04/17/2026
Thank you to Jack Parry and the Wi******er Star
'We're on the same team here': Citizen-organized data center forum draws large crowd
By JACK PARRY The Wi******er Star 8 hrs ago
Several hundred people attended a community-organized informational meeting on data centers Wednesday night at Trumpet Vine Farm near Stephens City, with panelists discussing public health, environmental and economic concerns related to their development.
At one point 300 to 400 people were gathered underneath a white tent to hear what the experts had to say. The event was so packed that attendees had to park on the side of a dirt road leading to the farm.
The meeting was organized by Frederick County residents concerned about data center development. They decided to do so after a data center forum hosted by the county government in February didn't go smoothly. At that gathering at Sherando High School, frustrated audience members shouted questions and comments from their seats and others walked out. The next day the Board of Supervisors postponed a second forum that had been planned on the pros and cons of data centers. It has not been rescheduled.
On Wednesday, panelists shared their expertise with the audience, then a microphone was passed around for people to ask questions.
Industrial hygienist Tammy Clark, who has over 20 years of experience in her field, maintains that much of the information the public is hearing on data centers is misleading and false. She offered examples of effects that data centers are having on residential communities that are located nearby.
"Wells are running dry in areas where data centers have been established, people are losing water pressure, water is being contaminated, windows are rattling from vibration," Clark told the crowd. "People are reporting having to go down in their basements just to sleep [because of the noise]."
Kristen Meghan Kelly, an industrial hygienist with a background in occupational environmental toxicology, elaborated more on the impacts of the "tonal noise" coming from data centers and the cooling systems they use. She said that even though it is a low level noise, tonal noise has a longer wavelength and goes a lot farther than normal sound. According to her, this kind of noise can have adversarial health impacts if certain people are constantly exposed to it.
"With pregnant women, the continuous exposure to tonal noise can raise their blood pressure, it can increase cortisol, and it absolutely can increase the maternal fetal heart rate," Kelly said. "What this does to children is it impedes their frontal lobe development. It slows their brain development, their reading comprehension, [causes] irritability."
Kelly added that tonal noise can cause livestock to bang their heads against fences, and that this kind of noise is used as a military torture tactic. She also mentioned that emissions from diesel generators, which data centers use during power outages and other instances, are hazardous for nearby residents.
When it comes to how much water data centers use, retired geophysicist and Strasburg native Martha Sadlick broke down how the county's geology and the current drought conditions make data centers a bad idea. The county is currently in groundwater and stream-flow emergency drought conditions, according to the state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), which affect well water levels. Sadlick added that the aquifer in the county is mostly made up of limestone and shale, which lack porosity and capacity and wouldn't be ideal for data centers, which on average use hundreds of thousands of gallons for water per day.
"You've got tight rock, you've got fractures, you've got limited places to put the water, and it's not really a place to be putting a data center," Sadlick said.
From an economic perspective, Frederick County resident and assistant professor of economics at Patrick Henry College Nathan Russell said he understands that tax revenue from a data center project could be viewed by county officials as "the shiny prize," considering the county started this last budget cycle with a $41 million deficit. A recent rezoning application submitted to the county for a data center complex in Clear Brook projects it would generate $237 million in local tax revenue over the next 20 years, mostly from real estate taxes and machinery/tools taxes on the computer server equipment.
But Russell said that graphics processing units (GPUs) used in these facilities are incredibly expensive right now, and when those prices come down, so will the tax revenue projections. "Even if they get built, the tax revenue that comes right now is not going to be the same revenue that comes when they restock their [server] racks," Russell said.
Russell added that Frederick County is attractive for data centers because it would be taxing these facilities at about a third of the rate of counties like Loudoun and Fairfax.
Elena Schlossberg-Kunkel, founder of the Coalition to Protect Prince William County, has fought against many data center projects in her county over the years. She advised Frederick County residents to stay involved to fight against data centers if they don't want them and not to be discouraged if some get approved.
"This is not a sprint, this is a marathon that you've got to stay engaged in, even if a vote doesn't go your way," Schlossberg-Kunkel told the crowd
There were brief moments of interruption from attendees, but far less than what occurred at the county's Feb. 24 forum.
Planning Commissioner Joe Crane missed Wednesday's Planning Commission meeting to attend the forum after hearing some negative feedback on data centers from Fairfax County officials.
"Let's not Fairfax Frederick," Crane said to massive applause.
At least four members of the Frederick County Board of Supervisors attended the gathering as well.
Clark said she instructs local supervisors to listen to the right environmental information on data centers, because she's seen what can happen if the people's complaints fall on deaf ears.
"If you're not going to listen, you better be a little bit nervous because you sit in the people's seat... if you are not listening to your constituents, you are very vulnerable come next election," she said.
But the sentiment toward the supervisors among event organizers and residents was different, with some thanking them for showing up in an environment that wasn't necessarily friendly toward them.
"We need to bridge together, they're on our side," attendee Elizabeth Aylor said. "We're on the same team here."
— Contact Jack Parry at [email protected]
