Local control, or a lack thereof, as it pertains to the development of data centers in West Virginia, has become a point of contention for elected officials in counties and municipalities across the state. As new projects are announced, communities, where the massive facilities will be located, feel as though they have not had any input as their hometowns face drastic changes.
That was a point raised during a panel discussion hosted by The Stubblefield Institute for Civil Political Communications at Shepherd University. Residents living near proposed data center sites are worried about the impact the sites will have on natural resources, the landscape and overall quality of life and feel as though the facilities are being forced upon them.
“My philosophy is two things can be true: You can support data centers, and you can be against the guardrails lacking in HB 2014,” said Jefferson County Commissioner Cara Keys during the event.
In 2025, the legislature passed HB 2014, aiming to attract high-tech companies by letting them build micro-grids and power data centers while avoiding local regulations. As a result, the bill strips local governments’ authority to regulate any certified microgrid district or certified high-impact data center project with zoning, horticultural, noise, viewshed, lighting, development, or land use rules.
This policy raises the question: why remove local government input? If all stakeholders engage openly and are willing to make tough, even unpopular, decisions, outcomes can be positive.
When that is not the case, or when local governments attempt to overreach their authority and jeopardize economic growth, it is why West Virginia needs some uniformity across the state.
For example, in 2011, the Morgantown City Council passed an ordinance to ban hydraulic fracking up to a mile outside the city limits. This was in response to a drilling operation in the Morgantown Industrial Park, which, despite its name, is not within the city. The ordinance was eventually ruled invalid in circuit court.
There are also current examples of local control failing and the state being forced to step in.
The state board of education has assumed control of seven county school systems. In March 2025, State School Board member Debra Sullivan said the problems stem from bad decisions by adults who should know better.
“I look at adults, and I like to think that we choose to do the right thing and we know what the right things are, and I think what we have here in many cases is a failure to live up to that,” Sullivan said.
That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement for local control.
State lawmakers want to avoid similar situations, provide consistency for developers, and make West Virginia an attractive location for the rapidly expanding technology. But in doing so, they have left the people directly impacted by the projects feeling helpless and left out of the process.
The Data Center Age has arrived in West Virginia, whether we like it or not. Major data center development projects have already been announced in Putnam and Berkeley Counties. A third data center is reportedly in development at a site in Tucker County, and more are in the works.
State and local lawmakers still have time to work together to ensure that people whose communities will be transformed by these developments have their concerns addressed while still creating an attractive business environment.
However, if state lawmakers continue to bypass the people who live in the shadows of these facilities, they may find that economic growth comes at the cost of public trust and voters may use the local control they do have at the ballot box.