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The final bill related to the data center industry precipitated by the controversial PW Digital Gateway project has died in the General Assembly.
A subcommittee of the House Rules Committee voted 3-2 to kill Senate Joint Resolution 240 on Monday.
The legislation, introduced by Sen. Chap Petersen, D-Fairfax County, would have directed the Virginia Department of Energy to study the impacts of data center development on the state鈥檚 environment, economy, energy resources and carbon-reduction goals.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an enormous impact on our energy grid,鈥� Petersen told the committee. 鈥淚f we would freeze where we are today, we鈥檇 already have a huge impact but we鈥檙e growing almost exponentially with data centers.鈥�
The bill was the last of five bills filed by Petersen and Del. Danica Roem, D-Prince William, this year related to the burgeoning data center industry. The other four died in their respective chambers.
Three of the duo鈥檚 bills sought to specifically block the controversial PW Digital Gateway, a proposed 27.6 million square feet of data centers on 2,139 acres along Pageland Lane in western Prince William.
The Prince William Board of Supervisors approved the guidelines for the project on Nov. 2 after a more than nine-hour public hearing and a roughly 14-hour meeting. The guidelines for the overall development, an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan, do not deal with specific construction plans.
QTS Realty Trust Inc. and Compass Datacenters are seeking rezonings to develop the area.
Roem and Petersen had identical bills to study the industry. Petersen鈥檚 version cleared a Senate committee and the full chamber before heading to the House of Delegates. The subcommittee that killed it on Monday was the same that killed Roem鈥檚 version of the legislation.
The vote also went the same way, with Dels. Tony Wilt, R-Rockingham; Christopher Head, R-Roanoke; and Kathy Byron, R-Bedford, voting against the legislation.
Dels. Charniele Herring, D-Alexandria, and D.L. Scott, D-Portsmouth, supported the bill while committee Chair Robert Orrock, R-Spotsylvania, abstained.
