NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A potential data center site has been identified near Fort Eustis, sparking community concerns and an online petition that has gathered nearly 3,000 signatures from residents opposed to the development.
Amanda Doughty, a lifelong Peninsula resident, created the petition after word spread about the potential data center. She worries about the impact on her community.
"This is my home," Doughty said. "It's not something I want for my community."
Doughty expressed concerns about multiple impacts from a potential data center.
"The ramifications of the environmental impact, the health impact, the financial impact are just too harmful to ignore," she said. "Some things are just more important than money."
Virginia has become a major hub for data centers, which help manage and process data across the internet, including websites people use daily.
State leaders estimate Virginia has 35% of the world's data centers, with most located in northern or western Virginia.
Over the summer, Governor Glenn Youngkin emphasized that decisions about where to build data centers should be left to local communities, while highlighting their economic benefits.
"I am a big advocate for data centers," Youngkin said. "They bring enormous investment, they bring a great tax base, they have great jobs and hire people and pay them very good salaries."
In October, during a meeting in Newport News, a site off Dozier Road near Fort Eustis was identified as a potential location for a data center.
"It's all of our responsibility, no matter how close we live to it," Doughty said.
The issue has surfaced in Hampton Roads before, with the Chesapeake City Council rejecting a data center proposal in June.
So far in Newport News, there's no concrete proposal for a data center. In an email, a city spokesperson said "any future land use decisions will be made transparently and with public participation."
But neighbors like Doughty plan to stay vigilant.
"Why do this now? I think it's better to get ahead of it before it's too late, before it's set in stone," she said.
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