While budget negotiators are reportedly hard at work, Virginia’s Senate President is continuing her tour of Virginia localities to hear from residents about data centers.
Portsmouth Democrat and Senate President Louise Lucas is famously less than subtle, and her data center listening tour, held at Manchester High School a few miles outside of Richmond, Tuesday night was no exception…
“Can you all give it up for Senator L. Louise Lucas, Senate Pro Temp of the Senate of Virginia!" said Senator Mike Jones into the microphone as Lucas took the stage to Montell Jordan's 1995 classic "This is How We Do It."
"Data centers should be properly sited, responsibly regulated, ensure they are not polluting our air and water," Lucas said from the stage to a packed house. "They should not abuse our energy, our water systems in ways that impact our families and our communities.”
Among speakers was Dominique Chatters, a Chesterfield County School Board Member who opened her speech in Spanish because,
“My communities are Black and Brown," Chatters said. "Families who are working multiple jobs, multiple title one schools, overcrowded buildings, a bunch of trailers I wish weren’t there.”
In her view, taxing data centers could help build up the communities around them. She’s not opposed to innovation but, “I’m opposed to asking our communities to absorb the costs while corporations receive enormous tax incentives, without providing a guaranteed return, not a temporary return, not 50 jobs that will last for the construction, but something that will last longer…”
But the data center industry pushes back on many of the claims, both environmental and financial. While the state doesn’t tax data centers as broadly, localities do, and that added up to over $5 billion in state and local taxes in the last two years.
As for the jobs, Don Slaiman, with the electrician's union IBEW26 said they’ve added tens of thousands of data center construction jobs in Virginia.
“We can’t afford to lose all these 6 figure careers," he warned. "We’ve doubled our membership.”
Legislators and Governor Abigail Spanberger must agree to a budget by July 1.
