Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

More Big, Honking Data Centers Coming to Virginia

—

by

James A. Bacon
in

Honk!

The COVID-19 epidemic may be slowing the national economy, but it is accelerating the trend toward a digitized and virtual economy. That requires more data centers, and Virginia is still a key locus of the data-center universe.

Amazon Web Services is proposing to build 1.75 million-square-feet of data center space in Loudoun County, reports the Loudoun Times. Blue Ridge Group LLC, which is acting on behalf of Amazon, is seeking approval to rezone 100-acre parcel, which is located just south of Washington Dulles International Airport.

Meanwhile, Delaware-based T-Rex Ventures LLC wants to build a $60 million data center at the York River Commerce Park. T-Rex has won a $1.5 million grant from the local Economic Development Authority and a $380,000 credit from Dominion Energy to the county, which can be used for the new data center, reports WYDaily.

— JAB

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62 responses to “More Big, Honking Data Centers Coming to Virginia”

  1. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    Oh man. Two more of those lousy local newspapers with crummy journalists…no doubt writing biased and misleading accounts.

    We keep saying this then we turn around and continue to quote them in blog posts….

    very confusing……

    1. Steve Haner Avatar
      Steve Haner

      Big fat honking tax preferences….don’t tell anyone that tax goodies actually drive economic behavior…..and you had also been asking about special electric rates, so watch for those in cases like this, too.

      https://www.baconsrebellion.com/taxes-data-centers-and-republican-party-politics/

    2. TooManyTaxes Avatar
      TooManyTaxes

      Many of the smaller media outlets still have the obsolete idea that they are supposed to report news, rather than indoctrinate the readers with wisdom from the writer.

      1. Maria Paluzsay Avatar
        Maria Paluzsay

        We had high hopes for WYDaily, but it’s click bait whose last good writer left to join the police force, I believe. The VA Gazette me republishes AP articles we’ve already read in the Daily Press. We have no real journalism left.

  2. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    Oh man. Two more of those lousy local newspapers with crummy journalists…no doubt writing biased and misleading accounts.

    We keep saying this then we turn around and continue to quote them in blog posts….

    very confusing……

    1. Steve Haner Avatar
      Steve Haner

      Big fat honking tax preferences….don’t tell anyone that tax goodies actually drive economic behavior…..and you had also been asking about special electric rates, so watch for those in cases like this, too.

      https://www.baconsrebellion.com/taxes-data-centers-and-republican-party-politics/

    2. TooManyTaxes Avatar
      TooManyTaxes

      Many of the smaller media outlets still have the obsolete idea that they are supposed to report news, rather than indoctrinate the readers with wisdom from the writer.

      1. Maria Paluzsay Avatar
        Maria Paluzsay

        We had high hopes for WYDaily, but it’s click bait whose last good writer left to join the police force, I believe. The VA Gazette me republishes AP articles we’ve already read in the Daily Press. We have no real journalism left.

  3. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    Well if they were any good they’d be reporting what Haner is… no?

    Besides you KNOW they are very likely a bunch of scum-sucking liberals, right? They’d jump at a chance to work for WaPo, right?

  4. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    Well if they were any good they’d be reporting what Haner is… no?

    Besides you KNOW they are very likely a bunch of scum-sucking liberals, right? They’d jump at a chance to work for WaPo, right?

  5. TBill Avatar
    TBill

    We cannot allow any industry into Virginia that uses dirty energy. We must commit to Progressive Liberal green energy mandates for new business. We must give that green energy to industry cheaply, and green energy must also must also be subsidized for those with incomes below $100k, and probably military. Green energy will be expensive for Virginia’s “chump” class (everyone else), but they are outvoted by the majority getting the cheaper subsidized green energy.

