A 100 billion dollar investment in a data center has been approved by Danville and Pittsylvania County officials in South-Central Virginia. I, as well as many others, whole-heartedly reject this plan for the following reasons:

The promise is that it will create jobs and boost our struggling economy, but the truth is that the majority of the jobs created by the construction of this site will be temporary, and permanent positions will likely be outsourced from other cities and states, due to Danville’s lack of high end technology-based educational institutions. In short, most of the people that will get hired to work at the data center itself will likely not be locals to the area, and our current employment crisis will remain stagnant.

This data center will also raise energy bills for Danville and Pittsylvania County residents, which many people already struggle to pay each month.  Because this decision was made without the people’s consent or input, and the people will be the ones paying for it, these rising energy bills stand to be a modern form of taxation without representation. Happy 250th birthday, America.

The environmental impact of this data center will create a unique set of problems for the people of SOVA as well. Danville has recently been named an official bee city, and we have always been known for our diverse wildlife and scenic nature walks. If this data center is built, very large amounts of water will be diverted to its functions, and that paired with our rising temperatures will cause catastrophic amounts of bees and other pollinators to migrate or die. We are very proud of our bee city status, and it would be a devastating blow to our city’s culture, morale, and biodiversity to lose it so soon after receiving it. This diversion of water will also reduce access to clean water for people, which, again, during record-breaking summer heat, will cause some serious issues for our communities. 

It’s no secret that these data centers are being built across the U.S. in order to house information overflow caused by the influx of artificial intelligence developments. As a local artist finishing up college, I have already seen countless opportunities go null due to the rise of AI, leaving me and other young artists wondering what to do. Danville has a very diverse community of artists, and we have always been known for our arts-related events. If this data center is built, it will foster apathy in the arts, causing our city’s history and culture to die off. 

Students as young as elementary age are now commonly using AI chatbots to do their assignments for them in school.  This has already caused major problems in our education system, because many of our children are not retaining what they learn, and they are losing valuable communication and critical thinking skills at their most formative ages. This will only get worse as it becomes more common and these students enter the workforce with no skills or passions. If this data center is built, it will make preventing this crisis even more difficult than it already is. 

If this data center is built, it will certainly do more harm than good, and I urge everyone to voice their concerns to our local leaders and ask as many questions as possible about this data center deal, especially since we, as taxpayers, were initially kept out of it when the decision was made. Leaders of Danville and Pittsylvania County, I urge you as well to consider the future consequences of this deal, and how they will affect your citizens, your children, and yourselves.

Let’s talk about it.