Our valley's farmland, water, and electric bills are on the line. Large data centers promise economic benefits. But every Virginia county that said yes is now living with consequences nobody warned them about.
These are not projections or scare tactics. They are documented numbers from Virginia regulators, federal labs, and public records filed in 2025 and early 2026.
These aren't abstract statewide concerns. They are documented impacts that will reach your well, your electric bill, and your land if we don't speak up now.
Frederick County sits in the Shenandoah Valley, a region already prone to drought. A single large data center can consume more water than the entire county uses in a day, with no legal guarantee our farms and wells come first.
Frederick County is served by REC, a member-owned co-op you're part owner of. Data centers force massive grid upgrades that hit every member's bill. REC's own filings warn that proposed data centers would demand more power than its entire existing customer base combined.
Data centers never sleep. Cooling systems the size of houses run continuously on rooftops four stories above your fields. When it's hot, which is when you're trying to sleep with your windows open, they run loudest. There is no off switch.
Most of Frederick County is underlain by karst, a landscape of dissolved limestone riddled with caves, sinkholes, and underground rivers. It's what makes the Shenandoah Valley beautiful. It's also what makes industrial-scale groundwater consumption here uniquely catastrophic.
Virginia communities that said yes to data centers are now sounding the alarm. Their experience is our warning.
200+ data centers. 43 million square feet. Drinking water use jumped 250% in four years. High-voltage transmission lines are being carved through farmland and wetlands. Supervisors now deny applications, but for most neighborhoods, it is already too late.
Data centers built adjacent to the Great Oaks subdivision generated years of noise complaints and national news coverage. A Loudoun realtor noted in February 2025: "No one has ever asked me to find them a home near a data center." Appraisers report consistent negative adjustments to properties near facilities, but research on rural markets like Frederick County simply doesn't exist yet. We'd be the experiment.
Loudoun Now, February 2025 · FXBG Advance / GMU Schar School, Sept 2025
The Board of Supervisors voted 5–0 against a zoning change that would have opened the door to data centers, calling the facilities "monstrosities." Residents cited threats to the local water supply and community character. Frederick County has that same choice right now.
The Board of Supervisors is listening. High turnout at these forums sends a clear message about where Frederick County stands.
Showing up at the forum is powerful. Adding your name to the official petition makes your opposition part of the permanent public record.
Frederick County residents have signed.
Every signature is presented to the Board.
Every claim on this site is sourced. These are the primary documents, investigative reports, and official filings behind the numbers.