Raeid Ebrahim

If elected, I will oppose the construction of more data centers in Fauquier County. Data centers take up a large amount of space, and, while they may bring in some short term jobs to construct the data center, once the data center is actually built, only a few dozen people per data center would be employed to monitor the computer systems. This leads to a very low job-per-square foot ratio. Although the equipment in data centers would become obsolete within a few years, the scars they would leave on the environment would be permanent. Data centers, no matter where in the county they are constructed, will take up large amounts of power and water. To see where this road can lead, we only need to look to our neighbors in the north. There are more than 150 data centers in Loudoun County, which collectively take up tens of millions of square feet. This has led to strains in the power supply, and there was a proposal (that was thankfully rejected, if I recall correctly) to allow data centers in Loudoun to burn diesel in their generations, which would have led to more pollution. With global warming being one of the biggest threats to humanity today, the last thing we need to be doing is putting additional strain on our power supply by constructing large, power-guzzling data centers.

Additionally, Fauquier County allows data center developers to apply for tax rebates on 100% of the first three years of computer taxes associated with the data center. If elected, I would push for repealing these tax incentives. If anything, the tax code should punish data center developers for the strain they place on our environment and electric grid, not reward them.