It’s a 40-minute drive from St. Bridget of Ireland Church in Berryville to Chris and Carrie Bright’s farm in rural Winchester. For 26 years, the couple raised their four children on their century-old farm. “It’s private, it’s nice and the nature is fantastic,” Chris said.
But in April, they received devastating news: a postcard mailer advertising a Valley North transmission line project. One of the proposed transmission line routes would intersect their property. “My blood ran cold,” Chris said. None of their neighbors had received the mailer.
The 765-kilovolt project — the highest voltage line allowed in the U.S. — would connect Putnam County, W.Va., to Frederick County, Md. The transmission line project is one of many proposed in the wake of data center growth across the U.S. The project would require a 200-foot buffer on either side of the lines, supported by 150-foot towers, crossing private rural properties affecting homes.
The family protested the proposal at public comment meetings and are not interested in a potential buyout. “This was our investment. This was going to be for our children,” Carrie said. “God gave man a mandate to be good stewards (of) the earth,” Chris added. But when these construction projects take precedence over conservation, “we’re not taking care of our planet and our environment.”
Walking across the property with his son, Christopher, Chris pointed across a sunny field. “Looking right up at the top of that hill, you’d see one of these massive towers sticking up,” he said. “We don’t want them on our property, so we’re going to be a thorn in their side.”
The proposed route would also pass right by St. Bridget of Ireland, according to Father Paul Grankauskas, pastor. “People in Clarke County, including I think one of the governing boards in Clarke County — they’re all dead set against this project,” he said. “People worry about the health issues, too. What’s the result of having these big power lines run through here?”
Ultimately, the issue with the project comes down to the “why.” Father Grankauskas speculated: “This is meant to help power data centers that were built in Frederick County.”
‘Data Center Alley’
The Arlington diocese is home to 70 parishes and six missions. There are more than 300 data centers within its boundaries, with dozens more in development.
Data centers power much of the world’s internet and are increasingly popping up throughout the country to support the growing demands of artificial intelligence. Northern Virginia is host to “data center alley,” the greatest concentration of data centers in the world. An estimated 70% of the world’s internet flows through the region. The growing number of data centers has generated controversy in recent years, and many pastors and parishioners have concerns over long-term impacts.
When Father James C. Hudgins arrived as pastor of St. Theresa Church in Ashburn six years ago, his initial reaction to the data centers was, “What the heck is that?”
“I just saw these enormous buildings of apocalyptic scale: no windows, no parking lots, huge fences,” he recalled. Located in the heart of data center alley, “St. Theresa really is the epicenter of data centers,” he said. Ashburn is located in Loudoun County, home to more than 250 data centers. As more data centers are built in the region, “You’re forced to ask, ‘Well, where is this leading?’ ” he said.
At Corpus Christi Church in Aldie, a new data center is under construction across the street. Father Michael Taylor, pastor, said that data center growth has exploded in Aldie and South Riding over the last few years. “Forested areas and fields are replaced by enormous, windowless, concrete buildings,” he said.
The growth of data centers has concerned parishioners, he added. “I have also heard from parishioners who live close to the structures that the noise associated with the data center operation is constant — enough so that they are considering moving,” he said. “There is an element of the unknown that can be unsettling.”
Some 15 miles away in Prince William County, Holy Trinity Church in Gainesville faces similar issues, according to Father Stefan Starzynski, parochial vicar. “Holy Trinity is in the bull’s eye of a world-changing next step in technology, for good and bad,” he said. “A short drive in three directions puts me right next to them.”
Holy Trinity parishioner Kev McCormack said he noticed the growing presence of data centers shortly after moving to Bristow in 2022. Now, they’re more than an “eyesore,” he said.
“I understand the need for technological infrastructure — assuming we actually needed it — but it’d be nice if we benefited more directly from it,” McCormack said. “The feeling I get is that the people in charge are making decisions regardless of public feedback.”
Future data center projects may implicate other parishes. In July, data center plans were submitted for a 34-acre project next to Edsall Road in Lincolnia, a half mile from St. Lawrence Church in Alexandria.
