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Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Report highlights community pushback stalling $64 billion in data center development nationwide
A representative for the Data Center Coalition speaks in opposition to a bill on data centers with Virginia Del. Josh Thomas (D-Prince William) and labor union representatives behind her. (Photo by Charles Paullin/Inside Climate News) As Elena Schlossberg of Prince William County, Virginia sees it, the community effort to fight the richest companies in the world seeking to build data centers began about a decade ago when opposition coalesced in the early days of the industry's development. Then, a couple of years ago, when people began to learn much more about the warehouse-like server farms proliferating at double the earlier rate, the fight strengthened with a meeting in Warrenton. 'That was where we all just started saying, 'OK, in order to fight this behemoth, we have to have some organizational process,'' Schlossberg said. 'We have to be able to communicate. We have to be able to support each other. We have to have a clearinghouse for all the information.' Schlossberg's group, the Coalition to Protect Prince William County, about 35 miles southwest of the nation's capital, teamed up with several other groups, including the Piedmont Environmental Council, the Sierra Club and the National Parks Conservation Association, and met in one of the areas facing development pressure that could now triple in the state. They formed the Virginia Data Center Reform Coalition. Such community opposition is the focal point of a recent report by Data Center Watch, a research organization tracking data center opposition. A key finding: '$64 billion in U.S. data center projects have been blocked or delayed by a growing wave of local, bipartisan opposition.' 'What was once quiet infrastructure is now a national flashpoint — and communities are pushing back,' the report says. 'This report highlights political risks and local opposition as frequent factors in data center project delays or cancellations, including community resistance, environmental concerns, and zoning issues.' As data center development explodes, the industry has faced particular challenges in Virginia, its global epicenter. Some $900 million in projects in the state have been blocked, and $45.8 billion in projects have been delayed. Yet, environmental advocates say few protections have been put in place. At the state level, dozens of bills were introduced in the Virginia General Assembly this year to enact development safeguards, but only a symbolic one about utility costs was signed into law by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Josh Levi, president of the Data Center Coalition, a trade group representing many of the tech companies developing projects in Virginia, said the group is 'committed to working collaboratively with local officials, policymakers, and regulatory bodies at every level. 'Data center companies site projects where they are permitted under local zoning ordinances, rules, and regulations, which are developed by local leaders representing their communities,' Levi said. 'The industry seeks to work collaboratively with local officials to minimize community impacts, which often includes participating in town halls and other community and public engagement opportunities.' The locations of projects getting blocked or delayed are mostly centered in the Northern Virginia suburbs and exurbs of Washington, where the internet began. The region now serves a vast federal government, defense and intelligence complex. A couple other projects highlighted in the report branch out into the Northern Neck, south of the Potomac River, and outside Richmond. Virginia is home to 13 percent of the world's data center capacity, while 70 percent of the world's internet traffic moves through computers in the state. One case study in the report highlighted the effort by Schlossberg's group, the Manassas Battlefield Trust and others to stop the $24.7 billion Digital Gateway development of a campus with 37 data centers in Prince William County near the Manassas National Battlefield Park. Another is the Bren Pointe residential community in Fairfax County, fighting a $165 million hyperscale project that would need transmission lines and a five-acre substation 60 feet from the boundary of a townhome complex. In another project in Warrenton, proposed by Amazon with an undetermined development cost, hundreds of people, including actor Robert Duvall, attended and spoke in opposition, according to FauquierNow. Legal challenges have stalled the town council's approval of the project, and during that period, council members who supported it have been voted out of office. The report noted that Republican elected officials made up 55 percent of those critical of projects, expressing concerns over the use of tax incentives. Democrats made up 45 percent of those opposing projects, largely over environmental concerns. But many elected officials are approving data centers. 'What will it take for people in positions of power to make different choices?' Schlossberg said. 'As plain as the nose on my face, data centers are impacting the integrity of our water and our air and our communities and our reliable, affordable electricity.' Ann Wheeler, former chair of the Board of Supervisors in Prince William County, declined to comment on why she lost her Democratic primary race for re-election, but stood by her choices to support the industry in today's digitally driven society. The environmental concerns used 'misinformation' as part of a campaign of BANANA, or Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anyone, she said, and supporting the facilities' construction meant union jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in local revenue to support social services her party has traditionally aligned with. 'They'll go in somewhere,' Wheeler said, adding her county had resources for responsible planning. 'I would rather have that tax revenue in Virginia.' The report did not feature the opposition to a proposed data center in Pittsylvania County. There, community pushback and a report commissioned by the Southern Environmental Law Center, which highlighted the health effects from on-site, fossil fuel-powered generation equipment, led to the Board of Supervisors rejecting a needed rezoning application, effectively killing the project. The report included other case studies of successful data center opposition in Indiana, Texas and Arizona. Virginia's legislative research arm, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, issued a report in December that comprehensively examined the costs of data center development. It found that data-center energy demand would roughly triple from 2023 to 2040 if development went unconstrained. Even so, the legislative protections proposed this year failed to make it across the finish line. Youngkin vetoed a bill that would have had localities require a description of substation needs and a study on the noise the facilities close to homes and schools generate, which can come from their air conditioning units, and onsite power generators. House Democrats killed a requirement for state regulators to review data center power contractsto ensure that electricity generation and transmission lines could support the need. One change that did pass requires the State Corporation Commission, which regulates utilities, to review cost allocations for data center projects between consumers and the center operators. The commission already had that authority. One Republican lawmaker, Del. Ian Lovejoy of Prince William County, pushed for ways to have the industry pay for the electric grid upgrades it necessitates. But debate on the bills married business and labor union interests, which 'usually are opposed to one another,' Lovejoy said. 