06/18/2026
🏆 VIRGINIA RESIDENTS JUST KILLED ONE OF THE BIGGEST DATA CENTER PROJECTS EVER PLANNED IN AMERICA — AND IT TOOK YEARS OF NEVER GIVING UP 🏆
This is the victory story that every community in America has been waiting to see. Because this one was supposed to be unstoppable.
2,100 acres. 23 million square feet. A project so massive it would have been the largest data center cluster in the world. Approved by the county. Backed by one of the biggest financial firms on Earth. Years in the making.
And the people of Prince William County, Virginia just killed it.
THE PROJECT THAT DIED
Data center construction firm Compass Datacenters and financial backer Brookfield Asset Management have officially pulled out of the massive “Digital Gateway” project in Prince William County, Virginia. The 2,100-acre campus — which would have put up about 23 million square feet of data center space — would have been one of the largest data center clusters in the world. Compass Datacenters said regulatory barriers and lawsuits made the project no longer practical. 
Not profitable. Not valuable. Not worth pursuing. No longer practical. Because of regulatory barriers and lawsuits filed by ordinary Virginians who refused to accept defeat.
The project first received approval in 2023 — when a highly contentious hearing of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors gave it the green light on a 4-3 vote. The community began fighting immediately. They challenged zoning decisions. They filed lawsuits. They showed up to every meeting. They organized across neighborhoods and county lines. And three years later — the developer gave up. The community won. 
Three years. Not three months. Three years of lawsuits, meetings, appeals, and organizing. And the community won.
That is what persistence looks like. That is what never giving up looks like.
WHY THIS VICTORY MATTERS BEYOND VIRGINIA
Virginia is home to more than 660 operational data centers — the most in the nation — with another 600 planned. The collapse of the Digital Gateway proposal is seen as a victory for grassroots anti-data center activists whose influence has been growing nationwide. According to Data Center Watch, community groups have already blocked more than a dozen projects worth about $152 billion in construction costs nationally. The message from Prince William County: even in the world’s data center capital — the people can still win. 
Even in the world’s data center capital. The people can win. Against a $152 billion industry. Against Brookfield Asset Management. Against years of regulatory approval.
They won.
🗣️ THE BOTTOM LINE
2,100 acres. 23 million square feet. The largest data center cluster in the world. Approved in 2023. Backed by billions. And the residents of Prince William County, Virginia — three years later — just made the developer walk away.
Share this for every community that has been told: you can’t beat them. Prince William County just proved you can. 👇🏆
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📌 VERIFIED SOURCE: Gizmodo — “The Anti-Data Center Movement Notches a Huge Victory in Data Center Alley” (April 29, 2026)
