A family enjoys the view from Skyline Drive of Shenandoah National Park. Photo by Paul-Michael Ferguson.

Our Partners at Piedmont Environmental Council and National Parks Conservation Association warn of dire consequences from the data center industry for a local national jewel – Shenandoah State Park.

The article lists a few of many environmental concerns over the data center industry’s explosive growth, including:

• the need for additional transmission lines that would cut through Shenandoah National Park to power the centers — as already has been done to meet other electricity demands,
• harm to nearby battlefields and historic resources, potentially including the remains of Civil War soldiers,
• transmission lines and resulting construction impacting the park’s viewsheds,
• losing valuable wildlife habitat and land to new transmission lines,
• data center energy demand creating pressure for more polluting natural gas infrastructure and resulting in poor air quality in the area
• increased smog from thousands of diesel generators that run routinely at data centers
• coal-fired power stations continuing to operate for longer than they otherwise might have

On Shenandoah National Park Viewsheds:

“I think anybody that’s been around these big industrial transmission lines recognized that that’s what they are. They’re industrial infrastructure. They buzz and crackle and pop and they’re, to be honest, quite ugly to look at. And when people go to a national park like Shenandoah, [they want] to escape that.

Parks should be a place where people can kind of experience the natural world in its truest form, and as more transmission lines go up and are crossing the countryside, it becomes harder and harder for [people] to find that experience in the East.” – Kyle Hart, Mid-Atlantic Program Manager, National Parks Conservation Association

On Data Center Transmission Line Distrubance:

“It’s time that we start as a state and as a region, thinking about this industry as bigger than one plant, one project, one site. It’s not just a local land-use issue. It’s much more than that. And it’s time that the state starts thinking about that, in a holistic manner, in planning for it long term. That is how you protect parks.” – Kyle Hart, Mid-Atlantic Program Manager, National Parks Conservation Association

On Data Center Smog in Shenandoah National Park:

“It’s almost this self-fulfilling prophecy: highly energy-intensive data centers come online; they strain an aging electrical grid; so they have to use those diesel generators, which burn diesel, which is very dirty; that produces smog; and depending on the facility and the prevailing wind direction, it certainly could end up in Shenandoah.” – Kyle Hart, Mid-Atlantic Program Manager, National Parks Conservation Association