'When those two groups agree on something, [there are] very difficult headwinds.' The General Assembly was also leery of interfering with local land use decisions in an election year, Lovejoy said. All 100 delegates are up for election this year, along with the governor. Democrats control the chamber 51-49. The state Senate, also controlled by Democrats, 21-19, has elections in two years. A similar debate driven by community opposition to new solar projects also took place this year in the legislature. Community opposition to data centers, Lovejoy said, 'is going to affect more and more people when they build data centers directly next to houses. That's the cautionary tale. Look at Loudoun [County], look at Prince William. Don't build them next to schools, don't build them next to houses. Make sure they're set back properly, or you're going to have the same issues that we're having.' Schlossberg said members of her group traveled a couple of hours down to Richmond one early morning during the legislative session earlier in the year. They were there to lobby for the swath of data-center bills as part of the group's increasing battle at the local, state and federal level that is costing the industry money and creating a community of opponents. 'I think it's important to really talk about the building of community,' Schlossberg said. 'In a digital world, I think we have seen people who have never felt lonelier. And I think that's been a really important positive outcome, is that people connect.' This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here.
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump wants states to take over control of National Park system as he proposed $1 billion cut to its budget
The Trump administration wants states to take over the management of America's national parks – something never before proposed by a U.S. president. In its budget request for the fiscal year 2026, which is also proposing billions in crippling cuts to space, health, education, and other areas, the White House argued that the The National Park Service's responsibilities 'include a large number of sites that are not 'national parks,' in the traditionally understood sense, many of which receive small numbers of mostly local visitors, and are better categorized and managed as state-level parks.' 'The budget would continue supporting many national treasures, but there is an urgent need to streamline staffing and transfer certain properties to state-level management to ensure the long-term health and sustainment of the national park system,' the request said, also pointing out that many grants are already supported by state, local, and private efforts. There are more than 430 national parks that span across 85 million acres, including every U.S. state and territory. It is unclear what handing over park sites to states would really look like or which parks are deemed not to be national parks 'in the traditionally understood sense,' but there are hurdles in the way of implementing such changes successfully. For one, some of the country's most beloved parks span multiple states, which could complicate funding approvals and management. Yellowstone National Park extends into Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. Great Smoky Mountains National Park – the most visited national park in the U.S. – is located in North Carolina and Tennessee. Death Valley National Park is in California and Nevada. The NPS is also apolitical, so passing power to state officials could throw a wrench in critical and previously bipartisan work to protect the parks and the ecosystems they support. Furthermore, there's the question of money. Democratic California is home to nine national parks, the most of any state in the U.S. But, even its state parks took economic hits this year. Republican-led Montana, which has the most state parks, also has the smallest budget, when compared to its peer states in the Northern Rocky Mountains region. 'Many states don't have the resources to maintain these parks and the federal government walking away from their responsibility would result in closed parks, safety risks, trails that are not maintained, and far fewer park rangers,' Emily Thompson, executive director of the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks, said in a statement. 'This will be disastrous for not just visitors and resources, but local economies who depend on park tourism as economic drivers.' Notably, the budget proposal also comes amid a push to privatize public lands, and fears about opening national parks and other habitat for the Trump's administration's plans to revive greenhouse gas-producing energy. The Environmental Protection Agency just announced its plans to expand a uranium mine in Wyoming and the Interior Department has taken steps increase hunting access on public lands, to fast-track mining in multiple states, transfer federal lands to the Army, and increase oil and gas reserves in the Gulf of Mexico. New efforts announced by NOAA to mine seabed minerals would violate international law, according to China. But, there's even more that the Park Service needs to worry about. The administration's plans came alongside a proposal for the largest budget cuts in the National Park Service's 109-year-old history, announcing it could slash more than $1 billion. This year has already seen a 6 percent cut. Parks and conservation non-profits say the impact of those cuts would be devastating for national parks, which were already underfunded and short-staffed before the Department of Government Efficiency's efforts to layoff crucial staff members. 'We do so much work protecting the place, and that's the sort of stuff that is just going to get dropped,' Alex Wild, a fired park ranger, told The Independent earlier this year. Some workers have been reinstated follow recent court orders, but employees have since been asked to help determine whether they should be fired, according to SFGate. Whatever happens with the states, staff and budget losses are 'nothing less than an all-out assault on America's national parks' following a record-breaking year for visitorship, according to National Parks Conservation Association CEO Theresa Pierno. With a major workforce reduction 'looming' on the horizon, she predicted that 'the worst is yet to come.' 'The Park Service is our nation's greatest protectors and storytellers. And our more than 430 national parks are our nation's greatest legacy. Any effort to hand many of these sites over to the states is a betrayal, and the American people won't stand for it.' she said.
