Infrastructure Risk &
Intelligence Analysis

Virginia SCC Orders Dominion to Build Tariff Assigning Transmission Costs Directly to Data Centers — First-Mover Ruling in the Largest Data Center Market Sets National Cost-Allocation Precedent

In its final order in Dominion Energy's Rider T-1 transmission rate case (issued 31 July, reported 5–6 August), the Virginia State Corporation Commission concluded that new large-load data centers are the driver of the roughly $1.5 billion in transmission costs at issue and directed Dominion to file, within 90 days, a cost-assignment policy that bills transmission lines and substation upgrades built solely to serve data centers directly to those customers rather than spreading them across all ratepayers — building on the new GS-5 high-load rate class and backed by Governor Spanberger's administration, which intervened in the case. The Piedmont Environmental Council and ratepayer advocates hailed the order as a first step, while the commission itself acknowledged the tariff may not capture every reliability upgrade triggered by large-load additions, leaving scope disputes for the 90-day filing. MERIDIA assesses a high probability that other state commissions — several already weighing large-load tariffs — cite this order as precedent within two quarters, given Virginia's status as the world's largest data center market, and a moderate probability that the tariff's final scope expands beyond sole-use facilities to shared network upgrades during the filing proceeding. Operational implication: operators and developers in Dominion territory should model materially higher interconnection and transmission charges in Virginia pro formas now, participate in the 90-day tariff docket to shape sole-use versus network cost boundaries, and expect economic-development recruiters in rival states to weaponize the cost differential — while recognizing that direct assignment may defuse the ratepayer-backlash politics currently fueling moratorium campaigns.

Little Rock 18-Month Hyperscale Moratorium Fails on 4–4 Board Deadlock, Clearing Near-Term Path for Google's Port of Little Rock Campus — But Opposition Now Holds Half the Board

On the evening of 4 August the Little Rock Board of Directors deadlocked 4–4 on an ordinance imposing an 18-month moratorium on permitting for large-scale data centers citywide — explicitly including Google's planned campus at the Port of Little Rock — with Directors Kathy Webb, Andrea Lewis, Virgil Miller Jr. and Vice Mayor B.J. Wyrick voting for the halt and Directors Lance Hines, Dean Kumpuris, Capi Peck and Joan Adcock voting against, leaving the measure two votes short of passage. The failed ordinance followed weeks of resident pressure over the Google project's projected water draw (roughly one million gallons on an average day) and grid demand for a campus that could grow from one ~300,000-square-foot building to as many as five. MERIDIA assesses the near-term permitting path for the Port of Little Rock project as clear, but the even split — in a Sun Belt capital actively courting the investment — signals that moratorium coalitions no longer require an activist supermajority to threaten timelines, and a single seat change or utility rate-impact disclosure could flip the balance. Probability of a revived restriction effort (moratorium, water-use conditions, or development-code amendments) within two quarters is assessed as moderate-to-high, consistent with the same-week pattern in Denton, TX and Greensboro, NC. Operational implication: developers in nominally favorable jurisdictions should treat split governing boards as unstable permission environments — lock in entitlements early, and front-load verifiable water-recycling and rate-impact commitments before opposition consolidates around the next vote.

Fort Worth Council Moves Toward 11 August Vote on 90-Day Data Center Moratorium After Zoning Commission Rejects First-of-Its-Kind Ordinance; State Preemption Looms

Fort Worth City Council used its 4 August work session to set up an 11 August vote on a 90-day moratorium (extendable a further 90 days) on new data center approvals, after a majority of council members — led by Elizabeth Beck, Carlos Flores, Mia Hall, Jeanette Martinez, and Chris Nettles — publicly backed a pause following the Zoning Commission's 7–4 vote to recommend denial of the city's proposed data center zoning ordinance, which would have created development standards, setbacks, and permitted-district rules for the first time. Resident pressure over noise, water and energy consumption, and infrastructure strain is driving the push, but the 3–4 August debate exposed a second-order risk: whether Texas state government will preempt municipal moratoria, a live question given the legislature's posture toward local control and the scale of DFW's data center pipeline. MERIDIA assesses a moderate-to-high probability the moratorium passes on 11 August given the declared council majority, and a high probability that whatever ordinance emerges carries stricter setbacks and district limits than the version the commission rejected. Operational implication: developers with Fort Worth or Tarrant County pipelines should assume a 90–180 day approvals freeze in their schedules, accelerate any complete applications ahead of 11 August where lawful, and track state-level preemption moves — Fort Worth is a bellwether for how large Texas cities will regulate the buildout.