Common concerns about data centers include their large geographical footprint and environmental and health questions.
The average data center covers around 100,000 square feet, and often requires millions of gallons of water to cool the servers. Some residents near data centers have complained of high-pitched whistling from the turbines and expressed concerns about air quality. Backup generators have been activated several times in Sterling this year, producing diesel fumes and often running 24 hours at a time. The Washington Post reported that pollution from the estimated 10,500 data center backup generators across Virginia could pose a health risk, even when used only occasionally. Northern Virginia data centers’ consumption of electricity has also strained the electrical grid, contributing to power glitches in a wider area of the country recently.
Industry insiders respond
Several diocesan parishioners who work in the industry say data centers are a necessity in today’s world and are improving on the environmental front.
“Anything you do in the first two hours of waking up most likely involves a data center,” said James Senson, former music director at St. Veronica Church in Chantilly. He gave examples of checking the weather on your phone, using GPS and scrolling through emails.
Senson is a regional technical trainer for Digital Realty, a company that leases physical space, power and cooling infrastructure for data center customers. “We provide a building just like the same way if you were renting a house that has an owner,” he said.
He explained that many data centers are “hyperscale,” massive facilities that house 5,000 or more servers and are designed to support cloud computation and AI. Some hyperscale data center campuses are operated by one company, such as Amazon, which operates 129 data centers in Northern Virginia. Other data centers, however, may be rented by other companies with their own customers. This arrangement, called “colocation,” is what Digital Realty facilitates, according to Senson: “It could be one customer. It could be like hundreds of customers in a building.”
Viviane Gbegnon, a parishioner of St. Mark Church in Vienna, is an employee of a contractor that operates a network of 250 data centers worldwide. Gbegnon works at a data center in Ashburn that is used by Meta. Her role is to oversee projects and monitor a team of technicians. “If anything (goes) wrong or they are not doing anything in the right way, I just help correct them and check with Meta,” she said.
Many think of a data center as a bunch of computers with little to no human interaction, but that is not entirely true, Gbegnon said. “It’s like a normal workspace,” she said, adding that data centers have normal office spaces and a lunchroom. Her workplace even has a composting system. Gbegnon estimates that around 100 employees, mostly technicians, work in some data centers.
Gbegnon said she’s witnessed the positive impacts of data center employment on her coworkers. “Before, people were working at McDonalds; they were not well paid,” she said. Now, data centers provide better pay and benefits so they can support their families, she added.
Not all stereotypes about data centers are correct, as technologies improve and become more efficient, Senson said. He gave the example of water consumption: “There are some data centers that still use water, but it’s actually a closed loop, with the system designed to be more efficient to not waste water.” And while data centers require diesel-fueled generators during a power outage or for routine maintenance, some data centers have systems to mitigate diesel exhaust, he added.
Gbegnon acknowledged the environmental and health concerns about data centers. But the fault lies not with the data center companies themselves, but with the county, she said. “The county should know if it’s safe for the population living in the same area” before they approve data center construction, she said. She added that the county should be transparent with the local community over environmental impacts and health risks.
A path forward
“Data centers are increasingly a household term, and they affect all of us,” said Anna Knier, diocesan coordinator for the Peace and Justice Commission. She pointed to Catholic social teaching and the solidarity that all in the diocese share. “We’re affected by other people’s suffering,” she said. “We ought to have shared responsibility.”
Knier pointed to Pope Leo XIV’s recent encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas,” as a path forward. “We are called to reflect on the great ‘construction sites’ of our era and ask: What are we building?” the pope wrote in the encyclical. “As technological development rapidly transforms languages, relationships, institutions and forms of power, we believers must and can choose which projects to work on and in what manner, so as to safeguard and value the grandeur of humanity that has been given to us as a gift.”
Knier warned against approaching conversations surrounding data centers and AI from a posture of fear. “AI actually can’t compete with us in the long term,” she said. “When it comes to dignity and the absolute magnificence of design and destiny — there’s no contest.”
Donofrio can be reached at anna.donofrio@catholicherald.com.com.
