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Environmental Impact

Water Resources

Shenandoah County sits on karst limestone: the cave-riddled bedrock that feeds the North Fork Shenandoah's springs and our private wells. A single large data center can use up to 5 million gallons of water a day for cooling, equal to the daily water use of a town of 10,000 to 50,000 people. Karst aquifers are unusually easy to overdraw, and a well or spring running dry can happen with no warning, sometimes far from where the water was actually pumped. A Shenandoah County planning committee has already recommended independent hydrogeologic studies before any new industrial well is approved because our valley isn't built for a water user this size.

Key Points

  • A large data center can use up to 5 million gallons of water a day, as much as a town of 10,000 to 50,000 people.

  • Our karst limestone geology makes groundwater easy to overdraw and hard to protect.

  • More than 85% of the North Fork Shenandoah's streamflow comes from underground springs.

Sources: 

  • USGS: Karst Aquifers of the Valley and Ridge
  • NV Daily: Water panel backs tighter data center rules
  • Brookings: AI, data centers, and water
  • EESI: Data Centers and Water Consumption
Our Land

A single data center campus can cover 80 to 100+ acres, replacing forest, farmland, or open space with an industrial footprint, plus the substations, transmission corridors, and access roads that come with it. On karst terrain, adding that much paved, impervious surface interferes with the natural recharge that keeps our springs and wells flowing, and raises the risk of stormwater runoff and sinkhole activity. Once this land is converted, it doesn't go back, and it's no longer available for the kind of local development that could serve the county for generations.

Key Points

  • Substations, power lines, and access roads extend the footprint beyond the buildings.

  • More pavement means less groundwater recharge and more runoff, a serious risk on karst terrain.

  • Land converted to industrial use rarely returns to farmland or forest.

Sources: 

  • USGS: Karst Aquifers of the Valley and Ridge
  • NV Daily: Water panel backs tighter data center rules
  • Brookings: AI, data centers, and water
  • EESI: Data Centers and Water Consumption
Wildlife & Habitat

Clearing 80-plus acres means losing mature trees, wetlands, and open fields that took decades — sometimes centuries — to form, and cutting through the habitat corridors local wildlife depend on. This isn't hypothetical here in Virginia: a proposed data center in Botetourt County would clear roughly 120 acres within the range of the federally protected Indiana bat. Biologists warn that construction noise alone can permanently drive sensitive species out of an area, even when some trees are eventually replanted elsewhere.

Key Points

  • Clearing removes mature forest and wetland habitat that takes decades to regrow.

  • Substations, power lines, and roads fragment habitat well beyond the buildings.

  • Construction noise alone can drive sensitive species away for good.

Sources: 

  • USGS: Karst Aquifers of the Valley and Ridge
  • NV Daily: Water panel backs tighter data center rules
  • Brookings: AI, data centers, and water
  • EESI: Data Centers and Water Consumption

Residential Impact

Construction & Traffic

Key Points

  • Large campuses take years to build, with heavy truck traffic the whole time.

  • Communities near other sites report road damage, cracked windshields, and more crashes.

  • Our rural roads were built for local and farm traffic, not constant industrial hauling.

Sources: 


 

Before a single server ever turns on, a project the size of Project Tallmadge means years of heavy construction — graders, excavators, and a steady stream of dump trucks hauling soil, gravel, and equipment through our roads. Communities near other data center construction sites, including one in nearby Fauquier County, have documented cracked windshields, deep ruts, and sharp increases in traffic crashes on rural roads never built for that kind of load. In at least one similar Virginia project, the traffic study submitted by the developer didn't even account for the construction period — only for after opening.

Noise & Light Pollution

Data center cooling equipment runs 24/7, producing a constant mechanical hum that residents elsewhere describe as never stopping — day, night, and through every season. Nearly a third of Virginia's data centers already sit within 200 feet of residentially zoned land, and most local noise ordinances were written for parties and barking dogs, not industrial machinery that never shuts off. Add in bright, all-night security lighting, and one of the things that makes rural Shenandoah County special — genuinely dark, star-filled skies — is at risk too.