Bipartisan Virginia Senators Demand Special Session and Statewide Moratorium After Delayed DEQ Study Finds "Virtually No Capacity" in Coastal Plain Aquifer for New Data Centers

A bipartisan bloc of Virginia state senators escalated pressure on Governor Abigail Spanberger over 1–3 August to constrain data center growth in the world's largest data center market (~11 GW operational, 200 facilities in Loudoun County alone). Sens. Richard Stuart (R) and Russet Perry (D) formally requested a special legislative session after a delayed Virginia DEQ groundwater study — released only after an Associated Press public-records request — found "virtually no capacity" in the Coastal Plain aquifer east of I-95 for large new withdrawals such as hyperscale campuses (~3 million gallons/day per ~1 GW of IT load), while Sen. Glen Sturtevant (R) separately called on the governor to impose an immediate statewide moratorium on new data center approvals — a proposal Senate President Pro Tempore Louise Lucas (D) said "deserves serious consideration." Sturtevant's letter leans on the JLARC forecast that data center growth will drive a doubling of Virginia's electricity demand within ten years, arguing the question "is no longer simply how to regulate more data centers" but "whether Virginia can accommodate data center development at all." MERIDIA assesses a low near-term probability that Spanberger enacts a New York-style statewide freeze this quarter, but a high probability that a special session or the 2027 legislative package produces binding water-withdrawal, disclosure, and siting constraints, with projects east of I-95 most exposed; the cross-party composition of this push mirrors the coalition dynamics that preceded New York's July freeze. Operational implication: operators and developers with Virginia pipelines should treat Coastal Plain groundwater as a hard siting constraint, document closed-loop or reclaimed-water cooling commitments now, and plan for water-use disclosure to become a permitting precondition rather than a voluntary practice.

Vineland, NJ Planning Board Vote on Partially Built DataOne/Nebius AI Campus Set for 5 August as Cumberland County Opposition Organizes Under Formal Hearing Rules

Vineland's Planning Board votes 5 August on whether the partially constructed DataOne facility — a 350 MW AI campus developed for Nebius Group under its $17 billion Microsoft capacity deal — can proceed, and residents across Cumberland County spent the past several days organizing testimony ahead of the hearing after watching similar proposals rejected or sued over in Monroe, Andover, and other South Jersey towns. Opposition, amplified by a New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance letter and a March rally of roughly 100 residents, centers on the site's 32 natural-gas engines and six diesel generators (85% behind-the-meter self-generation), a proposed 1.5-million-gallon LNG storage tank, noise complaints already filed with county and state authorities, and location within a Wellhead Protected Area near the Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer; a pending NJDEP air permit adds a second regulatory track. The under-oath, quasi-judicial hearing format favors technical objections over general sentiment, and organizers are explicitly coaching residents on admissibility — a maturation of tactics MERIDIA has tracked across the region. MERIDIA assesses approval as more likely than not given sunk construction, mayoral and council support, and an existing tax exemption, but assesses a moderate-to-high probability of conditions, continuance, or post-approval litigation, particularly on the LNG tank and air-permit issues. Operational implication: operators should note that "already under construction" no longer neutralizes siting opposition — permitting sequences that leave discrete approvals (energy plans, fuel storage, air permits) open late in the build create leverage points that organized communities are now systematically exploiting.

