Giving Tuesday and Writing your Will, Charity Gifts to Honor your Life

Today is giving Tuesday, a global giving day. I give to charities that have special meaning to me. But giving doesn't have to be just a one time deal. Next year I sign up for Medicare! Yikes! Hitting this milestone is hard for me to imagine but along with it are thoughts of getting my affairs in order.

I'm going to digress a little, but do you have a Will? Did you know that in Virginia you do not need a lawyer to draft a Will. State by state online Wills can be downloaded for free and edited (every State has it's own rules). You can even write your Will by hand or later add a handwritten note to your Will if you have details to change or add, but you won't be around to make sure it stays attached, so having a printed complete Will is best. My library provides a free notary by appointment, just bring several witnesses to come along to sign your Will. No longer do banks offer this service and no business provides "staff" to be witnesses like they did in the old days.

I've known of several people that have no family to speak of and could easily divide their estate among non-profits by designation in a Will. Don't let the State government inherit your property because you do not have a Will! Gift it instead to agencies that truly need the money.

A few of my favorite charities are animal focused. My list includes charities that I have followed for years or personally know the individuals that are in charge. Before giving, do your homework or ask friends or family for recommendations. Giving to big national charities generally is a bad idea, keeping your donation locally is a great idea. There are a few charities that I donate to that are not in my area but are very small shoestring operations that greatly need help. Many charities now accept Venmo.

If you take the IRS standard deduction on your taxes, you can not write off charitable donations in 2025, you can only benefit if you itemize. It looks like this changes for 2026 but there are limitations and it is complicated. Regardless of a tax donation, giving should come from the heart and this year has been extra tough for many charities given the rise in inflation and job layoffs.

A few of my recommended hard working charities are as follows:

HOWS, Houses of Wood and Straw is a 501c3 animal rescue charity that has been operating for 17 years and serves several counties in my area. They just found a property where they can permanently reside. This year a donor has stepped up that will match all donations up to $15,000. It's a great time to give! They initially began building sturdy dog houses for chained dogs and have expanded to erecting fencing to unchain dogs. Because of my animal rescue background, I've been a supporter for years. I understand very well the difficulty in Virginia to remove animals from a bad situation. Laws permit people to keep outside dogs and often the situation is dire. HOWS provides EYES into the community and at least makes a bad situation the best it can be, providing medical care, guidance, and property improvements. Sometimes even getting lucky by counseling pet owners to allow them to find a warm and cozy inside home for their pets. 

Sweet Peeps Microsanctuary is a 501c3 chicken rescue in Alabama that houses factory farm chickens, chickens that were slated to be killed in religious ceremonies, and chickens impacted by recent actions of ICE. Operated by the daughter of one of my good friends, I know the funds are used appropriately. Getting to know chickens on a personal level by having several flocks of chickens of my own it has opened my eyes to their varied personalities and antics. Chicken rescues are rare and the need is great.

Local wildlife rescues are often loaded with animals receiving very specialized care. Two of my favorites located in different areas of Virginia are Rockfish Wildlife Sanctuary and Southwest Virginia Wildlife Center of Roanoke.

A small group of individuals saw a need in the Harrisonburg area to help those that are in dire situations such as the power is going to be cut off, cars being repossessed, and eviction. Heart breaking stories of being one month away from homelessness. Helping who they can with the funds they cobble together, this is an agency that serves from the heart and needs your help. Mountain Valley Mutual Aid can be followed on Facebook or Instagram.

We've all read about the disastrous impacts of SNAP benefit removals. Seek out your local food pantry and help! Loaves and Fishes has been helping citizens in need in Charlottesville for many years. 27% of Cville families live at or below the poverty level.

As I approach retirement, I see that my mental faculty and funds are realigning. Giving doesn't have to wait until your death, it can be gifted today! Let's all participate in Giving Tuesday.