Key Points

  • Large campuses take years to build, with heavy truck traffic the whole time.

  • Communities near other sites report road damage, cracked windshields, and more crashes.

  • Our rural roads were built for local and farm traffic, not constant industrial hauling.

Backup diesel generators — Virginia's data centers already run more than 9,000 of them — emit pollutants linked to asthma, cardiovascular disease, and premature death; diesel exhaust itself is classified as a human carcinogen. Researchers estimate that even limited routine generator operation statewide creates a public health impact similar to several large gas-fired power plants. Beyond air quality, the toll of unrelenting noise and disrupted sleep is its own well-documented cost for neighbors who never signed up for this trade-off.

Sources: 


 

Health & Your Wellbeing

Backup diesel generators — Virginia's data centers already run more than 9,000 of them — emit pollutants linked to asthma, cardiovascular disease, and premature death; diesel exhaust itself is classified as a human carcinogen. Researchers estimate that even limited routine generator operation statewide creates a public health impact similar to several large gas-fired power plants. Beyond air quality, the toll of unrelenting noise and disrupted sleep is its own well-documented cost for neighbors who never signed up for this trade-off.

Key Points

  • Virginia data centers already run more than 9,000 backup generators, mostly diesel.

  • A VCU/University of Washington analysis found routine generator operation statewide has a health impact similar to five large gas-fired power plants.

  • Diesel exhaust is classified as carcinogenic to humans by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

  • Chronic noise and light exposure is linked to poor sleep and higher stress.

Sources: 


 

Economic Impact

Your Bills

Data centers use enormous amounts of electricity, and someone has to pay for the power plants, substations, and transmission lines built to serve them. Virginia regulators created an entirely new "large load" electricity rate class in 2025 specifically because, without it, those infrastructure costs get spread across everyone's bill — including homeowners here who will never see a cent of the resulting tax revenue. Nearly three in four Virginia voters already blame data centers for rising electricity costs, and one study found rates statewide could climb as much as 70% over the next decade without major new grid investment.

Key Points

  • Virginia regulators created a new large-load rate class in 2025 to try to keep data center costs off other customers' bills.

  • One 2024 study projected Virginia rates could rise up to 70% over the next decade without major grid investment.

  • Virginia became the first state to tax data center electricity use (2026). That revenue goes to the state, not to your bill.

Sources: 

  • USGS: Karst Aquifers of the Valley and Ridge
  • NV Daily: Water panel backs tighter data center rules
  • Brookings: AI, data centers, and water
  • EESI: Data Centers and Water Consumption
Your Property

Developers point to studies showing average home values across entire counties haven't dropped near data centers. What that leaves out: those averages don't capture the specific homes and streets that end up next to the substation, the transmission line, or the generator yard — where noise, vibration, and light complaints are well documented. In one multi-market analysis, homes closest to a facility appreciated more slowly than the surrounding county in three of four cases, and Virginia homeowners near existing data centers report resorting to soundproofing windows and consulting attorneys over property value concerns.

Key Points

  • County-wide averages can hide losses for homes next to a data center, substation, or transmission line.

  • In one multi-market analysis, nearby home values grew more slowly than the surrounding county in 3 of 4 cases.

  • Noise, vibration, and light complaints are well documented near existing facilities.

Sources: 

  • USGS: Karst Aquifers of the Valley and Ridge
  • NV Daily: Water panel backs tighter data center rules
  • Brookings: AI, data centers, and water
  • EESI: Data Centers and Water Consumption
What the County Nets

Data centers can become large local taxpayers — that part is real, and it's the strongest card developers hold. But a typical 250,000-square-foot facility supports only about 50 workers, half of them contractors, and Virginia's own figures show the state gave up roughly $1.2–1.9 million in tax breaks for every data center job actually created statewide in FY2025. Before celebrating a projected tax revenue number, our county deserves a full public accounting of the other side of the ledger: new infrastructure, emergency response capacity, road maintenance, and the water studies our own planning committee says we need — costs that rarely make it into the developer's pitch.

