Comprehensive Plan Area III: "The use is designed to mitigate impacts on the water quality of the Occoquan Reservoir.” Rt 50, Stonecroft Blvd, and the Pleasant Valley neighborhood are located within the Cub Run watershed, a Water Supply Protection Overlay District (WSPOD), and include a Resource Protection Area. Cub Run is a tributary supplying the Occoquan Reservoir – the drinking water for over 800,000.
County is not following their own recommendations by not requiring all data centers to go through the Special Exception process.
Flammable/Toxic on-site liquid storage not being addressed.
County waste water treatment not designed to remove by-products from data centers.
EPA warns Cub Run Stream is impaired.
Soil is unsuited for mega data center, raising concerns about substantial dewatering contaminating Cub Run.
Cost of accidental contamination of water/soil to fall on taxpayers.
Diesel discharges are more common than one may think.
County is not following their own recommendations by not requiring all data centers to go through the Special Exception process. Oct 25, 2022 Letter from Chairman McKay to Prince William County on their Digital Gateway “Of particular concern for us is the protection of the Occoquan Watershed and Reservoir that provide drinking water to residents of both Prince William and Fairfax Counties.” and “other potential impacts to the environment, historical/cultural resources and transportation” and “We strongly encourage you to undertake those studies prior to the approval of any entitlements.” In Fairfax County, the Special Exception process is the only mechanism where these issues can be addressed (e.g. Chantilly Mega Data Center proffers 31 and 35d include requirements for monitoring and mitigation at the resource.
Flammable/Toxic on-site liquid storage not being addressed. Data centers require large numbers of industrial grade diesel generators storing thousands of gallons of flammable diesel fuel and toxic diesel exhaust fluid on-site. A spill (from the generators or diesel trucks hooking up to fill the generators), leak (like in Tennessee), fire or other accident can shut down the area and, in the Chantilly area, contaminate the Resource Protection Area and Cub Run stream (a tributary to Occoquan Reservoir drinking water). Fairfax County Park Authority (FCPA) raised concerns about the Chantilly Mega Data Center: “a diesel spill could contaminate FCPA’s adjacent and downstream properties and the Cub Run watercourse." Only through the Special Exception process in Fairfax County can water mitigations, Tier 4 diesel generators, or other protections be requested.
County waste water treatment not designed to remove by-products from data centers. The County's January 2024 "DATA CENTERS Report and Recommendations" states that the waste water treatment process at the Upper Occoquan Service Authority (UOSA) - which is what would service the 110' data center - is not designed to remove salts, PFAs or other chemicals that may be discharged from data center cooling systems. It concludes "Fairfax Water has concerns with certain chemical uses associated with data centers that can be transmitted to UOSA sanitary sewershed and pass through the the wastewater treatment process without reduction or removal."
EPA warns Cub Run Stream is impaired. The EPA has given the Cub Run Stream an “impaired” rating, further adding to the arguments that the land should not be rezoned to more industrial uses, yet the county feels more industrial zones near sensitive environmental areas is smart growth, why is that?
Cost of accidental contamination of water/soil to fall on taxpayers. Applicants are not being required to set aside a fund to use for cleanup if there is an accident resulting in spills of diesel fuel, exhaust fluid or other contaminants and that the taxpayer funded DEQ would be responsible for pursuing the offender. In addition, the offender can declare bankruptcy and the cost of the cleanup will then become the responsibility of the tax payers.
Diesel discharges are more common than one may think. In the last 10 years, in Fairfax and Loudoun counties alone, a simplified search of discharges from tanker trucks resulted in 14 reported incidents. According to the Program Manager of the Regional Pollution Response (PReP) who provided the results, due "to the query method of relying on the word "tanker" in the description, I cannot guarantee every incident was captured.". According to the DEQ, there have been 69 leak/spill incidents from Federally Regulated Above-ground Storage Tanks (AST) since 2018 in the Commonwealth.
Comprehensive Plan Area III: "The use is designed to mitigate impacts on the water quality of the Occoquan Reservoir.” The site is located within the Cub Run watershed and the Water Supply Protection Overlay District (WSPOD), immediately adjacent to a Resource Protection Area. Cub Run is a tributary supplying the Occoquan Reservoir – the drinking water for over 800,000.
County is not following their own recommendations.
Flammable/Toxic on-site liquid storage not being addressed.
County waste water treatment not designed to remove by-products from data centers.
EPA warns Cub Run Stream is impaired.
Soil is unsuited for mega data center, raising concerns about substantial dewatering contaminating Cub Run.
Cost of accidental contamination of water/soil to fall on taxpayers.
Diesel discharges are more common than one may think.
County is not following their own recommendations.
