American Battlefield Trust Praises "Endangered" Listing for Virginia Historic Sites Threatened by Data Centers

(Richmond, Va.) — The proliferation of data center development across Virginia has become so widespread, threatening irreplaceable cultural resources and historic landscapes, that Preservation Virginia’s annual roster of the Commonwealth’s Most Endangered Historic Sites has combined them into a joint entry rather than overwhelming the list. The American Battlefield Trust, which is lead plaintiff in two lawsuits related to data center projects adjacent to national parks — and is engaged in advocacy and monitoring of several other such projects directly in conflict with its focused mission — praised this latest move to draw attention with the following statement:  

“Data centers are a profoundly hungry type of development,” said Trust President David Duncan. “They consume vast quantities of electricity, water and open space, replacing once-pristine landscapes with bleak and windowless buildings, towering transmission lines and power substations. While our modern lives require this technological infrastructure, there is no reason data centers can’t be constructed in a manner sensitive to our nation’s historic treasures. 

“We are grateful to our longtime partners at Preservation Virginia for issuing this call for citizens and decision makers to take a broader view of this issue. This isn’t just about the projects being built directly on historic landscapes or the national or state parks that would have a complex at their  fringes; it’s also about the historic districts that stand to be cross-cut by power lines to fuel it, the ancestral lands and cemeteries that will be disturbed to provide access to vast quantities of water to cool it.  

“The American Battlefield Trust takes this opportunity to reiterate our call — central to our legal challenges over the Prince William Digital Gateway proposal at the Manassas Battlefield and the Wilderness Crossing project in Orange County — for these projects to be carefully and sympathetically sited, evaluated in a holistic manner that accounts for cumulative impacts and considered by officials in a transparent process that respects public input.”   

The American Battlefield Trust is dedicated to preserving America’s hallowed battlegrounds and educating the public about what happened there and why it matters today. The nonprofit, nonpartisan organization has protected nearly 60,000 acres associated with the Revolutionary War, War of 1812 and Civil War. Learn more at www.battlefields.org. 

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