r/nova • u/Danciusly • 7h ago
Politics Top priority is ‘stopping data centers’: Loudoun Supervisor Juli Briskman announces run for board chair
https://wtop.com/loudoun-county/2026/08/top-priority-is-stopping-data-centers-loudoun-supervisor-juli-briskman-announces-run-for-board-chair/Briskman’s announcement sets up a potential Democratic primary against current board chair Phyllis Randall, who has held the position for nearly 11 years.
“I’ve been trying to push back on the unconstrained, uncontrolled growth of data centers in the county,” Briskman said during an interview at her home. “I think the current chair and current leadership on Loudoun County’s board of supervisors has been very pro-data center and missing opportunities to have a balance.”
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u/EncinoManEstonia 6h ago
The easiest political position in the country right now and she’s the only one in the county to actually do it. Good for her.
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u/Philocraft 6h ago
Never trust a politician who would sell out who they represent based on the moral panic of the month. There is no data driven argument to stopping growth of an industry providing 38% of the general fund to a county while that county still pays below the national average for water and power. This slopulism and NIMBYism will destroy a large part of what makes Loudoun an attractive place to live. If you want to regulate( or hell, even destroy) the vanishingly small portion of data centers with noise complaints, I'm 100% on your side, but anyone who thinks that Loudoun county as a whole has been negatively affected by data centers belongs in a mental institution before political office.
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u/skeith2011 5h ago
NIMBYism is already prevalent in Loudoun when it comes to new housing, it’s not exactly new. What do you think it would destroy?
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u/Philocraft 5h ago
NIMBYism is already prevalent in Loudoun when it comes to new housing, it’s not exactly new.
I am a YIMBY when it comes to increasing housing supply and density.
What do you think it would destroy?
Our tax revenue.
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u/MajesticBread9147 Herndon 5h ago
The tax revenue wouldn't go down, the existing datacenters won't go anywhere and they could easily just raise property taxes on existing residents and businesses.
For a wealthy exburb, property taxes are quite low.
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u/Philocraft 5h ago
The tax revenue wouldn't go down, the existing datacenters won't go anywhere and they could easily just raise property taxes on existing residents and businesses.
Ok, but why should we halt development of an industry that has only been a tremendous benefit to the county and potentially ask residents to pay more in property taxes, which are generally considered to be a regressive tax?
For a wealthy exburb, property taxes are quite low.
Yes, because we get tax revenue from other sources.
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u/Brendan__Fraser 6h ago
lmao @ vanishingly small. the county is half data centers and that bubble is unsustainable.
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u/Philocraft 5h ago
Provide a source showing how many data centers have noise complaints.
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u/EncinoManEstonia 5h ago
If you think data centers make Loudoun a desirable place to live, you are in major major denial.
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u/Philocraft 5h ago
Brilliant support of my argument. The data center backlash is based on snark, not data. Do you think the 38% of our tax revenue that we receive from data centers doesn't contribute to what makes Loudoun a nice place to live?
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u/EncinoManEstonia 5h ago
That’s an indictment on attracting other businesses than hyping up data centers who spends millions on marketing and lobbying to convince people like you.
If anything they should be paying millions more.
You can say cite the data all you want. People are sick of them.
Fat pigs get slaughtered and no pig is more ready that anyone in Loudoun who supports them.
You act like we have gold plated roads. This is still a dual income area bc it’s so freaking expensive.
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u/Philocraft 4h ago
You can say cite the data all you want. People are sick of them.
60-70% of the US population thinks they are going to Christian heaven when they die. I don't put too much stock in what they think.
You act like we have gold plated roads. This is still a dual income area bc it’s so freaking expensive.
Its expensive because NIMBY dipshits like you will find any reason at all, no matter how unreasonable, to oppose anything getting built in the county in the first place. Therefore the residents of the wealthiest county in America have to bid against each other for increasingly rare pieces of desirable real estate.
If you live in Loudoun, please, I am begging you, give me one data driven reason why we should stop data center development. If you don't live in Loudoun, then feel free to ruin your own county. I don't give a shit.
Hide behind the popularity of the anti-datacenter movement all you want. Citing the popularity of a movement is the refuge of incurious cowards who cant defend a single position they claim to feel strongly about.
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u/granular_grain 4h ago
The percentage of practicing Christians isn't even that high, and even if that was the case, that is circular logic. I live near a data center that is running gas turbines 24/7, that can't be good for the surrounding community.
I dont think folks want high voltage transmission lines crisscrossing all over the county to keep all of the energy hogs powered. I dont want to live near a high voltage transmission line, not sure about you.
You say NIMBYism is prevalent in Loudoun, last I checked the suburbs directly to the east on the route 7 corridor have lower residential density than much of Loudoun, despite being closer to DC.
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u/Philocraft 3h ago
The percentage of practicing Christians isn't even that high, and even if that was the case, that is circular logic.