House Passes FY2027 NDAA 216-212 With Houchin Amendment No. 161 Directing DoD to Assess AI Data Center Security Against Nation-State Espionage

On 22 July the House passed the FY2027 National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 8800) by a 216-212 recorded vote (Roll Call 278, Clerk of the House), sending to the Senate a bill built from amendments made in order under the 20 July rule (H.Res. 1438) and worked through the Committee of the Whole on 21 July. Among them is Amendment No. 161, offered by Rep. Erin Houchin (R-IN), directing the Department of Defense to assess existing AI data center security frameworks and tools for risks posed by espionage from nation-state adversaries. The amendment was not among the handful of contested provisions decided by narrow recorded votes that day (Mace x2, Crank, McDowell, Crane); MERIDIA assesses it most likely cleared by voice vote as part of the broader non-controversial amendment package, but flags this as provisional pending confirmation in the Congressional Record. The provision imposes no new requirements on private operators directly — it tasks DoD with a scoping assessment of current frameworks (facility clearance regimes, cloud-authorization standards, supply-chain vetting) against AI-data-center espionage risk, the kind of study that typically precedes binding rulemaking or contract-clause changes by one to three years. MERIDIA assesses probability the provision survives conference with the Senate's S. 4784 as high, given its low cost and bipartisan appeal on China-focused security measures, and assesses near-term operational impact as low but rising. Operational implication: operators hosting DoD or intelligence-community workloads, or seeking such tenancy, should begin documenting personnel-vetting, supply-chain, and physical-access controls now — this assessment is likely to become the evidentiary baseline for follow-on security-clause mandates in federal data center leasing and cloud-authorization contracts.

Columbus, Georgia Rally Draws ~100 Against New Data Center Overlay District — Organizers Pair Protest With Explicit 2027 Electoral Threat Over "Project Ruby" Process

On 18 July roughly 100 residents rallied on Broadway in downtown Columbus, Georgia, organized by Stop Hyperscale Data Centers in Muscogee County, protesting the Columbus Council's 6–2 vote last month establishing a technology overlay district that zones for hyperscale data center development tied to the undisclosed "Project Ruby" proposal; Councilors Joanne Cogle (District 7) and Simi Barnes (District 1) cast the dissenting votes, while organizer Darlene Blaird and speaker Corie Wilson said the council disregarded roughly 5,000 opposition signatures and adopted final ordinance text drafted by an unofficial committee led by the Columbus, Ga. Chamber of Commerce rather than the community's competing draft. The event was one of 142 rallies held nationwide on 18 July as part of the HumansFirst-coordinated day of action, but the Columbus chapter is notable for pairing protest with an explicit electoral threat — naming officials and pledging to "remember" the vote through the 2027 municipal cycle. MERIDIA assesses probability of the overlay ordinance being amended or repealed near-term as low, given the council majority that just passed it, but assesses probability of the episode hardening into a sustained local political liability — and a template for other Georgia jurisdictions weighing overlay-district zoning — as moderate-to-high. Operational implication: Project Ruby's developer and Columbus officials should expect continued organized monitoring of permitting and site-plan steps, treat the Chamber-drafted ordinance's legitimacy as a live messaging vulnerability, and anticipate "who voted yes" framing to resurface ahead of the next election cycle; sector-wide, this reinforces that overlay-district zoning, while procedurally efficient for operators, is proving as politically exposed as case-by-case rezoning once opposition groups organize.

St. Louis Aldermen Amend and Bounce Landmark Data Center Zoning Bill Back to Planning Commission — Bill Sponsors Say Changes "Weaken" the Rules as Year-Long Framework Fight Extends

On 20 July the St. Louis Board of Aldermen approved three amendments to Board Bill 49 — the city's long-developing data center zoning framework restricting major facilities to industrial areas — triggering a procedural requirement that the amended bill return to the city Planning Commission before final passage, with no commission meeting yet scheduled. Bill sponsors 1st Ward Alderwoman Anne Schweitzer and 7th Ward Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier, who have led the measure since inception, argued against each amendment on the floor, contending they weaken the overall rules; the amendments follow HUDZ Committee changes adopted 30 June–1 July clarifying definitions for existing industrial operations and grandfathering of current facilities, and come after a failed June push by opponents to ban large-scale data center development in the city outright. MERIDIA assesses this as a template case for how first-generation municipal data center ordinances are being contested from both flanks — industry lobbyists seeking softer terms and community groups seeking outright bans — with the amend-and-remand cycle itself becoming a tool to run out the clock while projects proceed under legacy zoning. Probability that Board Bill 49 ultimately passes in some form remains high given its unanimous committee support, but near-term impact is medium: each remand adds weeks of regulatory vacuum and another public comment window for organized opposition on both sides. Operational implication: developers eyeing St. Louis parcels should underwrite against the stricter pre-amendment text rather than assume the softened version survives, and operators sector-wide should track the amend-remand pattern as it propagates to other cities drafting copycat frameworks.

