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HB 2068 by Tom Garrett, ensuring that county government would continue to have the land use decision right relating to solar and other projects, failed to come out of committee – tabled, as it were – therefore failed.  These solar installations are being sought to create additional energy for the onslaught of data centers coming to the Commonwealth. 

Ford Motor – Rouge, if an example is needed, built their own power plant – and has operated it since the facility was built nearly a hundred years ago.  Henry Ford did it to remain independent from local utility failures.  He isn’t the only one who did this.  Hercules and other companies in the Commonwealth also built power plants on their property supplying energy to their various manufacturing locations and operations.  

These data centers are owned by billionaires. They can buy much smaller pieces of land and build power plants run with gas, oil, or nukes – clean power plants with stacks that scrub any carbon output created by those facilities.  They have the money and can hire the expertise.  Taxpayers and county residents should not have to carry the burden of finding energy (large swath land consuming green energy at that) for these or any other businesses that require mega electricity to operate in the Commonwealth.  

Pete Kapuscinski
Dillwyn