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
From the Archives: March 15 in the Pioneer
Mar. 15—March 15, 2015 — Construction planned at the Lake Bemidji waterfront will temporarily displace some summertime festivals, including the Bemidji Jaycees Water Carnival, which will be moved to the Sanford Center parking lot. For other events, such as the Lake Bemidji Dragon Boat Festival, construction will be temporarily halted. March 15, 2000 — A Save the Wolf Rally, sponsored by the Indigenous Environmental Network and the Coalition to Protect Predators, was held to show opposition to a proposal for wolf hunting in the state. This comes at a time when the federal government wants to remove the gray wolf from the endangered species list. March 15, 1975 — Awana, a Bible study program available to youth in the Bemidji area, boasts hundreds of participants as the group grows. Of the 4,500 Awana clubs around the country, 20 are in the Bemidji area. Each Awana group is divided into four clubs — Pals and Pioneers for the boys, and Chums and Guards for the girls. March 15, 1925 — A bond of $125,000 was authorized to clean up the debt of Bemidji Manufacturing Co., one of Bemidji's most important wood products industries. W.B. Foshay Co. of Minneapolis will market the bond, and the name of the company will change to the Bemidji Electric and Manufacturing Co.
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Yahoo
How federal hiring freeze could get 'scary' for Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Visitors looking forward to a trip to Great Smoky Mountains National Park this spring and summer could encounter unkempt trails, unclean bathrooms and fewer park rangers. The National Park Service was forced to rescind more than 2,000 seasonal and permanent positions nationwide under the widespread federal government hiring freeze enacted by the Trump administration Jan. 20. Park advocates are raising the alarm about what the cuts will mean for visitors. 'Seasonal park rangers serving the public, (employees) giving programs or maybe working on maintenance crews, or working with the resource management crews, working with people who control the wild hogs and so forth: all of those jobs could be postponed or maybe not ever filled,' Phil Francis, chair of the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks, explained to Knox News on Feb. 3. Great Smoky Mountains National Park relies on 200 permanent employees and 140 seasonal employees, according to park statistics from 2024. Additionally, more than 1,600 people volunteered their time for the park to help staff between Oct. 1, 2023, and Sept. 30, 2024. Francis, who served as deputy superintendent of Great Smoky Mountains National Park for 11 years and as superintendent of the Blue Ridge Parkway for eight, also noted that local businesses would feel the effects of the hiring freeze. 'When you combine the Smokies and the Blue Ridge Parkway and visitation to the (Cherokee) National Forest in our region, you're talking about billions and billions of dollars of economic benefits. These are economic engines, you know, they're serving the American public.' National parks generated $55.6 billion in economic output in 2023, the park service reported. The park service typically posts spring and summer job openings between October and February and hiring for those positions ramps up in January and February, former park service director Jon Jarvis said to Politico. Search and rescue and other emergency response positions might be the only hiring that will continue during the pause, Francis said. But even that's not a guarantee. 'So, that would have an adverse effect on the visitor experience. It might make the park a little less safe and it could have an impact on park resources,' Francis said. Understaffing heading into the spring and summer season could interfere with operations at Sugarlands and other visitor center; educational and safety programming; trail and facility maintenance; bear management; and other projects. National parks, including the Smokies, have seen record-breaking visitation in recent years. Visitation at national parks has increased 16% since 2010 even as staffing is down 20%, making it hard for parks to keep up with demand, according to the National Parks Conservation Association. Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most-visited national park in the country. Just over 12 million people visited during 2024. And the park had a 42% increase in visitation from 2013 to 2023. Added uncertainties because of the hiring freeze include whether parks can begin to hire again for the season and whether applicants who had job offers rescinded must restart the federal hiring process. 'It's a scary time,' a park ranger told Politico's E&E News. The person, who was granted anonymity because of fear of retaliation from the Trump administration, also said the first two weeks of the new administration have been 'brutal' for the park service. Francis also is concerned about the federal budget. The government avoided a shutdown in December, but the resolution signed then by President Joe Biden only runs through March 14. 'It would be nice to know what the prognosis is for a continuing budget (to fund the park service) for the remainder of the year,' Francis said. 'Is it going to be the same, is it going to be more, is it going to be less? The quicker the better for those folks who are managing the parks, who are still active and need to plan for the remainder of the year.' The executive order halting hiring of federal civilian employees says that within 90 days the U.S. Office of Management and Budget "shall submit a plan to reduce the size of the Federal Government's workforce through efficiency improvements and attrition." National parks faced a similar hiring freeze situation in 2017 at the start of Trump's first term. In that instance, however, seasonal and short-term temporary employees were deemed exempt a week after the executive order was signed. 'I think the difference (now compared to 2017 is) more positions have been lost due to lack of adequate budgets. And so, it just exacerbates an existing problem,' Francis noted. Devarrick Turner is a trending news reporter. Email On X, formerly known as Twitter @dturner1208. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Great Smoky Mountains National Park faces hiring freeze for summer