    1. djrippert Avatar
      djrippert

      You got it. The useful idiots in NoVa are the pigeons in this poker game. With no accounting for cost of living differentials it will be NoVa’s middle class that bears the brunt of this special interest giveaway. But the liberal politicians from NoVa (and elsewhere in Virginia) might want to take a step back and consider how work from home has performed during the COVID-19 epidemic. Why live in a high cost, high tax, low quality of life place like NoVa if you don’t have to do so? According to a realtor I ran into over the weekend, “The real estate market on the Maryland section of the Eastern Shore is the best it has been in 30 years. All New Yorkers, people from Connecticut, New Jersey and that area. Buying high priced houses as fast as they can. Not as second homes but as primary residences.” They’re fleeing New York. How long will it be until much of NoVa’s middle class and upper middle class figure out that there are better places to work from home than NoVa?

      1. idiocracy Avatar
        idiocracy

        Does the average NoVA occupant actually realize that they live in a high cost, high tax, low quality of life place? Could it be that NoVA is all of those because….of the people of who live there?

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          Well we have a crapload of folks who live in the Fredericksburg Area and work in NOVa who think they have figured this out.

          1. idiocracy Avatar
            idiocracy

            They could probably fix the entire I95 commuting problem by moving a few FedGov offices to Fredericksburg.

          2. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            Everyone says that but NoVa is surrounded by exurban bedroom communities and agencies feel if they move out they limited their prospective employee pool.

            And exurban communities don’t have anywhere near the amenities found in NoVa… it’s like being in the boondocks for some…

          3. idiocracy Avatar
            idiocracy

            Well, I guess it’s like a company town…except the company is 50 miles north.

            I don’t get the “limiting their prospective employee pool”, though. The vast majority of people who work for the FedGov moved here from other states for that job.

          4. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            Yep – it’s the employers – they like a maximum pool of employees and being in the middle achieve that and moving out to one spoke limits it.

            Yes people who move to NoVa from other places – if where they moved from was not like NoVa in terms of an affordable home, a traditional subdivision neighborhood with a “good” neighborhood school without having to live in a neighborhood with 800K homes… etc.. they don’t want to live in NoVa.

            Fed agencies are fine with that – as long as they can have an employee pool for the whole urban beltway.

            they just don’t want to move out to the end of the spoke

  6. TBill Avatar
    TBill

    We cannot allow any industry into Virginia that uses dirty energy. We must commit to Progressive Liberal green energy mandates for new business. We must give that green energy to industry cheaply, and green energy must also must also be subsidized for those with incomes below $100k, and probably military. Green energy will be expensive for Virginia’s “chump” class (everyone else), but they are outvoted by the majority getting the cheaper subsidized green energy.

  7. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    You know……….. there are momentous changes in the economy – a lot of it going on prior to the virus and now even more as a result of the virus.

    Back in the day, before BR got sidetracked into the culture wars, we would have seen multiple posts about these big changes in the economy, how they affected settlement patterns, transportation/transit, and more….

    Now it’s all about ‘liberals”, “leftists”, “green weenies”, “social justice warriors”, “restorative justice”, “virtue signaling”, “coonman”, “wise Ralph”, and on and on…. just one pejorative after another…

    The virus didn’t unite us – it did the opposite – it further divided us.

    and BR just has gotten swept up in the whole mess.

    ‘just my two cents…

    1. djrippert Avatar
      djrippert

      The culture wars began with the 2000 election of George W Bush. After an interminable process of hanging chads, etc Bush was correctly declared the winner. This sent the left into apoplexy and “Bush Derangement Syndrome” was born. Prior presidents had their detractors. Ford was clumsy, Carter was weak, Reagan was simple minded, Clinton was a skirt chasing con man. None rose to the level of derangement syndrome. Until Bush. In the minds of a significant minority on the left Bush could do nothing right. Then cam Obama and about the same percentage on the right developed Obama Derangement Syndrome. After 16 years of Bush and Obama we had what I thought was a “new normal”. A low level of culture war that was manageable. Then came Trump and the left tripled down on derangement syndrome. A significant percentage of Democrats have just lost their minds about Trump. I have long time friends on my Facebook feed who went years with very little political commentary. They are now 24 X 7 Trump Derangement Syndrome outlets. Some other friends have gone full tilt the other way supporting everything Trump says or does and constantly running down the Democrats from Pelosi and Schumer to “the squad”. It really is bizarre.

