Pittsylvania Residents urge denial-without-delay of rezoning request for huge gas plant and data center complex

Locals expressed intense frustration after a hearing on Balico, LLC’s proposal for a 3,500-megawatt gas power plant and data center campus was postponed once again

CHATHAM, Va. — Residents of Pittsylvania County expressed frustration during a Tuesday night Board of Supervisors meeting over yet another postponement of a hearing on Balico, LLC’s application to rezone approximately 750 acres of rural and agricultural land. 

If the County Board of Supervisors grants the rezoning, Balico plans to construct a 3,500-megawatt gas-fired power plant—more than double the size of the largest in Virginia—and an initial 12-data center complex that could grow to rival those in Northern Virginia.  

Balico submitted its first application for rezoning in October 2024 but withdrew it in the face of strong community opposition. In November, it submitted a revised application that featured the same proposal for a 3,500-megawatt gas plant, but fewer data centers on a smaller total acreage. Balico still holds purchase options for the originally proposed 2,200 acres. 

In January 2025, the Pittsylvania County Planning Commission unanimously recommended that the County Board of Supervisors deny the rezoning. Twice since then, Balico’s application has been scheduled for public hearing before the Board. Both times, Balico has requested and been granted postponement—prolonging what has been an exhausting process for residents living under the threat that this enormous project may still move forward.  

At the Board of Supervisor’s regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, residents unloaded their frustrations with Balico’s constantly moving target—both in terms of what its application includes and when it will receive a vote from the Board.

“Balico’s continual misstatements, repeated postponements, and lack of concrete information and knowledge about our community does not build my confidence in their abilities,” Chatham resident Susan Bower stated after the meeting. “They are asking a lot from us, without any assurance that they will keep their promises. If I ran my B&B that way, it would have faltered within the first year.”  

In public statements and in its application, Balico has refused to pin down essential facts about the project, like the number of data centers it would have at full build-out, the amount of water its data centers and power plant would require, and the number of jobs it would create. And Balico has generated a great deal of confusion around its plans for power generation by emphasizing their short-term plans. But the proposal’s centerpiece remains unchanged: the 3,500-megawatt gas-fired power plant that Balico first proposed and that could be legally built without any further review or approval from the Board. 

A development of this nature and scale would dramatically change the character and landscape of Pittsylvania County. Sited just outside the county seat, Balico’s gas-fired power plant would produce hundreds of tons per year of fine particulate matter, which has no safe level of exposure, along with other air pollutants known to cause respiratory illness, increased hospitalizations, and premature deaths. Each of its large data centers could require upwards of 500,000 gallons of water per day, and the intakes Balico plans to use are excluded from regulation by the Department of Environmental Quality. 

These threats to natural resources stack on top of the constant noise, light pollution, and increased traffic from the power plant and data center complex that would permanently alter daily life for communities in the shadow of Balico’s massive development proposal. 

On Tuesday night, project proponents touted the tax revenue that Balico says its development could bring. But the County Comprehensive Plan is clear that efforts to build a healthy and diverse economic base should not come at the cost of degrading natural resources or quality of life, which this proposal would guarantee. Moreover, Balico’s proposal is not the sole engine for new local economic development. In the last six months, the County has secured multiple major new sources of revenue, including the $1.35 billion Microcorpous Manufacturing facility in Berry Hill, and the $4-to-5 billion Ringgold data center complex.

The acreage that Balico proposes to rezone also lies entirely outside of the area designated for future industrial development in the County’s Comprehensive Plan, such that approving Balico’s proposal would completely upend the principles of orderly land use planning set out in Virginia law. SELC Senior Attorney Morgan Butler stated: 

“Balico is playing fast and loose with Pittsylvania County officials, local residents, and the comprehensive plan for the county’s long-term development. By continually changing how it’s presenting its proposal and repeatedly postponing a vote before the Board of Supervisors, the applicant has created a moving target that is only sowing confusion and frustration, while causing residents to question whether they can rely on the county to honor its plans for orderly and thoughtful growth.” 

With this latest deferral, Balico’s application is now scheduled for consideration before the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, April 15.