Federal Judge Orders Wilmington, Ohio to Redo Rezoning, Use and Noise Ordinances for Amazon's $4B AWS Data Center Over Open-Meetings Violations — Procedural-Notice Challenge Becomes a Federal-Court Chokepoint

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey P. Hopkins has ordered the City of Wilmington, Ohio to redo three 2025 ordinances — rezoning, data-center use standards, and backup-generator noise rules — underpinning Amazon Web Services' roughly $4 billion "Project" data-center campus, formalizing an agreement reached at the close of a three-day preliminary-injunction hearing held 7–9 July at the Potter Stewart U.S. Courthouse in Cincinnati. The suit, brought by a group of resident homeowners, alleged the council enacted the measures without the public notice and hearings required under Ohio's Open Meetings Act, including mailed notice to nearby owners at least 30 days before a zoning hearing; the order not only voids the flawed process but grants plaintiffs expanded participation rights going forward — 14-day advance notice of Planning Commission meetings and site-plan votes, plus the right to present expert testimony, cross-examine witnesses, and appear through counsel. MERIDIA assesses this as a materially escalated version of the procedural-attack pattern seen in Spartanburg and Fort Worth: where those turned on local classification and text disputes, a federal court has now reset an approved hyperscale entitlement to square one purely on notice-and-process grounds, a defect that is cheap to plead and hard for municipalities to cure retroactively. Probability that the contested ordinances are ultimately re-passed in some form is high given Wilmington's council support and AWS's committed capital, but near-term schedule impact is high — the redo cycle, with its new adversarial hearing rights, injects months of delay and a live public forum for organized opposition. Operational implication: developers and host municipalities should treat open-meetings and mailed-notice compliance as a first-order legal risk, audit the procedural record behind every already-granted entitlement for curable defects, and assume plaintiffs will increasingly seek the more favorable federal forum to force do-overs rather than merely delay.

Radiation Free Lakeland Protests £12B "Pioneer Park" SMR-Powered AI Data Centre Consultation at Moorside — Nuclear-Colocated Compute Inherits Both Anti-Nuclear and Anti-Data-Center Opposition Networks

On 18 July activists from Radiation Free Lakeland demonstrated outside a public consultation event at The Peddler in Whitehaven, Cumbria, where developer BEC presented "Pioneer Park" — a proposed small modular reactor installation on land at Moorside, adjacent to Sellafield, that would power a purpose-built AI data centre and is projected to attract more than £12 billion in investment. The group's stated objections combine classic anti-nuclear arguments (new SMR waste streams, proximity to Beckermet village and the River Ehen) with the water-and-energy-demand critique now standard in the US data-center opposition movement, and it has escalated beyond street protest by lodging a complaint with the UK Advertising Standards Authority alleging the project's "clean energy" marketing constitutes false advertising. MERIDIA assesses this as an early indicator that SMR-plus-compute colocation — the model underpinning much of the sector's nuclear strategy — inherits two mature opposition networks simultaneously rather than diluting either, and that regulatory-complaint mechanisms (ASA here; consumer-protection and securities analogues in the US) are emerging as a low-cost supplement to planning objections. Probability of sustained organized opposition through the Moorside consultation and planning process is assessed as high; near-term impact on the project timeline is assessed as medium given strong UK government backing for new nuclear at the site. Operational implication: developers of colocated SMR/data-centre projects should pre-clear public "clean energy" claims against advertising-standards exposure, address water sourcing and waste-stream questions explicitly in first-round consultation materials, and expect opposition tactics to transfer transatlantically in both directions.