      Waxing nostalgic for the Bacon’s Rebellion before the culture wars is a lost cause. There’s no ignoring the megalomania of Trump or the spittle spewing Trump derangement syndrome victims on the left. The back and forth drowns everything else out.

      Back in Virginia the top three elected officials are two admitted blackface party boys and an accused forcible rapist. In an era of #metoo, Black Lives Matter and cancel culture the three leading Dems in the state were pretty much given a pass. Needless to say, this seems to demonstrate to those on the right that the left’s virtue signaling is pretty much pure hypocrisy.

      These culture wars won’t end until we get a real president and that isn’t going to happen in 2020 regardless of who wins.

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        I like the lost-cause analogy but we didn’t need to have culture wars because we disagree philosophically… there was always a middle ground and still is for some.

        Don’t get me started on the current POTUS. Trying to compare him to his predecessors is truly a “lost cause”. This guy has the mind of a 3rd world dictator… way, way beyond whatever Bush or Obama ever even dreamed of.

        I’m no fan of Biden either… here we are, among the greatest countries on the planet (used to be the greatest) and our choice for POTUS was Trump/Clinton then Trump/Biden…

        something is wrong with how we function… but if you really want to see the USA become a banana republic – you may well get your wish.

      2. idiocracy Avatar
        idiocracy

        You know it’s bad when Bill Kristol is suffering from TDS. I figure that Trump must be doing SOMETHING right if neocon warmongers don’t like him.

      3. CREGUY Avatar
        CREGUY

        You diagnose the problem correctly:

        At one time, newspapers were the “public square.” People traded ideas back and forth through commentary pieces and letters to the editor.

        Then along came the blogosphere from 2002-2007ish. Newspapers decline was starting down hill, but the decline wasn’t at full speed. During this age, the newspapers were still the “public square”, but certain blogs (including BR which was a different cast back then) did occupy a small portion of the public square.

        Then came Facebook’s mass usage, Twitter, and the Great Recession which really started to wipe out newspapers. For a brief while, social media became something of a “public square.”

        But as Obama Derangement Syndrome followed by Trump Derangement Syndrome took over…social media is no longer a public square. It’s simply a partisan sandbox.

        And, like LarrytheG, I used to value this blog for its land use, transportation, economic development, and energy focus. It wasn’t BlueVirginia or Bearing Drift. But…it seems to now be a fairly partisan place that is quickly losing its place in the public square and becoming a partisan foodfighter in the culture wars. Sad.

      4. Eric the Half a Troll Avatar
        Eric the Half a Troll

        “Clinton was a skirt chasing con man. None rose to the level of derangement syndrome.”

        You skipped over that whole impeachment episode, you know. Care to revisit your timeline…?

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          Ah yes.. the selective timeline trick….. 😉

    2. James Wyatt Whitehead V Avatar
      James Wyatt Whitehead V

      Mr. Larry we might have to wait until after Appomattox Part Deux. Maybe after that everybody can place nice again.

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        James – we never had to play not nice… we used to have respect for others positions and work to find middle ground.

        Now, it’s a take-no-prisoners environment…and we’re headed for banana republic status.

        1. James Wyatt Whitehead V Avatar
          James Wyatt Whitehead V

          I know it Mr. Larry. I can’t believe we are heading this way. John Brown is here again. The leader of the Not F””’ing Around Coalition is serious. Have you seen this guy Grand Master Jay give a speech at Stone Mountain?

