Virginia Regulatory Town Hall
Agency
Department of Environmental Quality
 
Board
Air Pollution Control Board
 
Guidance Document Change: DEQ Guidance Memo APG-578 addresses the use of emergency generators in the case of “sudden and reasonably unforeseeable events” as the result of a planned electric outage.
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12/2/25  1:10 pm
Commenter: Michael Doble

Diesel generators are not the answer
 

Running diesel generators for anything but a short term test or limited grid outage is dangerous to the health of all those subject to the prevailing winds. Loudoun County has 4,700 generators that have the potential to spread unprecedented levels of toxins over the entire region if they are approved for use as requested. Anyone with breathing issues or other health problems would be harmed by this action. And most of these data centers are next to schools, child care businesses, residential neighborhoods and recreation areas.  It's bad enough there are data centers overwhelming our area, let's not make it worse by letting the diesel generators run for extended periods. 

CommentID: 238272