At a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing on April 1, 2025, U.S. Representative Suhas Subramanyam (VA-10) called for a national strategic plan to manage data center development, emphasizing its growing impact on Northern Virginia families.

Referencing findings from the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, utility provider reports, and community feedback, Rep. Subramanyam warned that rapid data center expansion will drive up utility bills, necessitate more power lines in residential areas, and consume green space and water resources.

“I’m calling for a national strategic plan on how we deploy more data storage that takes into account the impact on communities,” Rep. Subramanyam told the committee. “My district is home to more data centers than any other district in the country; in fact, if my district were a country, it would have more data centers than almost every other country in the world.” 

He highlighted that ten data centers alone consume more power than all of Washington D.C., and with over 200 already in place and 100 more planned, the demand for electricity is soaring.

“The power needed for these data centers is creating a huge problem for our community. We have power lines right now in Ashburn, Leesburg, and all over Loudoun County,” he said.

Rep. Subramanyam acknowledged that data centers once seemed like an economic boon, promising lower property taxes and increased revenue, but said the reality has shifted.

“We are paying the price now for many of these data centers. In the next five years alone, data centers could increase customers’ bills by up to $276 a year, and people’s utility bills may double in the next seven to ten years just to power data centers,” he cautioned.  

Citing his district as a “cautionary tale” of unchecked expansion, he outlined the mounting challenges: rising energy costs, deteriorating air quality, loss of green space, strain on local infrastructure, and encroachment on neighborhoods and schools.

“The environmental impact is real, as well. These green spaces are disappearing, pollution is rising, and water supplies are being stretched thin,” he added. “It’s making reaching our clean energy goals in Virginia nearly impossible; we set those in place. Even historic places like Manassas Battlefield are under threat, as well.”

He also raised security concerns, warning that concentrating data centers in one region makes them a prime target.

“You look at the Ukraine war, when Russia failed to hack Ukraine’s telecom networks, what did they target? They targeted the data centers. And so, Northern Virginia is becoming more of a target than Washington D.C. itself. That’s why we have a lot of people in our community standing up and fighting back,” he noted. 

He cited the Digital Gateway project in Prince William County, which was halted due to public opposition, and ongoing resistance to data center-related transmission lines in Fauquier, Rappahannock, and Loudoun counties. He argued that building transmission lines for data centers are frankly “invasive and not great for the communities.”

He also referenced a local high school student’s petition against a power line in Ashburn. “Our county is meant to be a place where families can thrive, where kids can be happy and healthy, and where communities can grow—not an industrial zone filled with data centers and high-voltage power lines,” the student wrote according to him. 

Rep. Subramanyam urged a more strategic approach as AI and blockchain drive increased data storage demands.

“We need to be thoughtful about data centers and data storage and their long-term impacts. One can support innovation, but it doesn’t have to come at the cost of our communities,” he added.

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