Issues involving proposed data centers are, for the most part, local issues, but Beth Macy, running for Congress representing the Valley, thinks the feds can do more to back local residents who don’t want these AI-enabling monstrosities in their backyards.
“Up and down the Shenandoah Valley, big tech developers are coming into rural communities, getting local officials to sign non-disclosure agreements, and steamrolling local opposition,” Macy wrote on her campaign Facebook page this week, after a stop at the Shenandoah County Fair, where, naturally, a lot of folks were bending her ear over Project Tallmadge, a 2 million-square-foot data center that is in development in the Town of Strasburg.
From the archives
- Coverage of the Sixth District congressional campaign: click here.
That one – a $4.5 billion project – has already gotten the approval of the local government, with construction on the 80-acre campus in the town’s industrial park slated to begin in 2027.
After the initial flurry of economic activity associated with building the data center, there is the phase known as the “employment cliff” that follows, by design – data centers typically only end up needing in the range of 50-100 full-time employees once they become operational.
Meanwhile, the locals get left with increased power and water bills that come with the tremendous demand for resources from the data centers.
Makes you wonder why local officials sign on to approve these projects.
“Fighting data centers shouldn’t be left to locals,” Macy wrote on her Facebook page on the issue. “When I’m in Congress, I’ll work towards a moratorium on new projects until we get guardrails around their development.”
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Chris Graham
