Resilience and Sustainability Resolution for All to Thrive in Loudoun County

Loudoun has demonstrated leadership on decisions that benefit the health, safety and welfare of her residents, the economic sphere and the environment through many different initiatives.¹ But there is a moral imperative to act with even greater urgency to incorporate the principles of resilience and sustainability into the County’s every process and decision to secure a favorable, long-term future for the people, the land, and the economy both locally and across the globe.

Resilience is the capacity of a system to deal with change and continue to function.² It is achieved by maintaining healthy ecosystems to provide essential ecosystem services: clean air, clean water, and shelter materials.³ Sustainability is the ability to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.⁴

This is critical because Loudoun County

hosts the greatest global concentration of data centers, which consume enough energy to power nearly five times the number of homes in Loudoun County;⁵
uses electricity that is generated by over 60% greenhouse gas emitting fossil fuels;⁶
increased its greenhouse gas emissions by 56% from 2005 – 2018 in stark contrast to a 13% reduction from the Metropolitan Washington region during the same time period;⁷
promotes expanding roads while statistics show that transportation in Virginia produces over half the Commonwealth’s carbon dioxide emissions of which 37% is from personal vehicles.⁸
is experiencing an accelerated loss of farmland, threatening agricultural viability;⁹
lost an estimated 13 acres of wetlands, 20,000 feet of streams annually and an average of five acres of forest daily;¹⁰
has over 15,000 individual and community wells that serve rural residents;¹¹
has a growing population ;
on a daily basis, makes land use decisions that impact climate change, resilience, and sustainability.

We request the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors commit to act now with respect to the following actions, to effectively manage change and ensure continued function without disruption or loss of healthy ecosystems and natural resources;

Acknowledge its unique responsibility and opportunity derived from data centers to actively facilitate the transition from greenhouse gas emitting energy sources to sustainable, renewable, non-carbon emitting, non-hazardous energy sources;
Take action to end greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible targeting a greenhouse gas emission that is 50% below 2005 levels by 2030¹² and 100% carbon free generated electricity by 2035¹³ from all sectors including:
- transportation,
- agriculture,
- industry, and
- the built environment.
Implement leadership initiatives by directing all government departments, committees, and commissions to identify, prioritize, and implement resilience and sustainability strategies including but not limited to:
- Energy
  - require a higher percentage of energy efficiency in buildings;
  - provide residents and businesses access to electrical energy generated from wind, water, solar sources, and other non-greenhouse gas emitting or hazardous sources;
  - incentivize distributed generation rooftop solar for businesses and residents;
  - install solar panels on public buildings and properties;
  - electrify public fleets and install charging stations ;
  - phase out use of greenhouse gas emitting sources of energy;
  - provide incentives for more compact, mixed-use development in transit station areas such as near the Silver Line stations; and
  - prioritize clean transportation projects such as bus electrification, multi-use trails, and pedestrian and bicycle connections to transit stations.
- Natural resources
  - conserve and protect air, water, and soil;
  - protect ecosystem health through watershed and subwatershed management to:
    - limit increase of impervious (pavement, rooftops) cover;
    - limit removal of tree canopy cover or native vegetation;
  - support natural systems over engineered systems to mitigate impacts from land development;
  - practice restoration ecology in already impacted, developed areas;
  - plant native species and manage invasive species on public lands;
  - promote use of non-invasive species for landscaping on private land;
  - promote local farming, farming infrastructure, and regenerative agriculture;
  - preserve open space and environmentally sensitive areas; and
  - minimize waste through circular economy/waste eliminating approach.
Respect and incorporate the value of ecosystem services as growth and development occurs. Direct the Department of Planning and Zoning to incorporate regulations and incentives to effectively minimize impacts through the zoning ordinance and require all development proposals to assess their impact on:
- air, surface and ground water, and soil;
- ecosystem health;
- species diversity and habitat;
- multi-modal transportation opportunities, vehicle trip, pollution and congestion generation; and
- energy demand and opportunities for local and regional alternative energy supply.

UNDERSIGNED:

We, the undersigned organizations and citizens, urge Loudoun County, Virginia, to take up these actions and commit to join with the 1800 local governments in 33 countries for a more resilient and sustainable future.

Further, we commit ourselves to participate in the challenge by actively participating in the public process to accomplish these goals.

Audubon Naturalist Society
Bike Loudoun
Birch Tree Bookstore
CCAN
Coalition for Smarter Growth
The Executive Committee of the Loudoun County Preservation and Conservation Coalition
Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions – Loudoun Hub
Friends of Banshee Reeks
Friends of the Blue Ridge
Goose Creek Association
League of Conservation Voters VA chapter
League of Women Voters Loudoun Chapter
Loudoun Climate Project
Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy
Mom’s Clean Airforce VA
NAACP Loudoun Branch
Native Plant Society Piedmont Chapter
New Virginia Majority Loudoun
Piedmont Environmental Council
Sierra Club Great Falls Group
Unitarian Universalist Church of Loudoun
Virginia Youth Climate Cooperative – Loudoun Chapter
Walk Loudoun

ENDNOTES

Demonstrated leadership on Resiliency and Sustainability issues through:
- Adopting the C-PACE program;
- Promoting a statewide study for an R-PACE program;
- Creating an Environmental Commission;
- Adding new Sustainability Policies in Loudoun 2019;
- Commissioning a feasibility study for Community Choice Aggregation to provide renewably generated electricity to Loudoun residents & businesses;
- Studying Agrivoltaics for Western Loudoun
- Adopting a Board Member Initiative to study benefits and points of concern related to Solar Arrays;
- Studying multi-modal connection to Metrorail.
https://www.hydropoint.com/blog/resilience-is-the-new-sustainability/
https://unu.edu/publications/articles/healthy-ecosystems-earth-people.html
https://www.hydropoint.com/blog/resilience-is-the-new-sustainability/
According to the article:
- https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2019/03/12/the-stunning-demand-for-power-from-loudoun-county.ht ml, Dominion Energy states that a typical data center consumes “about the same amount of power as 7,500 residential households.” Today, there are over 100 data centers in Loudoun County, using enough energy to power 750,000 homes.
https://www.eia.gov/state/data.php?sid=VA
Steve Walz’s presentation in Loudoun County Climate Action Webinar, https://vimeo.com/466563236
Lena Lewis, The Nature Conservancy, January 2021 https://tinyurl.com/dk9c3zdk,
https://loudounnow.com/2019/04/18/county-leaders-celebrate-but-loudoun-farmland-disappearing-quickly/
Loudoun County Stream Assessment: Results Report. Versar Inc and Biohabitats Inc. 2009
Natural, Environmental and Cultural Resources Report, Loudoun County Building and Development, 2009
https://www.mwcog.org/documents/2020/11/18/metropolitan-washington-2030-climate-and-energy-action-plan/
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/29/biden-infrastructure-bill-what-to-expect-on-climate-change.html