~Rebecca

Piedmont Environmental Council Public Meeting Part II, To Review or Not to Review, that IS the Question

CRITICAL UPDATE - Albemarle County staff is going to recommend to the Board of Supervisors (BOS) to "pause" the data center ordinance proposal and keep it as is until at least end end of the year. This doesn't mean that the BOS has to accept this recommendation but historically it is given great weight in their decision making. Please continue to express your thoughts with the current BOS and attend meetings. Several crucial changes will be taking place this January: 1) two new BOS members begin their term 2) a new state Governor. 

Continuing on... Part II of a summary provided by Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) at their recent public meeting at The Center in Charlottesville to discuss Virginia data centers. PEC operates in central Virginia supporting the following communities; Albemarle / Cville, Clarke, Culpeper, Fauquier, Greene, Loudoun, Madison, Orange, and Rappahannock. Their mission is to protect and restore the lands and waters of the Virginia Piedmont, while building stronger, more sustainable communities. Some of the jurisdictions they support are the fastest growing in the nation where data center expansion is becoming a central issue. 

To Review or Not to Review, that IS the Question! Below is a summary of the PEC presentation given by Land Use and Policy staff members Julie Bolthouse and Rob McGinnis with some "eye-popping" announcements of future planned land developments for Albemarle County.

How did Virginia become the data center capital of the world? The main buildout is in Northern Virginia (NOVA) with 250 data centers utilizing 30 million square feet, with an additional 6 million under construction. The current administration has publicly announced the US-China AI race by removing regulations and encouraging buildouts. NOVA is near to our federal government and defense with extensive infrastructure available but our state also provides many incentives and cheap energy pricing exclusively for data centers. 

Currently the biggest corporations of the world are not paying for infrastructure buildout to service their data centers, WE ARE. On your electric bill there is a transmission fee that pays for this infrastructure (which can easily increase with each planned data center). Data Centers are a quarter of the Dominion Energy client base and are given incentives to build in Virginia through better utility rates and the largest sales tax exemption in the state, not to mention no comprehensive oversight.

There is no comprehensive law or plans at the state level managing our data centers which are beginning to rapidly trickle down from NOVA to the rest of the state. Until state level laws are instituted to review data center projects, the only point in the process that a locality has to accept or decline a data center project is by requiring a Special Use Permit that requires it be reviewed by the public, Planning Commission, and BOS. 

In 2023, there was no mention of data centers in the Albemarle County code but after the PEC questioned this omission, a stop gap measure was soon approved that required a Special Use Permit for data centers over 40,000 square feet, the BOS is considering to allow "by right" up to 500,000 square feet. That would rubber stamp a data center the size of the 5th Street Station retail complex that houses Wegmans and other retail businesses and a data center that size could consume 50 - 100 megawatts of power, the equivalent of 10,000 - 20,000 homes.  

Currently the county has small accessory data centers (an equipment room inside a hospital or at UVA, or inside a business). The county is reviewing their existing ordinance to add performance standards and size overlay Tiers for "by right" builds at 150,000 and 500,000 square feet. 

PEC explains that a data center above 200,000 square feet would be classified as hyperscale and is worrisome due to the need for more resources to operate (read Part I of my summary, What does a Data Center Need to Operate). 

Louisa, the county next door to Albemarle has approved two hyperscale data center projects that are millions of square feet each. When a third was proposed the community spoke our loudly about another data center and soon their ordinance was changed. Louisa and Loudon Counties, after rubber stamping data center projects, have both put on the brakes by changing their hyperscale sized data center ordinance from "by right" to Special Use Permit. 

One might fear that Albemarle is falling behind but two recent mega scale economic development projects are in the works that would sandwich the City of Charlottesville in the middle. 

Rivanna Futures is a state supported and funded project near the existing NGIC Defense campus on 29N. This 8 mile area (from Greene to Albemarle) could realize a level of potential similar to Silicon Valley (data centers could be built here). Included in this area is a state effort to establish a Defense Corridor to run from Fauquier County to Charlottesville. This conglomerate of projects was described as beyond aspirational by PEC staff. 