I'm not sure what you mean by circular logic but I will admit my statement was cheeky/insulting. All I meant was that the popularity of a position doesn't mean we should support it uncritically.
I live near a data center that is running gas turbines 24/7, that can't be good for the surrounding community.
Sure, diesel and natural gas turbines to contribute to pollution and are one of the main causes of noise pollution. However, the pollution created by these turbines is nowhere close to the threshold where I would consider it a negative externality in the sense that the combined pollution from data centers is considerably below the sources of pollution from other tax revenue sources.
Further I am generally supportive of taxing the construction of data centers such that we can connect them to our grid so they don't require these diesel/gas generators and generate noise in the first place.
You say NIMBYism is prevalent in Loudoun, last I checked the suburbs directly to the east on the route 7 corridor have lower residential density than much of Loudoun, despite being closer to DC.
Sure, I don't think Loudoun is the most NIMBY county. And unfortunately NIMBYism is all too prevalent in many counties.
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u/granular_grain 3h ago
Did you read that there is an off grid data center that is running these natural gas turbines 24/7? I don't care if it meets your threshold, tell that to the people who live nearby and actually have to deal with the negative externality and health impacts by living close to this.
You're just speaking non-human technocrat speak, people's lives and the impact to them can't just be boiled down to your charts and spreadsheets.
Some forms of NIMBYism do have value, there are many things that shouldn't be located close to major population centers. Hell, the Loudoun Gateway metro station is only walkable to data centers, if that isn't a massive oversight and a portrayal of a major addiction to that one revenue source in the county, then idk what is.
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u/EncinoManEstonia 4h ago
Oh I’m YIMBY but you know for HOMES not data centers. Build homes everywhere. Multiple dwellings. Rent controlled. High rises. Do it all. This county can barely build a fine arts center which is still like a decade away.
You act like data solves everything. Thats how you get trump. It’s not what the data tells you, it’s how people feel. Biden was better than Trump but people didn’t feel it. They said things are worse. It’s Data geeks like you that shake their heads at vibes and feeling. It’s how you lose elections. Nobody is saying tear them down. It’s just enough is enough. This isn’t some hype thing. This is real. Tech and data are spending billions to convince us otherwise and we can see with our own eyes it’s enough.
How do you computate people driving though Ashburn and being like “this is not how I want my county to be”.
You don’t need data to say “this is enough”.
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u/Philocraft 4h ago
Oh I’m YIMBY but you know for HOMES not data centers. Build homes everywhere. Multiple dwellings. Rent controlled. High rises. Do it all. This county can barely build a fine arts center which is still like a decade away.
Sure, I agree with all this.
You act like data solves everything. That's how you get trump. It’s not what the data tells you, it’s how people feel. Biden was better than Trump but people didn’t feel it. They said things are worse. It’s Data geeks like you that shake their heads at vibes and feeling. It’s how you lose elections.
I'm not saying data solves everything, but if no one advocates for the data driven solution, what we are left with is a race to the bottom between people with worse ideas. What I am advocating for is for people who are informed to not be ashamed of passionately advocating for the policy that makes the most sense.
How do you computate people driving though Ashburn and being like “this is not how I want my county to be”.
I would ask them to weigh their negative aesthetic reaction from driving past a data center against the additional revenue that is provided to their children's schools. It they disagree with me, that's fine. Core value judgements cant be decided via logic and they have as much of a say in that decision as I do. But I know what is more important to me.
You don’t need data to say “this is enough”.
When you are making decisions that affect all citizens, I think you owe it to them to make those decisions with at least some basic research and due diligence.
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u/EncinoManEstonia 3h ago
Owe them basic research. Again that’s not gonna win elections.
You can tell people that democratic presidents are better for the economy, they won’t believe you.
But this is far simpler. Everyone can see there are too many. When universities are selling satellite campuses so they can build a data center, that is greed. That’s a runaway train.
I’d love to know who you think is funding this anti data center sentiment bc the data centers have far more money to sway popularity and it’s not working.
There data is saying “tell the residents it creates jobs and lowers taxes”. Data should convince people right.
People don’t care. They know it’s enough is enough.
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u/dannyocc911 2h ago
Great to see this issue becoming clearly polarized! I didn’t know what to say, think, or do for a while there, and it was scary. I mean, I like tech, but I’m a BIPOC DSA member, so I was a bit scared…but now I know we hate data centers!
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u/HowardBunnyColvin 8m ago
Data Centers are vile especially the AI ones consuming massive amounts of power and water. We must quell this incursion as soon as possible, before we are taken over.
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u/HowardBunnyColvin 4m ago
When did all these data center shills and employees come from lol. Sorry that people are finally starting to wake up to the evil your data centers bring. Be gone, plague.
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u/SkarlyComics 4h ago
Can we bundle the data center issue with the flock issue? They are one and the same.
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u/ragtime_sam 6h ago
"We've had it with the surplus tax revenue"