- West Virginia is setting rules for data center growth before hyperscale projects reshape local power and water demand
- The plan puts ratepayer protections, water use and community benefits front and center as states court AI infrastructure
- West Virginia joins Texas, Utah, Pennsylvania and others in pushing responsible data center development standards
West Virginia is trying to get ahead of the data center boom, unveiling state-level regulation to ensure the responsible development of new facilities in the state.
Governor Patrick Morrisey said during a press conference the new state guidelines fill a gap left on the local level, noting more than 50 counties have no cohesive mechanism or zoning to approve, regulate or deny data center projects looking to come to town.
“Across the country there’s a national debate that’s underway and people are hearing about data centers. A lot of states rushed into the sector without a viable plan. In West Virginia we’re not doing that,” Morrisey said. “In West Virginia we do not have to choose between a thriving high-tech economy and our state’s natural beauty and way of life.”
Morrisey stressed that West Virginia is at an advantage because it has a chance to come at the problem with a clean slate. The state, he said, currently has no active hyperscale data center facilities, though a total of around 10 projects have reportedly been proposed for the state.
“We are applying lessons learned from others’ failures…we have an opportunity to do it the right way and have responsible regulation,” Morrisey said.
Morrisey said the plan is a set of principles that demonstrates how state officials plan to operationalize the laws passed as part of the state’s Power Generation and Consumption Act in 2025. “It takes regulators, it takes enforcers to make sure that things are done correctly,” he said.
What’s in the plan?
The plan grants the state the ability to review project plans, assessing their capital investment backing, power loads and location to ensure these meet criteria to benefit the public interest. It also specifies that all citizens of the state should benefit from the state-level revenue generated by data centers, with this money set to be handed to counties to fund schools, income tax reduction and community projects.
Notably, the plan also establishes utility ratepayer protections, requiring data centers to “fully fund their own electrical infrastructure upgrades and energy capacity needs.” Water protections are also included, with the state planning to prioritize projects that use closed-loop systems, immersion cooling, reclaimed water and other “water-efficient designs.”
It also establishes a Data Center Advisory Council to develop “statewide standards for property setbacks, noise mitigation, aesthetic integration, site security, and proximity to sensitive locations like residential neighborhoods, schools, and houses of worship.”
Growing regulation movement
West Virginia is far from alone in looking to guardrails in place as communities push back against booming data center development.
State officials in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey,Utah and Texas have all also released plans outlining requirements data centers must meet for new developments. Michigan, meanwhile, debuted a “responsible Growth Action Plan” that calls on the legislature to codify certain existing safeguards into law and asks data center developers to sign a voluntary pledge.
These state guidelines have several commonalities, notably provisions around protecting energy ratepayers, limiting water consumption and increasing transparency around project details.
As Morrisey alluded to, the success of these plans in actually addressing citizens’ concerns will hinge on enforcement.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced shortly after unveiling his state’s guidelines that Meta, OpenAI, Oracle, EdgeConneX and Google all committed to comply with the new data center standards. Abbott’s office noted “one data center that could not comply chose to end operations before even beginning construction.”
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