Residents Plan Protest at Compass Data Center Info Meeting at Bull Run MS

Gainesville, Virginia – Prince William County residents will demonstrate against data center developer Compass and the Prince William Digital Gateway, at 6:30 p.m., tonight, outside Bull Run Middle School in Haymarket. The protest and media event precedes Compass's 7 p.m. informational presentation for Heritage Hunt residents. 

The open house at Bull Run Middle School is intended for Heritage Hunt residents. Their community is adjacent to the proposed digital gateway in Catharpin along Pageland Lane and adjacent to the Manassas National Battlefield.

Many Heritage Hunt residents are opposed to the digital gateway that could house approximately 90+ data centers and want to send their own message to data center developers. 

"There is no doubt that this event is the opening foray in a slick public relations campaign designed to con local residents into believing that tearing up the countryside for their noxious development will leave us in a better place," said Heritage Hunt resident Bill Wright. "Stop insulting our intelligence.  What we want is for Compass to leave us, but leave us intact.." 

According to Compass, the purpose of the open house is to provide details of the application and to answer questions from the residents. Wright said that the digital gateway developers had previously requested a meeting with Heritage Hunt, but it would not have been very hospitable to invite them over, only to yell at them. 

Wright also said that residents have shared the invitation, believing that other neighbors should be invited. 

Confusion over Digital Gateway meetings

Compass's meeting should not be confused with QTS's outreach meeting tonight. QTS, the other data center developer involved in the Prince William Digitial Gateway, is holding its own community outreach meeting, Tuesday, from 6-8:30 p.m. at TownSuites of the Marriott on Shoppers Best Way in Woodbridge. 

That meeting is open to all residents but is mainly intended for those on the eastern side of the county. QTS's message to them is the tax revenue from data centers will benefit everyone. 

"The Prince William Digital Gateway will raise an estimated $470 million of annual tax revenue for the county," the announcement stated. "This revenue will significantly reduce the tax burden on county residents and go towards addressing issues top of mind for many members of the community, including potential school overcrowding, affordable housing, improved access to the beauty of Prince William County through local parks, and the protection of the county’s historical sites." 

The last statement is peculiar because it would only be protecting historic parks and sites from its own incursion, and the applicant even asked that those proffers be excluded during the Planning Commission hearing. 

People may also be confused because QTS planned its own meeting at Bull Run Middle School for last Tuesday, which was then canceled, and not yet rescheduled. 

Moreover, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors is passing the budget tonight, meaning that supervisors will not be able to attend either digital gateway meeting. 

Heritage Hunt Residents are distrustful of Compass

Bill Wright, who is involved in organizing the protest, said the invitation residents received on April 18 "greenwashes" the proposal, excluding how it hurts the neighborhoods and environment. 

"[They] fail to acknowledge the ill effects of this massive industrial development on noise, water, air quality, Manassas National Battlefield Park, Conway Robinson State Forest, or any other residential community," Wright said, in a media release. 

Wright cites examples of adverse effects from "this massive 27 million-square-foot industrial complex," including...

• Toxic diesel exhaust pollution from close to 3,000 industrial-scale backup generators, perhaps for days at a time, during the hottest summer months;
• Paving over hundreds of acres of farmland, woodlands, and low-density residential land in a sensitive watershed and groundwater recharge area that feeds the Occoquan reservoir;
• Drawing more electricity than it takes to supply all the homes in Virginia, necessitating new transmission lines, and passing on the rate increases to consumers;
• Crowding a massive industrial complex directly on the border of one of the nation’s most important and hallowed sites in the war to end to slavery;
• Building four more miles of a four-lane highway that could provide the impetus for the completion of a cut-through truck route from I-95 to Dulles Airport;
• Adding thousands of noisy and power-hungry air-cooling units;
• Creating the single greatest accumulation of e-waste and toxic metals and chemicals and stored diesel fuel in the region;
• Setting the stage for the next grossly incompatible land use which is already being contemplated to the north along Sanders Lane to the Loudoun County line (second attachment).    

He said Heritage Hunt residents still do not understand the details of the digital gateway project due to the nondisclosure agreement. 

The county signed a nondisclosure agreement with Compass,  Feb. 9, 2022.  "Compass negotiated plans secretly, under the cloak of a non-disclosure agreement designed to inhibit public awareness."

 Wright notes that on March 13,  the Heritage Hunt Board of Directors wrote to Prince William County Planning Office, reiterating that "the Digital Gateway is inappropriate for the Pageland area and that there are more suitable uses for that land," but that did not sway elected leaders. 

 "After all this secrecy, they now hold an 'open house' to advise us of their benevolent plans.," Wright said that is really a "Trojan horse." 

Wright, although himself a Democrat, said the current Democrats on the board are complicit in misleading residents, and ignoring the pleas of residents, environmentalists, and supporters of places of history and heritage. 

"Corporate marauders like Compass Datacenters have enjoyed the support of ethically challenged county supervisors who have conspired with them against their constituents," said Wright. "The message is clear: citizens are in their way and our quality of life is expendable." 

Proponents of the digital gateway have emphasized the money it would bring to the community. For those who live far from the data centers, it may sound like a win for the county. 

But Wright cannot image what they could tell Heritage Hunt and supporters of the Manassas National Battlefield that would get them onboard with the project. 

 "Considering the way Compass Datacenters stealthily intruded into our community, we do not trust any of their assurances to protect our electrical grid, water, air, natural environment or historical legacy."

Ultimately, he said Heritage Hunt residents will listen, but they will also speak, and their message is "Go Away." 

 "The attitude of Prince William County residents, and our message to Compass, is simple and concise: GO AWAY.  We are not buying their insincere overtures to placate us while they concurrently plot to destroy us.  There are more suitable areas to develop this project in more welcoming jurisdictions.  The citizens of Prince William County implore Compass to execute a tactical retreat and develop transparently, and this time in good faith, in a more appropriate location.  They will learn that cooperation is a better long-term strategy than the deception they have practiced here."