What the pick and shovel industry was to the California gold rush, data centers are to the artificial intelligence boom. Investment in data centers and their ancillary industries has accounted for the vast majority of United States’ GDP growth during the first half of 2025, with much of this investment heavily concentrated in Virginia. Although the majority of the 667 data centers that have been constructed in the state reside in Northern Virginia, multiple surrounding counties in Virginia including Fluvanna, Louisa and Culpeper counties have begun to consider regulations surrounding data centers embracing or rejecting them.
Albemarle County recently made the careful and prudent decision to hold off on modifying the existing “phase one” zoning regulations for data centers, which requires special use permits in data centers exceeding 40,000 square feet in the industrial district and any proposed data centers in the commercial district. Hyperscale and enterprise-sized data centers, the ones that cause the most adverse effects on a community, frequently exceed this size limit, and as such the existing regulations have resulted in no current proposals for any such large scale data center.
Drafting the proposal for phase two of the zoning plan for data centers was meant to create more comprehensive regulation that would not require special use permits across the county. One member of the Board of Supervisors, Ann Mallek, cited an inability to locally source the energy in a sustainable manner, the rapidly evolving nature of the nascent data center industry and concern surrounding unforeseen consequences for residents as reasons for caution about data center expansion. As this growth continues across the state, Albemarle County should remain steadfast in their position against rapid and unsupervised expansion of data centers, serving as a model of prudence in decision-making to similar county governments.
Growing demand for increased access to energy for cloud computing, streaming, artificial intelligence and other services that data centers provide has resulted in a need for vastly increased energy capacity, producing a bottleneck that providers cannot solve quickly enough. Data centers hum along to the tune of four percent of total American power expenditure and 26 percent of Virginia’s. This has led to many providers opening or reopening of natural gas and coal plants. In Virginia, Dominion Energy recently announced plans to construct new gas power plants, despite the Virginia Clean Economy Act’s requirement that all gas power plants be retired by 2045.
At a first glance, the introduction of data centers to Albemarle County seemed like an obvious economic boon. Construction of data centers provides employment opportunities for around 1,500 workers per center. However, this number is only for the initial construction phase, and full time employment opportunities decrease once operations begin, as the usual operational state of a data center requires roughly 50 individuals to maintain hardware and software performance, along with on-site troubleshooting duties. In sum, the economic growth promised by construction has only a tangible short-term effect on employment.
By most economic metrics, Albemarle County is a healthy county. The unemployment rate is almost an entire percentage point lower than the national average of 4.4 percent, along with a median household income of around $102,000, which is roughly 20 percent above the national average of $83,730. To return to the gold rush analogy, an influx of data centers seems to help reinvigorate local economies that were previously suffering, or did not exist in the first place — characteristics that Albemarle County does not possess — much in the same manner that the gold rush of centuries yore created boomtowns where once tiny frontier outposts stood. In fewer words, Albemarle County does not need to gamble on economic expansion through data centers when it already has a thriving economy.
If Albemarle County’s Board of Supervisors had recklessly gone full steam ahead with plans to remove barriers to data center construction, they would have almost certainly assisted in placing an untenable load on the utility network of the county. It currently does not have the energy capacity to support large scale data center campuses.The Board exercised careful judgement, understanding that regardless of whether or not they wanted data centers in Albemarle County, it simply is not possible right now.
The implications of data center construction extend beyond mere economics. Major causes of concern in most data center proposals are due to the negative externalities of data center construction — its adverse effect on environments, both locally and globally. Local consequences include water shortages, increased strain on the utility grid, light pollution — an especially important consideration for Albemarle County, for whom 95 percent of its land is considered a rural area — increased utility prices and air pollution, to give a non-exhaustive list. Globally, this increased demand for energy has catalyzed an increase in natural gas and oil usage, although it has also contributed to a rise in renewable energy consumption share. While Albemarle County’s decision to hold off will likely have little effect on the global aggregate of environmental disruption, they have avoided a litany of closer to home impacts.
Albemarle County’s Board of Supervisors has made the right decision in reserving judgement, and they will hopefully continue to impose strict restrictions on any future data center construction within the county. Neighboring counties like Fluvanna County have followed suit, showcasing to similar counties across the country a model of how to deal with this rapidly evolving industry. For future deliberation within Albemarle County, data center construction should not be considered owing to the simple fact that its costs outweigh its potential benefits. The promise of environmental damage, along with almost certain changes to its landscape, outweigh the positive economic impact that could occur from their creation.
Conall Castagno is an opinion columnist who writes about politics for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at opinion@cavalierdaily.com.
The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of The Cavalier Daily. Columns represent the views of the author alone.
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