West Virginia watched Virginia collect billions in taxes from data centers, and then watched Virginia panic.
Loudoun County, Virginia, expects roughly 250 data centers to provide nearly $1.3 billion in fiscal year 2027, or about 45 percent of all local tax revenue. That money helped cut homeowners’ property tax rates for 10 straight years and fully fund a $2.1 billion school operating budget. There are now 53 million square feet of data centers in Loudoun. Neighbors are angry enough that Algonkian District Supervisor Juli Briskman, best known for flipping off President Trump’s motorcade in 2017, has proposed a moratorium.
Advertisement
Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey (WV) would like those billions to cross the state line. West Virginia has no active hyperscale data centers yet. On Aug. 11, he stood with state Senate President Randy Smith and House Speaker Roger Hanshaw to roll out a 20-year Responsible Data Center Development Plan.
“Across the country there’s a national debate underway and people are hearing a lot about data centers. A lot of states rushed into the sector without a viable plan. In West Virginia we’re not doing that,” Morrisey said. “We are applying lessons learned from others’ failures.”
The Mountain State was missing a basic rulebook. More than 50 of its 55 counties had no way to approve, reject or put conditions on a hyperscale project. House Bill 2014, passed in 2025, put those decisions in Charleston. Developers now have to show financial capacity, committed capital, and expected power demand before the state will certify them.
Developers would be responsible for the power side. The plan tells them to find or build enough electricity for each facility and pay for the microgrid, grid hookup, and related construction. Households and small businesses will not pick up that tab. The facilities would cut demand or use backup generation when the regional grid is strained.
Half of the revenue from a project with the state’s High Impact Data Center designation would go toward reducing, and possibly eliminating, West Virginia’s personal income tax. The host county for a facility would receive 30 percent for schools and government; 10 percent would be split among the state’s other counties; and 10 percent would pay for local water, wastewater, and electrical improvements. None would enter the general revenue fund.
Advertisement
Data centers also use water, make noise, and are hard to hide behind a fence. The plan favors closed-loop cooling, liquid immersion and reclaimed water. An advisory council would draw up rules for setbacks, noise, security and distance from homes, schools and churches. Every applicant would have to tell the state which nearby properties will be affected and how it plans to limit those effects.
The catch is that House Bill 2014 moved most regulatory power to Charleston. Counties gave up local control in exchange for a promised cut of the revenue. The left-leaning West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy says that cut may not be what it sounds like. Executive Director Kelly Allen estimates that one property-tax discount would save a center with $2 billion in servers about $24.1 million a year, money that would otherwise help local governments and schools.
Read More: Loudoun Wants to Rein in the Data Centers Paying Nearly Half Its Local Taxes
Another ‘Sanctuary Spanberger’ Nightmare Is Coming to a Head in Fairfax County
Allen’s reading of the law is less reassuring than the governor’s press release. She argues the local share could flow entirely to the county commission, leaving school districts with nothing from the facility, despite Morrisey’s promise that schools will share in the 30 percent.
A recent poll found more Americans opposed than supported a data center near home, with Republican support dropping nearly 20 percentage points in the first half of 2026. That’s exactly the problem Morrisey is trying to get ahead of. West Virginia already has proposals drawing opposition without a single operating hyperscale facility.
Advertisement
Morrisey owns the promises now. If developers freeload on ratepayers or school districts end up shortchanged, he’ll have handed the Left a ready-made attack ad, and deserved it.
No hyperscale facility is running in West Virginia yet. Morrisey has time to make the promises stick, but not much of it.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump’s leadership and bold policies, America’s economy is back on track.
Help us continue to report on the president’s successes and combat the Democrats’ lies about America’s economic revival. Join RedState VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.