DEQ, we are all wondering how you will look at the many comments you are receiving.

• Will you look at the comments using a simple statistics - counting all the comments "for the waiver" vs those "against the waiver".   I suggest that you look at this count a little more thoroughly.  How many comments in favor of this variance are landowners who will sell their land, get rich, and then move away?   How many are developers who will make huge sums of money, and they don't even live here?  I would suggest that both of these vote counts should be thrown out or severely discounted, as they will not have to breath the air or listen to the Data Center noise!
• Will you look at the comments as politicians who make backroom deals with developers?  This is obviously not your role!  I suggest you discount comments from industry groups supporting Data Centers.  If you look at the comments from the Data Center Coalition, you could say they are concerned and they are providing a compromise.  (Of course, Loudoun will be a sacrificial lamb.)  In reality, the Data Center Industry shares a lot of blame for the mess we have.  They pushed Data Center development with no regard for residents.  They secretly shared data center proposals with county officials as simple tax revenue generators.  Where was the planning?  Who was looking out for residents and their health?  Data Center developers care about profits - not the good of northern Virginia!  Dominion Energy also worked in the shadows and did not strongly voice their concerns.  They do not have the power generation capacity nor other infrastructure.   By the way, who will pay for the Dominion infrastructure?  Virginia residents!   Discount the arguments from the Data Center Industry!
• Will you look at this as environmental professionals, who are responsible for the air we breathe and the water we drink.  This is what your mission is - protect our air and protect our water!  Protecting the air does NOT mean approving Data Center backup generators that will spew out soot and NOx.   Protecting our water does NOT mean allowing development on a critical watershed for the Occoquan Reservoir, a critical drinking water source.  You know you should be doing an environmental impact study up front before any land use approvals.   This is the responsible way to get answers and understand the real risk!

Yes, you should be leading the way to protect the environment here in Virginia.  NO WAIVERS FOR THE DATA CENTER INDUSTRY.

Roger Yackel

Director of Environmental Policy, HOA Roundtable