The state that hosts more data centers than anywhere else on the planet just told its own officials they can no longer sign secrecy agreements about them.
That’s the part of Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s Executive Order 22 worth reading twice. Not the AI task force, though there is one. The NDA ban.
Loudoun County and its neighbors became the data center capital of the world partly because the deals arrived pre-negotiated and partly because residents often found out what was coming after the paperwork was done. Spanberger’s order cuts one leg out from under that arrangement by barring executive branch officials from signing nondisclosure agreements for data center projects.
What the order does beyond the headline
Executive Order 22 also requires expedited noise regulations and a review of the backup-generation operations data centers rely on. Anyone who’s stood near a campus of diesel generators during a test cycle understands why both of those made the list.
The order directs the state government toward steps that could give local communities a larger say in data center development and slow down approvals.
The AI task force is the broader piece. It’s charged with evaluating how the state government can address risks to Virginians including workforce displacement and data privacy issues, and with determining how existing law can be applied to AI harms. That last clause matters more than a new-rules mandate would. Applying laws already on the books is faster than passing new ones, and it doesn’t require the General Assembly to agree on anything.
The framework is where the money is
Alongside the order, Spanberger unveiled a “Data Center Accountability Framework” laying out further priorities. It targets “by-right approval,” the mechanism that let developers build on certain land in Loudoun County for years without additional approvals. It calls for removing some state subsidies, establishing environmental guardrails, and safeguarding residents against the increased energy prices associated with data centers.
Strip out the subsidies and the by-right shortcut and you’ve changed the actual economics of siting a campus in Virginia. The noise rules are enforcement. The subsidy cuts are leverage.
Not everyone thinks it goes far enough
The press release for the actions includes many statements from environmental groups praising the approach. Others reportedly wanted more.
The Piedmont Environmental Council, a nonprofit that has advocated for a moratorium on new development to deal with existing concerns, was blunt about the gap. “It largely addresses standards on new data centers and does not deal with what’s already built and in the pipeline, along with the ongoing impacts piling up in communities now,” PEC president Chris Miller said in a statement.
He’s identifying a real limit. Every measure here points at projects that haven’t broken ground. The campuses already humming in Northern Virginia, and the ones with approvals in hand, keep humming.
Governors are moving because Washington isn’t
This is the latest signal that states are taking data center and AI policy into their own hands while Congress and President Donald Trump have been slow or resistant to sweeping changes.
The timing wasn’t subtle. Also on Friday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order convening experts to tackle AI safety issues. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott have each taken executive action earlier to rein in rapid data center development.
Four states, two parties, one pattern. And Virginia is the one with the most to lose or gain from getting it wrong, because it has the most already built.
If you live near a proposed site, the NDA ban is the provision to watch. It’s the one that changes what you’re allowed to know before the concrete is poured.
