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# Virginia Orders Data Center Transparency, Noise and Backup-Power Reviews
- URL: https://www.theamericanquorum.com/state-news-virginia-2026-09-20-b/
- Published: 2026-09-20T13:45:40.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-20T13:45:40.000Z
- Description: Virginia’s new data-center accountability push orders greater executive-branch transparency, faster noise rules and a backup-power review, while broader changes await the General Assembly.
- Author: News Desk
- Tags: State News, Virginia

Virginia has begun a new statewide push to tighten oversight of data-center development, combining immediate executive-branch directives with a broader policy framework that will require legislative action. Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed Executive Order 22 on Sept. 18, establishing a Data Center Accountability Framework and creating an artificial-intelligence task force, according to [12 On Your Side’s report from the announcement](https://www.12onyourside.com/2026/09/18/watch-live-spanberger-address-data-centers-ai/?ref=theamericanquorum.com).

The order bars executive-branch officials from signing nondisclosure agreements connected to data-center projects, directs agencies to speed work on noise rules and calls for a review of backup-power operations, [The Verge reported](https://www.theverge.com/policy/997573/virginia-governor-spanberger-data-center-ai-task-force?ref=theamericanquorum.com). Those steps address recurring concerns that communities have too little information before major projects advance and that around-the-clock facilities can create persistent noise and local air-quality risks.

The transparency rule applies to projects of at least 25 megawatts, and the administration wants to encourage renewable energy and storage alternatives to natural-gas or diesel backup generation, [Reuters reported](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/virginia-tightens-data-center-restrictions-amid-political-backlash-2026-09-18/?ref=theamericanquorum.com). The distinction between the executive order and the broader framework matters: agencies can begin carrying out directions within existing authority, but proposals that change state law or tax policy must go through the General Assembly.

## What changes now—and what does not

Executive agencies now have a common set of instructions on disclosure, noise and backup power. Local zoning approvals, existing projects and the state’s data-center tax treatment do not automatically change because of the order. The accountability framework instead sets Spanberger’s agenda for the 2027 legislative session, including changes to development approvals, incentives, environmental protections and safeguards against shifting infrastructure costs to households.

The administration’s action builds on a larger fight over how rapidly rising power demand should be allocated. In April, Spanberger joined other governors asking PJM Interconnection to make large new users bear their share of the cost of serving them. The governor’s [official announcement](https://www.governor.virginia.gov/newsroom/news-releases/2026/april-releases/name-1116140-en.html?ref=theamericanquorum.com) also noted that Virginia’s State Corporation Commission had developed a separate rate class for data centers, an effort intended to protect other customers from disproportionate costs.

For residents near a proposed facility, the most immediate practical change is the administration’s refusal to let executive officials sign secrecy agreements for qualifying projects. That does not eliminate every private agreement or guarantee release of all commercially sensitive information. It does set a statewide transparency rule for the executive branch and gives agencies a clearer mandate to examine impacts that previously varied by locality and permitting process.

## AI review runs alongside data-center policy

Executive Order 22 also creates an AI task force to study workforce displacement, data privacy and whether existing Virginia laws adequately address harms linked to automated systems, [according to the order summary reported by The Verge](https://www.theverge.com/policy/997573/virginia-governor-spanberger-data-center-ai-task-force?ref=theamericanquorum.com). The two issues are connected because the expansion of AI services is a major driver of new computing facilities and electricity demand.

The package is therefore a starting point, not a complete rewrite of Virginia’s data-center rules. Noise standards and backup-power reviews must still move through agency processes, while the more sweeping proposals will be tested in the Legislature. Communities, utilities and developers will need to watch those separate tracks: the order changes how the executive branch operates now, while the framework outlines what Spanberger will ask lawmakers to enact next.