Agencies
Virginia DEQ (Department of Environmental Quality) is a state agency that regulates environmental permits and compliance for facilities in Virginia, including data centers seeking air and water discharge permits.
July 31, 2026
Google's Guarantee on Anthropic's Lease Is What Unlocked $14B in Bridge DebtA 144-page Virginia DEQ study found groundwater east of I-95 essentially exhausted, with sustainable withdrawals below 30,000 gallons per day near the state's densest data center cluster.
July 2, 2026
FERC Orders Six Grid Operators to Defend the Rules or Rewrite ThemIts new two-year budget requires DEQ to map water-scarcity areas by July 2027, with data centers in those zones or east of I-95 forced to minimize cooling water by 2032.
May 22, 2026
Dallas Wins #1 Globally as Corpus Christi Shows the Real ConstraintVirginia DEQ's revised guidance effective July 1, 2026, mandates SCR, DPF, and CEMS on new backup generators at a presumptive 0.60 g/hp-hr BACT standard, codified in HB 507.