Public opposition to data centers is intensifying across Virginia, with grassroots groups scoring significant victories including the cancellation of the proposed 23 million-square-foot Prince William Digital Gateway complex after a circuit court ruled a supervisors' vote invalid. In Stafford County, resident Erin Sanzero founded Protect Stafford in spring 2025 after learning the county received three times its anticipated number of data center applications and that its economic development department had signed nondisclosure agreements with developers; the county went from zero data centers in early 2025 to three under construction and 17 in the pipeline. An April poll by The Washington Post and George Mason University's Schar School found 59% of respondents would be uncomfortable with a new data center in their community, up sharply from 24% in 2023. A Virginia Commonwealth University poll published in July found 72% of registered voters oppose sales-tax exemptions for data center developers and 81% support requiring data centers to offset their burden on Virginia's electrical grid.
The scale of the shift matters: Virginia hosts the largest concentration of data centers of any state, and the industry has invested more than $80 billion there while generating more than $5 billion in tax revenue in just the past two years, yet public support is eroding rapidly. The death of the Prince William Digital Gateway project sets a precedent that community legal challenges can override locally approved projects of significant size, a development that could affect how developers and local governments structure future approvals across the state.