West Virginia seeks to blunt data center opposition with new plan
West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey has unveiled a new seven-point statewide plan for data center development, aiming to attract hyperscalers while blunting public opposition. The plan, following a 2025 state law, redirects data center tax revenue to reduce income taxes and fund local infrastructure, and includes measures to protect water and electricity ratepayers. This initiative comes amidst local opposition to a specific project in Tucker County.
West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey unveiled a new seven-point statewide plan for data center development, aiming to attract hyperscalers while addressing growing public opposition. The plan follows a 2025 state law that centralizes control over the sector, shifting it from local to state authority. Morrisey emphasized that the strategy is designed to learn from other states' failures in managing data center growth and public perception.
A key component of the plan involves redirecting data center tax revenue: half will go towards reducing or eliminating statewide income taxes, while the remaining 50% will be distributed among the host county (30%), other counties (10%), and local infrastructure upgrades (10%). The governor stressed that all West Virginians must directly benefit from this revenue.
Other pillars of the framework include a comprehensive 20-year statewide development plan, developer evaluation to ensure sufficient capital, and measures to protect ratepayers from electricity price hikes and safeguard the state's water resources. Despite removing local control, the plan also proposes giving communities a voice through a new statewide Data Center Advisory Council and direct engagement with local leadership. This initiative comes as a proposed data center near Tucker County has already sparked an opposition group, "Tucker United," and led to Governor Morrisey publicly rebuking developer Fundamental Data over an engineer's controversial remarks.