Virginia is home to the most data centers in the nation, with more than 660 already operational and another 600 planned to go up in the near future. But at least one of those projects has hit a significant roadblock. The stakeholders in a massive 2,100-acre data center are pulling out after getting hammered by angry residents who oppose the project.
Bloomberg reports that data center construction firm Compass Datacenters and financial backer Brookfield Asset Management have been pursuing this project for years. It first received approval in 2023, when a highly contentious hearing of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors gave it the green light on a 4-3 vote. The project, dubbed Digital Gateway, was proposed to put up about 23 million square feet of data center space, which would have made it one of the largest data center clusters in the world.
But the hurdles started almost immediately, as residents in Northern Virginia decided there was already enough data processing happening next door. The hangup seemed to stem from an 800-acre stretch of land that Prince William County wouldn’t sign off on allowing the companies to develop. Despite spending tens of millions of dollars trying to get the right to move forward, the backlash from the public (and an apparent shrinking appetite by the county to provide tax breaks for the project) ultimately led to Compass and its partners throwing up their hands.
“While we still believe this project offered significant benefits for the region and our neighbors, recent legal actions and compounding regulatory hurdles have effectively closed a viable path forward,” Compass Datacenters President AJ Byers said, according to MarketWatch.
Blocking the project marks a major win for the grassroots movement to push back against data center construction, which has been gaining momentum across the country. According to Data Center Watch’s latest report, local protest groups have managed to block more than a dozen data center projects, tying up $152 billion in construction costs. The anti-data center movement managed to secure its first full moratorium earlier this month in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, where the county board voted to suspend any new projects for 18 months. A similar temporary stoppage managed to make its way to the desk of Maine’s governor after passing the state House and Senate, but was ultimately vetoed by sitting Governor Janet Mills, who is currently running for a US Senate seat.
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