QTS halts Virginia data centre project amid rising U.S. opposition

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QTS halts Virginia data centre project

Highlights

QTS has cancelled its Prince William Digital Gateway project in Virginia after sustained local opposition and public review, citing community concerns.
Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta plan to spend over $400bn on data centres this year, amid growing grassroots backlash and regulatory scrutiny in multiple regions.
Virginia imposed a $0.011 per kilowatt-hour tax on data centre electricity usage and recent Gallup polling shows 71 percent of Americans oppose local data centre construction.

Project cancellation follows local legal and public pressure

As reported by Financial Times, QTS has terminated the Prince William Digital Gateway project after what the company describes as a rigorous process of planning, analysis and public review.

The proposed campus in Prince William County had drawn sustained opposition from local activists, who objected to its location near a Civil War battlefield. QTS says the project would have delivered significant infrastructure investment to the county, but campaigners welcomed the decision as a victory for the community.

Elena Schlossberg of the Coalition to Protect Prince William County says residents are celebrating the outcome, calling it an exceptional community effort. Blackstone declines to comment.

Data centre backlash spreads across Virginia and beyond

Opposition to data centre construction is widening even as developers accelerate spending to support AI demand. Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta are set to spend more than $400bn on the facilities over the course of this year, while local groups in multiple regions are challenging new developments.

Virginia has recently implemented a tax of $0.011 per kilowatt-hour on electricity used by data centres, whether power comes from the grid or from on-site generation. The state will refund any amount collected above $600mn, and its sales tax exemption for data centres remains in place, but the move reflects mounting pressure in the state's data centre corridor.

Recent polling also points to broad public resistance. A Gallup poll in May shows 71 per cent of Americans oppose data centre construction in their community, while politicians including Senator Bernie Sanders call for a moratorium and utility executives warn that hyperscalers have failed to bring local communities along.

In our earlier coverage of QTS ending the Digital Gateway data center project in Virginia, we explained that the Blackstone-owned operator withdrew its filings after years of regulatory review, litigation, and sustained local opposition in Prince William County. We also noted that the decision comes as Virginia’s fast-growing data center sector faces broader scrutiny from communities and policymakers over power demand, land and water use, and environmental impacts.

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