There is also a plan to create Virginia's Research Triangle Park connecting the biotech industry from VT in Blacksburg to UVA in Charlottesville. AstraZeneca has announced it is opening a facility in Charlottesville and El Lilly nearby in Goochland.

It's obvious that citizens below the NOVA line do not want intense buildouts to start popping up in their communities and it's especially rotten if there is no transparency. The only entities that are privy to actual electric and water usage numbers are the data center, the State Corporate Commission (SCC) and Dominion Energy, while decision makers and the public at the local level are all left to ponder.

The next meeting concerning data centers in Albemarle County is the Planning Commission, October 14, 6pm.

~Rebecca

Piedmont Environmental Council Public Meeting Part I, What a Data Center needs to be Operational

Approximately 150 people attended the recent Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) public meeting at The Center in Charlottesville to discuss Virginia data centers. PEC operates in central Virginia supporting the following communities; Albemarle / Cville, Clarke, Culpeper, Fauquier, Greene, Loudoun, Madison, Orange, and Rappahannock. Their mission is to protect and restore the lands and waters of the Virginia Piedmont, while building stronger, more sustainable communities. Some of the jurisdictions they support are the fastest growing in the nation where data center expansion is becoming a central issue. 

What does a data center need to be operational? Below is a summary of the PEC presentation given by Land Use and Policy staff members Julie Bolthouse and Rob McGinnis.

Every data center is different and has different requirements, none are alike. Currently the PEC is the only agency that tracks the buildout of data centers and today they have identified that our state is the data center capital of the world and has 3 times more data centers than the next largest on their list, Beijing, China. 

There are some common requirements for each data center: The need for exorbitant amounts of energy and water plus backup generators to keep equipment running 24/7. Infrastructure build out including electric power substations and rows of super sized transmission lines that are a blight to the landscape and could traverse through neighborhoods. Other structures onsite are water and gas holding tanks, rooftop cooling equipment, waste water pipelines and pump stations, and security fencing. 

Electronics naturally produce heat in order to operate. Larger systems require cooling equipment to remove heat to protect computers. Each of us has experienced cell phones, tablets, and computers generating heat. We've even heard a fan running on our desk top computer to remove the heat buildup. When electric systems fail or peak demand puts pressure on the system, back up generators must kick on to protect equipment and keep the data flowing night and day. 9,000 gas diesel data center generators are currently permitted in Virginia and the allowed run time is regulated by the EPA. Most of us have heard a neighbors small generator running during a power outage but a data center can have 20 - 40 train car sized diesel generators running 6 - 12 hours a day. The greater the concentration of data centers, the worse the air pollution and the greater the health impact. Computer systems, gas plants, and nuclear facilities are water cooled. Water usage that is not recycled and reused is consumptive which means it is lost as it evaporates into the air along with pollutants. When a closed loop system is used they too will experience water loss and diverting treated / recycled water can still impact local stream health.

Just one data center can consume a city worth of power. Racks and racks and rows and rows of computers need electricity to run. One Gigawatt (GW) of power requires one nuclear reactor to produce it. In Virginia it is estimated that 28 GW of power must be built out by 2039 to meet growing data center demand and to pay for it the average customer bill will increase by 125%. That level of power is equivalent to nearly 7,000,000 homes or 2,000 Walmart Supercenters. Dominion Energy, who operates in 20 states, has 47 GW under contract in Virginia alone to meet the explosive demand load. The electricity is dependent upon the delivery from out of state transmission lines; Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia and also gas pipeline routes that continually are being expanded deeper into the South and farther into the North. A gas plant in one community can be firing up a data center in another community. There is no other industry that demands this much energy other than possibly a steel mill. Dominion energy is applying for approval to use non-renewable sources (natural gas, coal, and reactors) to power this infrastructure. The current administration encourages dirty power which is often not compatible with meeting local renewal energy targets.

Next week I will blog about the impact of a recent ordinance proposal change in Albemarle County as presented by PEC.

~ Rebecca