Conservation groups have added their voices to a lawsuit opposing a digital data center from being built next to Manassas National Battlefield Park/Kurt Repanshek file

The Coalition to Protect America's National Parks has joined other organizations in siding with a lawsuit aimed at preventing a massive data center covering about 22 million square feet from being built next to Manassas National Battlefield Park in Virginia.

The proposed Digital Gateway center would be located on more than 2,000 acres across from the battlefield. Opponents have said the data center would irrevocably change the character, ecology, and views of this nationally significant site, and possibly intrude on unknown burials.

In January, a group of local citizens, along with the American Battlefield Trust, filed a lawsuit to prevent construction of the data center complex, citing several legal zoning violations allegedly committed by the Prince William County Board of Supervisors in its approval of the project in December 2023. With supporters citing potential tax revenue and other purported benefits of the project, the board’s 4-3 vote came after a 27-hour public hearing in which the project faced “overwhelming local opposition [and] objections from the National Park Service,” according to the American Battlefield Trust.

Two weeks ago six conservation organizations committed to the preservation of the nation’s battlefields and natural resources filed an amicus curiae brief in support of a lawsuit to stop construction of the data center.  According to the brief, the project “would inevitably lead to the irreversible and irreparable desecration of hallowed ground and the despoiling of the natural and cultural resources in Prince William County and across the Commonwealth.”

Read about local efforts to stop the Digital Gateway Project.

Read about Ken Burns' opposition to the data center.

The friend-of-the-court brief was filed by the Coalition to Protect Prince William County, Piedmont Environmental Council, National Parks Conservation Association, Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, National Trust for the Historic Preservation in the United States and Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks. The filing supports the nine residents and the American Battlefield Trust who have sued to overturn the December 2023 rezoning. A hearing in the suit, to determine if the case will be permitted to proceed toward trial, is set for October 31.

The Prince William Digital Gateway — with 37 proposed data center buildings roughly the equivalent of 144 Walmart Supercenters — would sprawl across 1,750 acres immediately adjacent to the Manassas Battlefield and would require 14 on-site electrical substations for operation, according to the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks. 

“The Digital Gateway promises to transform this idyllic portion of Prince William County into a buzzing hive of industrial activity, sucking up vast quantities of water and electricity and stretching transmission lines across the County and beyond,” the organizations wrote to the court.

Manassas National Battlefield Park commemorates two critical battles of the American Civil War, the Battles of First and Second Manassas or Bull Run. Although the initial engagement is remembered as the first major land battle of the war, the second was more significant to its outcome and witnessed one of the most devastating and decisive assaults of the conflict. Together, the two battles produced nearly 27,000 casualties. While the presence of a national park demonstrates the significance of these battles, it is critical to recognize that important historical events occurred beyond its modern boundaries, some of which are slated to be the site of the Digital Gateway, the Coalition added in a release. The Congressionally created Civil War Sites Advisory Commission, in considering the state of all Civil War battlefields, designated the battlefields of First and Second Manassas as among the most important for preservation and historic significance.

Threats of development to the Manassas Battlefield have persisted and increased. Since 2009, the American Battlefield Trust has taken action to acquire multiple parcels of historic significance in the area that will be impacted by the Prince William Digital Gateway. This includes 170 acres once part of Rock Hill Farm, an area that served as a field hospital during Second Manassas and likely saw the burial of many who did not survive the battle. Although significant effort was made to reinter the remains of the vast majority of those buried on the battlefield in more formal cemeteries, remains are regularly found on battlefields, including Manassas. The proposed Digital Gateway not only threatens these hallowed grounds, but the remains of those who fell and and were laid to rest on the field.

In their filing, the nonprofit organizations said the Prince William County Board of Supervisors was “duty bound to give due account to the historical, environmental, and other impacts of their decision,” but did not conduct the proper process or give due account for the will of the people they represent. The brief also noted the varying interests of the organizations in the filing, which demonstrate the diverse impact of the rezoning and the importance of the court’s decision.

“Data centers are a fundamental part of the technology infrastructure that supports the modern economy, and they have a place in Prince William County and other localities in Virginia. However, given the enormous impacts they can have on the surrounding environment and nearby communities, it is essential that they be appropriately sited and scaled,” the organizations said.