          1. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            James – you’re funny and I’m dense… you may have to connect a few dots here for me to get the full meaning… 😉

          2. James Wyatt Whitehead V Avatar
            James Wyatt Whitehead V

            I was talking about this. Grand Master Jay is real and so is NFAC. They haven’t broken any laws but they do not seek any middle ground for sure.
            https://theconservativeopinion.com/more-details-emerge-on-nfac-group-after-well-take-texas-viral-video/

          3. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            Nope. but I sorta see the culture war as not the radicals left and right. We always had the KKK but the moderates worked to find ways forward that accommodated the different races.

            Blacks have waited for a century or more for something better than what they have got – so I’m not real surprised that we have some that have given up.

            Both radical sides are diminished or empowered depending on how well the middle works. If it fails – the extremes are empowered.

            We are not the only country where this happens but we have always portrayed ourselves as THE country where we tried to do better. Turns out.. we’re a lot like other countries.. we have humans that hate each other over their skin or culture and we’ll kill each other over it unless others restrain us.

          4. James Wyatt Whitehead V Avatar
            James Wyatt Whitehead V

            I hope we can do better this go around Mr. Larry. This nation has plowed this territory before. No place on this earth offers so much space and opportunity for everyone. I don’t think we have tapped into the true power of the United States to do right by everyone in this land. It is not too late.

        2. idiocracy Avatar
          idiocracy

          Some places in the USA are already at banana republic status and have been for quite some time.

      2. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        I too remain an optimist….. but a pragmatic one

  8. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    You know……….. there are momentous changes in the economy – a lot of it going on prior to the virus and now even more as a result of the virus.

    Back in the day, before BR got sidetracked into the culture wars, we would have seen multiple posts about these big changes in the economy, how they affected settlement patterns, transportation/transit, and more….

    Now it’s all about ‘liberals”, “leftists”, “green weenies”, “social justice warriors”, “restorative justice”, “virtue signaling”, “coonman”, “wise Ralph”, and on and on…. just one pejorative after another…

    The virus didn’t unite us – it did the opposite – it further divided us.

    and BR just has gotten swept up in the whole mess.

    ‘just my two cents…

    1. djrippert Avatar
      djrippert

      The culture wars began with the 2000 election of George W Bush. After an interminable process of hanging chads, etc Bush was correctly declared the winner. This sent the left into apoplexy and “Bush Derangement Syndrome” was born. Prior presidents had their detractors. Ford was clumsy, Carter was weak, Reagan was simple minded, Clinton was a skirt chasing con man. None rose to the level of derangement syndrome. Until Bush. In the minds of a significant minority on the left Bush could do nothing right. Then cam Obama and about the same percentage on the right developed Obama Derangement Syndrome. After 16 years of Bush and Obama we had what I thought was a “new normal”. A low level of culture war that was manageable. Then came Trump and the left tripled down on derangement syndrome. A significant percentage of Democrats have just lost their minds about Trump. I have long time friends on my Facebook feed who went years with very little political commentary. They are now 24 X 7 Trump Derangement Syndrome outlets. Some other friends have gone full tilt the other way supporting everything Trump says or does and constantly running down the Democrats from Pelosi and Schumer to “the squad”. It really is bizarre.

      Waxing nostalgic for the Bacon’s Rebellion before the culture wars is a lost cause. There’s no ignoring the megalomania of Trump or the spittle spewing Trump derangement syndrome victims on the left. The back and forth drowns everything else out.

      Back in Virginia the top three elected officials are two admitted blackface party boys and an accused forcible rapist. In an era of #metoo, Black Lives Matter and cancel culture the three leading Dems in the state were pretty much given a pass. Needless to say, this seems to demonstrate to those on the right that the left’s virtue signaling is pretty much pure hypocrisy.

      These culture wars won’t end until we get a real president and that isn’t going to happen in 2020 regardless of who wins.

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        I like the lost-cause analogy but we didn’t need to have culture wars because we disagree philosophically… there was always a middle ground and still is for some.

        Don’t get me started on the current POTUS. Trying to compare him to his predecessors is truly a “lost cause”. This guy has the mind of a 3rd world dictator… way, way beyond whatever Bush or Obama ever even dreamed of.

