northern Virginia has its own “complex,” a coalition of data centers, politicians, utilities and developers whose interests are heavily intertwined. As a result, data centers are proliferating – and the money generated by all players is mind-boggling.

Utilities are guaranteed a return from every data center they hook up. Developers build the buildings and pocket the profits. Labor unions, whose members have earned $5.5 million from data center work, lend their support. And data center companies make hundreds of billions of dollars.

All four donate heavily to lawmakers and lobby for helpful legislation, and to local officials, whose counties reap hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue.

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