SUCCESS! This item was added to proffers: Rachel Flynn, the Deputy County Executive of Fairfax County, stated “We concur with the comments of Fairfax Water, dated March 21, 2022, and May 4, 2022, i.e., reducing sodium and bromide concentrations in industrial wastewater before they enter the public sanitary sewer system.” Yet the applicant is not being required to identify and reduce sodium or bromide or other contaminants; instead the applicant is only recommended “to proactively identify any chemicals that will be discharged from the data center site into the sanitary system” and is recommended “to proffer to provide Upper Occoquan Service Authority’s (UOSA) this information and commit to any additional pretreatment of chemicals as determined necessary by UOSA.”
Oct 25, 2022 Letter from Chairman McKay to Prince William County on their Digital Gateway “Of particular concern for us is the protection of the Occoquan Watershed and Reservoir that provide drinking water to residents of both Prince William and Fairfax Counties.” and “other potential impacts to the environment, historical/cultural resources and transportation” and “We strongly encourage you to undertake those studies prior to the approval of any entitlements.” Rezoning is an entitlement, yet the applicant is only being recommended to address many concerns raised by County departments (including wastewater contaminants, storage and containment safeguards of on-site toxins, traffic noise study, etc.) during site plan review which is after rezoning has been approved.
PARTIAL SUCCESS! Some issues addressed in the 9/14/23 proffers. Issues that County departments have raised are being dismissed.
Flammable/Toxic on-site liquid storage not being addressed. The data center requires 27 diesel generators, storing 135,000 gallons of flammable diesel fuel and 13,500 gallons of toxic diesel exhaust fluid on-site. A spill (from the generators or diesel trucks hooking up to fill the generators), leak (like in Tennessee), fire or other accident can shut down the area and contaminate the adjacent Resource Protection Area and Cub Run stream (a tributary to Occoquan Reservoir drinking water). Fairfax County Park Authority (FCPA) has raised concerns: “a diesel spill could contaminate FCPA’s adjacent and downstream properties and the Cub Run watercourse. FCPA continues to request details on the handling, storage, and spill containment of the fuel system, as well as construction and operational safeguards and redundancies to be provided by the contractor and owner.” Yet the Staff concluded only that “A proffer is recommended to provide this information at site plan.” Rezoning is an entitlement; by putting this off until site plan, the county is not following its own recommendation “to undertake those studies prior to the approval of any entitlements.”
County waste water treatment not designed to remove by-products from data centers. The County's January 2024 "DATA CENTERS Report and Recommendations" states that the waste water treatment process at the Upper Occoquan Service Authority (UOSA) - which is what would service the 110' data center - is not designed to remove salts, PFAs or other chemicals that may be discharged from data center cooling systems. It concludes "Fairfax Water has concerns with certain chemical uses associated with data centers that can be transmitted to UOSA sanitary sewershed and pass through the the wastewater treatment process without reduction or removal."
EPA warns Cub Run Stream is impaired. The EPA has given the Cub Run Stream an “impaired” rating, further adding to the arguments that the land should not be rezoned to more industrial uses, yet the county feels more industrial zones near sensitive environmental areas is smart growth, why is that? The 135,000 gallons of flammable diesel fuel and 13,500 gallons of toxic diesel exhaust fluid (which is especially detrimental to aquatic life) stored on-site threatens our drinking water.
Soil is unsuited for mega data center, raising concerns about substantial dewatering contaminating Cub Run. May 3, 2023 USDA Soil Report USDA indicates that the land is “Somewhat limited” to “Very Limited” for “Small commercial buildings” which are structures “that are less than three stories high and do not have basements.” eMail response 5/15/23 from USDA/NCRS states “a three-story small commercial building checks in at about 40 feet tall”. So a building nearly 3 times as tall, according to the applicant, will require reclamation and cement treated soils “to try and get the soil to the level that it needs to be to build the building”, further impacting the environmentally sensitive stream valley area in which the parcel is located. As seen with the construction of the Quantum Loophole data center in Frederick Maryland, dewatering contaminated the Tuscarora Creek. Why are we risking the same issue with the Cub Run stream?
Cost of accidental contamination of water/soil to fall on taxpayers. At the June 19th Sully District Council meeting, the applicant indicated that they will not be setting aside a fund to use for cleanup if there is an accident resulting in spills of diesel fuel, exhaust fluid or other contaminants and that the taxpayer funded DEQ would be responsible for pursuing the offender. In addition, the offender can declare bankruptcy and the cost of the cleanup will then become the responsibility of the tax payers.
Diesel discharges are more common than one may think. In the last 10 years, in Fairfax and Loudoun counties alone, a simplified search of discharges from tanker trucks resulted in 14 reported incidents. According to the Program Manager of the Regional Pollution Response (PReP) who provided the results, due "to the query method of relying on the word "tanker" in the description, I cannot guarantee every incident was captured.". According to the DEQ, there have been 69 leak/spill incidents from Federally Regulated Above-ground Storage Tanks (AST) since 2018 in the Commonwealth.