Data center moratoriums and restrictions in Virginia (2026)

Statewide actions in Virginia

• Virginia: tax action, enacted, June 30, 2026First-in-nation $0.011/kWh data center electricity consumption tax, capped at $600M/yr with pro-rata refunds, effective July 1, 2026, expires June 30, 2028; the sales-tax exemption was preserved. Instrument: 2026 budget (HB 30). Source: Williams Mullen client alert.
• Virginia: ratepayer-protection law, enactedHB 284 (enacted 2026): large-load ratepayer law, one of 15 data-center bills Virginia passed in the 2026 session. Instrument: HB 284. Source: Clean Energy Group 2026 inventory (NCSL deck corroborates).
• Dominion Energy territory: large-load tariff, enacted, July 31, 2026Mandatory contribution in aid of construction directly assigning the cost of substations and transmission lines built to serve new direct-connect large loads (data centers foremost) to those customers instead of all ratepayers. Cut the residential share of Dominion's ~$1.5B Rider T1 filing from $2.90 to $0.94 a month, and the SCC flagged a future docket on assigning more upstream transmission costs. Docket SCC order on Dominion Rider T1 transmission cost allocation (July 31, 2026). Source: Virginia Mercury (Aug 5, 2026); Governor's office release (Aug 10, 2026).
• Dominion Energy (GS-5) territory: large-load tariff, enacted, November 25, 2025SCC-approved GS-5 class (November 25, 2025, effective January 1, 2027): 25 MW+ customers pay at least 85% of contracted distribution and transmission demand plus 60% of generation demand, minimum 14-year contracts, $1.5M/MW collateral. Docket VA SCC PUR-2025-00058; minimum take 85%; term 14 yr. Source: Virginia SCC news release.

Local actions in Virginia

Blocked or delayed projects in Virginia

• Prince William Digital Gateway: The Dec 2023 rezoning for the would-be world's largest data center campus was voided by the circuit court over defective public notice, the Court of Appeals affirmed March 31, 2026, and QTS withdrew its Virginia Supreme Court petitions on July 2, 2026, ending the project. The $24.7B figure is the county finance office's investment estimate; no relocation of the campus has been documented.
• King George County Amazon campus: A new anti-data-center board voted Jan 2, 2024 to walk back the performance agreement signed weeks earlier. The dispute is pending in King George Circuit Court with trial rescheduled for September 2026, and a 7.5-hour June 2026 board meeting ended without a decision. Amazon is meanwhile building in four neighboring Fredericksburg-region counties, but those campuses were announced in 2023 under the same state framework that included King George, before the January 2024 vote, and Amazon is still pursuing the King George site in court, so no relocation of this project is coded.
• Warrenton Amazon data center: The special use permit approved Feb 2023 remains unbuilt: a citizens' lawsuit went to trial in March 2026 with final arguments June 15, 2026 and no ruling on the permit's validity as of early August 2026 (an Aug 2026 procedural ruling only denied the citizens' group's bid to join a related case), the town found in 2025 that Amazon lacks vested rights (appeal parked at the BZA Feb 3, 2026), and the council voted 6-0 on July 8, 2025 to strip data centers from its zoning ordinance. The town's own attorney now argues alongside the plaintiffs.
• Brandy Station campus (Culpeper Acquisitions): The planning commission unanimously recommended denial of the 426-acre, 4.6M sq ft rezoning on June 12, 2024, and the board of supervisors vote has been deferred at the applicant's request ever since. No final board action, withdrawal, or relocation has been reported as of August 2026; the pending status rests partly on the absence of subsequent coverage.
• Active Infrastructure campus (780MW): The Planning Commission voted unanimously on July 23, 2026 to recommend denial of the 780MW, 3.25M sq ft Spring Valley Technology Park rezoning on Evergreen Mills Road, but the final Board of Supervisors decision is still pending. The county is simultaneously drafting options, due September 15, 2026, for a moratorium on all new data center applications.
• Stevensburg Amazon rezoning: Supervisors approved the 243-acre rezoning 4-3 in April 2022 over a planning commission recommendation to deny; neighboring landowners sued in May 2022 alleging illegal spot zoning but the suit did not stop the project. The two-building, 427,000 sq ft campus was built on the same site and is reported fully operational, with local hiring underway by fall 2024.

What one campus pays a local government

The parent piece's calculator puts a single large campus at $2M to $90M a year in local revenue, depending on the tax regime and abatements. The reference campus (Project Blue scale: $3.6B of capital, 286 MW) pays about $157M to local governments over 10 years. Permanent jobs run around 50 per facility.

Run your own numbers in the calculator on the parent piece. Jurisdictions in Virginia that say no give up this revenue, not the jobs.