Key Points

  • Virginia gave up roughly $1.2 million in tax breaks per data center job created in FY2025.

  • Brookings found data center job-creation claims are typically overstated about threefold.

  • Revenue projections rarely count the costs of infrastructure, emergency response, road wear, and water studies.

Sources: 

  • USGS: Karst Aquifers of the Valley and Ridge
  • NV Daily: Water panel backs tighter data center rules
  • Brookings: AI, data centers, and water
  • EESI: Data Centers and Water Consumption

Civic Impact

Our Vote

Under current zoning, a data center can be approved "by right" — meaning no public hearing, no vote by elected officials, and no real chance for residents to weigh in on whether it belongs here. That's exactly the situation with Project Tallmadge: because the parcel is already zoned industrial, the Town of Strasburg has stated the project doesn't require discretionary approval. Shenandoah County has since started requiring a special use permit — a public hearing and a supervisor vote — for future projects in the unincorporated county, but that protection doesn't automatically reach projects already moving forward inside town limits.

Key Points

  • "By right" means no public hearing and no vote by elected officials.

  • The Town says Project Tallmadge, a $4.5 billion campus, is vested under its 2014 zoning, so there is no Town Council vote.

  • Strasburg (July 2025) and Shenandoah County (June 23, 2026, by a 6-0 vote) now require special use permits for new data centers.

  • Whether Tallmadge's vested status holds up under Virginia law has been publicly questioned.

Sources: 

  • USGS: Karst Aquifers of the Valley and Ridge
  • NV Daily: Water panel backs tighter data center rules
  • Brookings: AI, data centers, and water
  • EESI: Data Centers and Water Consumption
Our Records

In many communities, residents don't find out a data center deal is happening until it's already locked in, because local officials sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with developers that legally bar them from sharing details with the public. A University of Mary Washington study using Freedom of Information Act requests found that 25 of 31 Virginia localities with a data center project had signed one of these secrecy agreements. NDAs can keep basic facts like water use, tax breaks, even the real name of the company involved hidden from the people who will live next to the result.

Key Points

  • A University of Mary Washington FOIA study found 25 of 31 Virginia localities with data centers had signed non-disclosure agreements with developers.

  • NDAs can keep a company's identity hidden behind a project code name.

  • Officials bound by an NDA may be unable to answer residents' questions about the deal.

Sources: 

  • USGS: Karst Aquifers of the Valley and Ridge
  • NV Daily: Water panel backs tighter data center rules
  • Brookings: AI, data centers, and water
  • EESI: Data Centers and Water Consumption
Our Options

We are not powerless, but the options narrow the longer we wait. Neighboring Warren County and the Town of Front Royal have already amended their zoning to cap data center size and require case-by-case review. Shenandoah County itself adopted a special use permit requirement for the unincorporated county in June 2026 — proof this kind of change is possible when residents show up. What's left on the table — closing Strasburg's by-right loophole, requiring independent water and traffic studies before approval, banning local NDAs, and speaking up at every public hearing — depends entirely on residents pushing for it now, before the next project is already a done deal.

Key Points

  • Shenandoah County's ordinance is still being revised, so public input right now matters.

  • Warren County and Front Royal have already capped data center size and require case-by-case review.

  • Frederick County supervisors approved a motion to remove data centers as an allowed use in all zoning districts.

  • Ask for independent water and traffic studies, a local NDA ban, and speak at every hearing.

Sources: 

  • USGS: Karst Aquifers of the Valley and Ridge
  • NV Daily: Water panel backs tighter data center rules
  • Brookings: AI, data centers, and water
  • EESI: Data Centers and Water Consumption
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