Virginia Regulator Says It Had No Authority to Stop Data Center’s Day-Long Generator Run
A resident reported a noise reading above Loudoun County’s nighttime limit, and county supervisors have since directed staff to look at regulating existing backup generators.
- By Danielle Naidu
- October 15, 2026
Vantage Data Centers’ VA2 campus in Sterling, Virginia, ran on diesel backup generators for nearly 24 hours July 16-17, WUSA9 reported. The company told the station that a critical power failure at the campus’s on-site power plant disabled its gas turbines.
Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) said current regulations gave it no authority to stop the generators. DEQ Director Michael Rolband said so in an email to Sterling resident Greg Pirio, according to Northern Virginia Magazine.
Pirio said the exhaust made his lungs hurt, and he went to stay with his daughter in Vienna, Virginia. He said his recording at his property line registered 60 decibels. Loudoun County’s nighttime noise limit is 55 decibels.
On July 22, county supervisors backed an initiative from Supervisor Koran Saines directing staff to find ways to regulate existing backup generators, Loudoun Now reported.
