West Virginia Democrats held a press conference in Davis Monday afternoon, the site of the proposed Ridgeline Facility, a natural gas-fired microgrid and data center.
House Minority Leader Del. Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell, said he and his party are speaking up to oppose the lack of local control in the rapid development of data center projects.
“We’re not going to allow a hostile takeover in our communities. It’s not going to happen on our watch,” he said. “We all know what House Bill 2014 did, and it’s setting a very dangerous precedent in the state of West Virginia.”
Hornbuckle also identified the effects on water quality and ratepayers as concerns for the party.
“We have seen time and time again in the state of West Virginia of somebody just comes in, dirties up the land, tears up the environment, and leaves us with nothing. It’s unacceptable, and again, we just won’t stand for it,” he said.
Passed in 2025, HB 2014 created a pathway for microgrids – self-contained sites that generate their own power – and high impact data centers to receive state certification. The bill also exempts the same from local control including county or municipal zoning, noise, or lighting ordinances and diverts most property tax revenue to state coffers.
Del. Kayla Young, D-Kanawha, noted that locales like Tucker County will lose out on millions in expected tax revenue.
“They would have gotten all of the money for their commission, for their school board, for their fire, their safety, their EMS,” she said. “They would have gotten 100% of the revenue, but since the bill passed, now they’re only going to get 30% because 50% of that revenue is going to be going straight to Charleston, straight to the state, so they can make higher tax cuts for millionaires.”
Hornbuckle concluded the press conference by calling on colleagues across the aisle to collaborate on a solution to the concerns of locals.
Development Related To Data Centers Also Draws Criticism
Separately in a press release Tuesday, members of the conservative West Virginia Freedom Caucus condemned the high-voltage MidAtlantic Resiliency Link (MARL) that critics suspect is being built to bring more energy to northern Virginia’s power-hungry data industry.
Sen. Chris Rose, R-Monongalia, and chair of the Senate Energy, Industry and Mining Committee called the project “a clear overreach that prioritizes out-of-state interests over the livelihoods and values of West Virginians” in a letter last year to the West Virginia Public Service Commission (PSC).
Del. Chris Anders, R-Berkeley, said “the cost to West Virginia ratepayers for MARL is now approaching $960 million” and stressed that “ratepayer dollars should not be used to fund transmission lines primarily built to serve out-of-state interests.”
The past week has seen more legislators coming out against these projects. At least seven added their voice against the MARL line during Public Service Commission hearings and, more legislators expressed their frustration over transmission line and data center development during legislative interim meetings this week.
