Virginia county approves data center project after 27-hour public hearing

County supervisors in northern Virginia have approved one of the world’s largest data center projects after a public hearing that ran through the night and lasted more than 24 hours. The Prince William County Board of Supervisors voted 4-3, with one abstention, in favor of the Digital Gateway project. It will bring as many as 37 data centers over about 2,000 acres in the western part of the county, not far from Manassas National Battlefield. The final vote came Wednesday afternoon, 27 hours after the public hearing first began. The project drew opposition from residents concerned about noise, the need for electricity and high-voltage transmission lines, and the possibility that it would damage views of the battlefield.