A crescendo of guitar hums, drum beats and crowd chants filled the air surrounding the Hanover County Administrative Building on Wednesday as residents gathered to celebrate Earth Day. Residents also raised awareness about incoming industrial developments that could negatively impact the environment.
The event was organized by the Friends of Hanover, a grassroots coalition that advocates for protecting county environmental resources and preserving its rural character.
The group’s efforts come on the heels of a recommendation by the county’s planning commission to build a data center in the South Anna District, despite the outpouring of opposition from residents like Jennifer Corpus, an organizer with Friends of Hanover.
“Let’s be honest, hope can be hard to come by these days,” Corpus said to the crowd Wednesday. “But on days like today, I’m reminded that when we fight together we protect what matters most: our future, our children and the land we call home.”
Corpus added that Friends of Hanover will continue to “fight tooth and nail,” against incoming data centers and other entities that threaten the environment as a reminder to the board of supervisors that “the air we breathe and the water we drink do not have a price tag.”
Representatives from like-minded organizations joined the rally Wednesday to express their sentiments towards the group’s goals. Pat Hunter-Jordan, president of the Hanover chapter of the NAACP, shared her support.
“Our community’s heartbeat is more important than a data center,” Hunter-Jordan said. “No more data centers in Hanover County.”
Data centers aren’t the only industry encroaching on Hanover’s rural community.
Last year, the county’s board of supervisors approved the expansion of the Ashcake Landfill — a property that borders the Brown Grove Rural Historic District — a historically African American neighborhood founded in the Reconstruction era by formerly enslaved people.
County planning staff are also now considering an application filed by the Luck Stone Company to operate a 1,300-acre gravel quarry, asphalt plant and concrete plant on Verdon Road.
Under “Project Noel,” the proposed quarry will be developed on top of existing woodlands and wetlands. The property borders also encroach on farms, residences and a large portion of the Little River.
Residents like Rhonda Hammon have been organizing against the company’s efforts to settle in Hanover. Hammon told VPM News that it was comforting to see groups like the Friends of Hanover share her concerns about the rise of industrial projects in Hanover.
“All of this industrialization ties in together,” Hammon said. “They’re all in the western part of the county and they all come at the same time. They’re using vast amounts of our rural spaces and they’re not really accounting for how this impacts those communities.”
Hammon added that it’s comforting that residents have joined together over the common goal to stop the spread of industrial developments in Hanover and that protests against data centers in Virginia are growing.
Tim Cywinski, the Sierra Club Virginia chapter’s communications director, echoed that sentiment as he shared some remarks at the event in Hanover.
Cywinski later told VPM News that Hanover is just one of many localities where movements to stop data centers are encouraging to see people “hold the line,” against the data center industry.
“The story of Hanover echoes a lot of what’s happening across the state,” Cywinski said. “There are people that are Republicans here, people who are Democrats here, all under one shared struggle of a proposal of something that could ruin their lives and livelihoods and they’re not going to take it.”
The next phase in the battle over data centers in Hanover comes during the upcoming board of supervisors meeting on June 24, when supervisors will set a new tax rate on data center equipment.
A meeting about the proposed Mountain Road Technology Park has not been scheduled yet.
