Piedmont Environmental Council
Geographic Region: PEC focuses on nine counties and one city in the northern Piedmont of Virginia: Albemarle, Charlottesville, Clarke, Culpeper, Fauquier, Greene, Loudoun, Madison, Orange, and Rappahannock. PEC also teams with local organizations to promote thriving communities and healthy natural resources in a much larger region, including the Shenandoah Valley, the central Piedmont, the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Corridor and greater D.C.
Virginia’s northern Piedmont is an exceptional place. Located at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Piedmont is beloved for its scenic beauty, unparalleled in its significance to America’s history, and valuable for its productive family farms, thriving communities and vibrant economy. Its forests, fields and wetlands provide clean water for the people of this region as well as those downstream, and they offer bountiful habitat for numerous species of wildlife and native plants. This splendid natural setting, together with its distinctive towns and cities, make the Piedmont a wonderful place to live, work and visit.
News Feed
Press release: Any further data center contracts must be paused until Virginia’s leaders address these six critical issuesToday, The Piedmont Environmental Council is calling on Virginia’s state leaders to declare a moratorium on the connection of data centers to the grid, the approval of new transmission lines,...read more

Loudoun Updates: Are Data Centers in Loudoun County Finally at a Tipping Point?The Board of Supervisors may have been on its annual recess in August, but there’s been no shortage of updates on long-awaited community meetings, new proposals for data center regulation,...read more

Recording: Sarah Parmelee on Data Centers in Culpeper CountyPEC’s Sarah Parmelee delivered a presentation at the Culpeper Library on August 29, 2026 to update the community on the latest developments about data centers and transmission line projects in...read more

Culpeper County Takes on Transmission Lines in Comprehensive Plan AmendmentCulpeper County is considering making to its Comprehensive Plan – which PEC supports – that would strengthen local policies and encourage mitigation and less impactful transmission line route selection.read more

Orange Data Center UpdatesOrange County should Pause to Plan & adopt comprehensive plan language changes that protect against transmission lines & onsite gas generation.read more

We’re Hiring: Senior Energy and Climate AnalystPEC is seeking an enthusiastic and passionate individual to join our team and advocate for sustainable energy solutions in PEC's nine-county region and the Commonwealth.read more

Join us for Charlottesville’s Annual Loop de ‘Ville!Join The Piedmont Environmental Council, the Rivanna Trail Foundation and the City of Charlottesville as a volunteer or participant for this annual trail festival.read more

State Corporation Commission Says Virginians Should Not Pay for Data Center Transmission InfrastructureOn Friday, July 31, the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) issued a major ruling that, going forward, will help protect consumers’ pocketbooks from the impacts of the data center boom...read more

Press Release: The Virginia State Corporation Commission takes important first step of requiring large-load data centers to pay for transmission facilities constructed solely to serve themThe Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) issued a major ruling Friday that, going forward, will help protect consumers’ pocketbooks from the impacts of the data center boom and related energy...read more

Net MeteringNet Metering is a billing arrangement whereby owners of rooftop and other small-scale solar receive a 1:1 credit for the excess energy their systems generate and send back to the...read more