        I’m no fan of Biden either… here we are, among the greatest countries on the planet (used to be the greatest) and our choice for POTUS was Trump/Clinton then Trump/Biden…

        something is wrong with how we function… but if you really want to see the USA become a banana republic – you may well get your wish.

      2. idiocracy Avatar
        idiocracy

        You know it’s bad when Bill Kristol is suffering from TDS. I figure that Trump must be doing SOMETHING right if neocon warmongers don’t like him.

      3. CREGUY Avatar
        CREGUY

        You diagnose the problem correctly:

        At one time, newspapers were the “public square.” People traded ideas back and forth through commentary pieces and letters to the editor.

        Then along came the blogosphere from 2002-2007ish. Newspapers decline was starting down hill, but the decline wasn’t at full speed. During this age, the newspapers were still the “public square”, but certain blogs (including BR which was a different cast back then) did occupy a small portion of the public square.

        Then came Facebook’s mass usage, Twitter, and the Great Recession which really started to wipe out newspapers. For a brief while, social media became something of a “public square.”

        But as Obama Derangement Syndrome followed by Trump Derangement Syndrome took over…social media is no longer a public square. It’s simply a partisan sandbox.

        And, like LarrytheG, I used to value this blog for its land use, transportation, economic development, and energy focus. It wasn’t BlueVirginia or Bearing Drift. But…it seems to now be a fairly partisan place that is quickly losing its place in the public square and becoming a partisan foodfighter in the culture wars. Sad.

      4. Eric the Half a Troll Avatar
        Eric the Half a Troll

        “Clinton was a skirt chasing con man. None rose to the level of derangement syndrome.”

        You skipped over that whole impeachment episode, you know. Care to revisit your timeline…?

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          Ah yes.. the selective timeline trick….. 😉

    2. James Wyatt Whitehead V Avatar
      James Wyatt Whitehead V

      Mr. Larry we might have to wait until after Appomattox Part Deux. Maybe after that everybody can place nice again.

  9. James Wyatt Whitehead V Avatar
    James Wyatt Whitehead V

    Data Centers need an architectural overhaul. They look like giant boxes with no soul and seemingly no purpose. Ashburn used to have some wonderful pastoral views of grain, corn, hay, and cows; and a great many acres have been consumed with these East German looking structures.

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      well.. the’re sorta like a sewage treatment plant or a power grid substation or perhaps even a nuclear or gas plant… they are the “stuff” that powers us.

      Perhaps they could be made “pretty”… maybe they should.

      1. James Wyatt Whitehead V Avatar
        James Wyatt Whitehead V

        I always pointed out to Loudoun County students how Eero Saarinen transformed dairy farm country into an imaginative world of what tomorrow might look like.
        https://www.linns.com/images/default-source/news/eero-saarinen-american-architecture.jpg?Status=Master&sfvrsn=d0f37a1a_0

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          Indeed. Our dairy farms down our way are now WaWas and the like:

          https://s3.amazonaws.com/wawa-kentico/wawa/media/callouts/home_cta2.jpg?ext=.jpg

          however, we still have lots of milk at Walmart – how does that work?

          1. James Wyatt Whitehead V Avatar
            James Wyatt Whitehead V

            Eerro Sarrinen even designed the seating at Dulles. I never found these chairs very comfortable.
            https://i.pinimg.com/originals/2a/92/ce/2a92ce6343760890c6899189105bded8.jpg

          2. James Wyatt Whitehead V Avatar
            James Wyatt Whitehead V

            Eero Saarinen thought of everything at Dulles. Right down to the font for the signs.
            https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/dbab38fe0125b7b271ce0c00d11a4fc388991570/c=54-0-763-533/local/-/media/2018/07/12/USATODAY/USATODAY/636669790452459541-2018-06-29-Dulles-Tour–30.jpg?width=520&height=390&fit=crop

