Group Requests Public Hearing for 289-Acre Fredericksburg Data Center Project Affecting Wetlands

The proposed second phase of PowerHouse 95, a 289-acre data center campus in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, is facing calls for a public hearing from the advocacy group Friends of the Rappahannock. The group contends that the seven-building data center project, located off Mills Drive in Cosner's Corner, Fredericksburg, would impact three acres of wetlands and an additional 1.5 acres of open water within the Massaponax Creek area, which is classified as impaired by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. They argue that development, including data centers, has already diminished the creek's ability to filter pollution before it reaches the Rappahannock River.

The request for a public hearing for PowerHouse's application, submitted in February, comes shortly after the Spotsylvania Planning Commission approved a special-use permit for a 555-acre Amazon data center in the Lee Hill area. This approval faced public outcry, with one resident reportedly shouting, "You're selling out your neighbors for projections, not actual numbers."

Adding to the evolving landscape for data center development, Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger announced an executive order and an "accountability framework" on September 18 to regulate the industry. Governor Spanberger stated that data centers "won't have carte blanche to play by their own rules in Virginia" and outlined measures including prohibitions on developer secrecy agreements, a toolkit for local governments, and steps to mitigate power usage-related rate hikes. The order also established an AI Task Force to recommend legislation for AI, a major driver of data center demand, though the specific impact on the Powerhouse 95 project remains unclear.