Photo: Christina @ wocintechchat.com / Unsplash
Prince William County Supervisor Kenny Boddye, who represents the Occoquan Magisterial District, is calling on the state to hand localities more control over the industrial projects reshaping the region — specifically, the power to pause them.
In an announcement this month, Boddye said he supports members of the Virginia General Assembly who are pushing for a special session to address the findings of the Commonwealth's “Groundwater Supply East of Interstate 95” report. He's also urging state officials to grant local governments explicit authority to defer action on high-utility-demand industrial proposals — chiefly data centers — and to strengthen localities' ability to mitigate the energy, water and air quality impacts those projects can bring.
Boddye was careful to note that the East of I-95 study doesn't draw Prince William-specific conclusions, and that the county's own water provider reports adequate local supply. But he argued the findings still make the case for caution before locking in land-use decisions that can't be undone.
“The findings reinforce the necessity of taking the time to better understand our ability to meet long-term demand before making irreversible land use decisions,” he said.
The push builds on a legal question Boddye has been exploring for months: whether Virginia law currently gives local governments the authority to pause new data center applications while officials study water, power and air quality impacts — the same question Loudoun County has been wrestling with. He said a reconvened General Assembly session is a chance for state leaders to settle it.
Boddye said he'll bring the idea to his colleagues on the Board of County Supervisors, currently in summer recess, about adding a call for greater local authority to the legislative agenda the Board sends to Richmond each fall.
“As a Board, we have asked time and time again for more authority to mitigate the impacts of hyperscale industrial development, and we are on the cusp of ending the ability for data centers to develop by-right in Prince William, enhancing our ability to negotiate for safeguards,” Boddye said. “Localities should not be asked to choose between economic growth and environmental protection. These can and must coexist.”
He framed the moment as bigger than water alone. Prince William is running its own groundwater assessment, he noted, but the state is also sorting out how to supply backup power to data center sites without adding pollution, and how to serve rising electric loads while protecting the gains made under the Virginia Clean Economy Act — all without shifting the cost of new infrastructure onto ordinary ratepayers.
“State and local officials must continue to collaborate so that land use decisions do not outpace concrete plans for the infrastructure it takes to support them,” he said.
Boddye's request lands as the county works through its own data center overlay rezoning, which the Board voted 5-2 in July to shrink from roughly 9,700 acres to about 3,500. A redo of the Planning Commission hearing on that overlay is set for September 9, with the Board taking it up again September 22.
“A limited pause would help communities make better-informed decisions and give the public greater confidence in the process,” Boddye said. “Reliable water supplies are a foundation for both” economic opportunity and environmental responsibility.
Source
Occoquan District (Supervisor Kenny Boddye's office), “Supervisor Boddye Calls on State to Grant Authority to Defer Decisions on High-Resource-Demand Projects,” published August 14, 2026.