          3. James Wyatt Whitehead V Avatar
            James Wyatt Whitehead V

            Eerro Sarrinen’s answer to getting the passenger to the jet faster was the world famous “People Mover”. I never could figure out what the two towers on top of the bus were for. Do they still use these?
            https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/15839v-1.jpg

        2. James Wyatt Whitehead V Avatar
          James Wyatt Whitehead V

          One of my favorite memories of growing up in Loudoun County was the Concord. That jet would rattle the windows of our house when taking off from Dulles. I got to see the cockpit of the Concord. Very small plane on the inside.
          https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CPribshWwAAjMef.jpg

    2. idiocracy Avatar
      idiocracy

      They could add a rail siding and some loading docks and make them look like warehouses.

  10. James Wyatt Whitehead V Avatar
    James Wyatt Whitehead V

    Data Centers need an architectural overhaul. They look like giant boxes with no soul and seemingly no purpose. Ashburn used to have some wonderful pastoral views of grain, corn, hay, and cows; and a great many acres have been consumed with these East German looking structures.

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      well.. the’re sorta like a sewage treatment plant or a power grid substation or perhaps even a nuclear or gas plant… they are the “stuff” that powers us.

      Perhaps they could be made “pretty”… maybe they should.

      1. James Wyatt Whitehead V Avatar
        James Wyatt Whitehead V

        I always pointed out to Loudoun County students how Eero Saarinen transformed dairy farm country into an imaginative world of what tomorrow might look like.
        https://www.linns.com/images/default-source/news/eero-saarinen-american-architecture.jpg?Status=Master&sfvrsn=d0f37a1a_0

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          Indeed. Our dairy farms down our way are now WaWas and the like:

          https://s3.amazonaws.com/wawa-kentico/wawa/media/callouts/home_cta2.jpg?ext=.jpg

          however, we still have lots of milk at Walmart – how does that work?

          1. James Wyatt Whitehead V Avatar
            James Wyatt Whitehead V

            Eerro Sarrinen even designed the seating at Dulles. I never found these chairs very comfortable.
            https://i.pinimg.com/originals/2a/92/ce/2a92ce6343760890c6899189105bded8.jpg

          2. James Wyatt Whitehead V Avatar
            James Wyatt Whitehead V

            Eero Saarinen thought of everything at Dulles. Right down to the font for the signs.
            https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/dbab38fe0125b7b271ce0c00d11a4fc388991570/c=54-0-763-533/local/-/media/2018/07/12/USATODAY/USATODAY/636669790452459541-2018-06-29-Dulles-Tour–30.jpg?width=520&height=390&fit=crop

          3. James Wyatt Whitehead V Avatar
            James Wyatt Whitehead V

            Eerro Sarrinen’s answer to getting the passenger to the jet faster was the world famous “People Mover”. I never could figure out what the two towers on top of the bus were for. Do they still use these?
            https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/15839v-1.jpg

        2. James Wyatt Whitehead V Avatar
          James Wyatt Whitehead V

          One of my favorite memories of growing up in Loudoun County was the Concord. That jet would rattle the windows of our house when taking off from Dulles. I got to see the cockpit of the Concord. Very small plane on the inside.
          https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CPribshWwAAjMef.jpg

  11. James Wyatt Whitehead V Avatar
    James Wyatt Whitehead V

    Another great Eerro Sarrinen contribution to architecture. The TWA Terminal in NYC. Looks like something from 2001 a Space Oddessey or maybe the old TV show Space: 1999.
    https://i0.wp.com/www.ifitshipitshere.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/TWA_terminal_exterior.jpg?resize=799%2C600

  12. James Wyatt Whitehead V Avatar
    James Wyatt Whitehead V

    Another great Eerro Sarrinen contribution to architecture. The TWA Terminal in NYC. Looks like something from 2001 a Space Oddessey or maybe the old TV show Space: 1999.
    https://i0.wp.com/www.ifitshipitshere.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/TWA_terminal_exterior.jpg?resize=799%2C600

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