Statewide data center action in Virginia
As of September 27, 2026, Virginia rejected a data center moratorium (action taken Aug 11, 2026).
Status is derived, not stored — a pause with a documented end date flips to Expired on its own — and the source is right next to the claim.
Status today
Sen. Glen Sturtevant (R) wrote to Gov. Spanberger on Jul 30, 2026 asking her to use executive authority for an immediate moratorium on new data center approvals while the state assesses grid, water and infrastructure capacity; Sens. Richard Stuart (R) and Russet Perry (D) jointly asked for a special session on groundwater. Spotsylvania (Aug 11, 4-2) and Stafford (Sep 1) boards backed the ask. The governor's office answered Aug 11 that its approach — the $0.011/kWh consumption tax and an SCC directive making new data centers pay their full transmission cost — 'supersedes any effort to block them from being developed', and Spanberger has said a pause is a local choice. Under Virginia's Dillon's Rule a locality cannot enact a true moratorium; it can defer applications for up to 12 months while amending its ordinance
SourceNews
read 2026-09-05
An expiry date is the earliest a pause could have ended — extensions are common, so confirm with the clerk before citing it.
What to do next
- Questions to ask at the hearing — force specific answers onto the record.
- Estimate the impact — electricity, water, and rate pressure for any facility size in Virginia.
- Model CBA clauses — copy-paste language communities have actually won.
- Virginia briefing — rates, grid carbon, PUC contacts, and every fight in the state.
Nearby in Virginia
- Virginia (Dominion GS-5 large-load rate class) (1 mi) — Enactedno end date — permanent
- Virginia (2026 General Assembly package) (1 mi) — Enactedno end date — permanent
- Spotsylvania County (47 mi) — Enactedno end date — permanent
- Fluvanna County (51 mi) — Expiredterm ran to 2026-01-31
- Stafford County (61 mi) — Enactedno end date — permanent
- Virginia (data center power tax) (68 mi) — Enactedno end date — permanent
- Culpeper County (71 mi) — Enactedno end date — permanent
- Suffolk (73 mi) — Proposedterm not documented
All 14 tracked actions in Virginia are on the state page.
As of August 2026 · changes weekly — re-check before citing
Illustrative rather than exhaustive — dozens of localities churn weekly, and this tracks the ones we have read a source for. **Each row carries its own provenance.** Rows showing a verification date link to the ordinance, the enacting body's own page, or a datable report of the vote, and were read on that date. Rows marked *unverified* came from bulk compilation and have not been checked against a primary source — the locality, the year, and the status may all be off. Verify one of those with the town clerk before citing it as precedent. **Expiry is derived, not asserted.** A row with a documented end date flips to *Expired* on its own once that date passes. A time-limited moratorium whose start date was never documented keeps showing as enacted — that is a known gap, not a claim that it is still in force. Moratoriums are also routinely extended, so an expiry date is the earliest it could have ended, not proof that it did.
Part of the U.S. data center moratorium tracker — open data, CC BY 4.0.