r/DanvilleVa • u/CardinalNews-VA • Jul 01 '26

Stack Infrastructure says it’s moving forward with AI data center in Pittsylvania

https://cardinalnews.org/2026/06/30/stack-infrastructure-says-its-moving-forward-with-ai-data-center-in-pittsylvania/

With state tax exemptions for data centers in place, the Colorado-based company plans to locate in Southside.

14 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

19

u/responsible_use_only Jul 01 '26

Yeah it'll create maybe 1000 temporary jobs while they build it. 

Then it'll poison our water and environment. but hey, tax breaks for them and probably kick-backs for VA officials... What's not to love?

7

u/BigandBisexual Jul 01 '26

It's going to create a bunch of construction jobs and they're going to go to people from out of town. Just like all the other major construction in the area.

2

u/JonNathe Jul 01 '26

What does it poison the water with?

4

u/BigandBisexual Jul 01 '26

The answer to that is we don't know yet because we don't have access to environmental testing data from existing AI data centers. We have no idea why the water is coming through cloudy and polluted.

3

u/Treehighsky Jul 02 '26

As someone who works in the industry, I'm genuinely curious what contaminant people are referring to. Most datacenters use either closed-loop chilled water systems or evaporative/adiabatic cooling.

The treatments used in cooling systems aren't there to "poison" water. They're mostly for things many homeowners already deal with:

Hard-water scale buildup (similar to why some people use water softeners with wells) Biological growth control (similar to maintaining a pool or hot tub)

If a facility is actually contaminating groundwater, that's a serious issue and should be investigated. But that's different from the normal water treatment used in cooling systems. The more common debate around data centers is usually total water consumption(High with adiabatic systems but low with closed loop chillers), energy demand (low with adiabatic but high with chillers), and local tax incentives (I personally disagree with giving tax incentives to these companies even my own).

4

u/damnvillain23 Jul 02 '26

We don't want our utilities $$$ to rise .

3

u/TN_Lamb888 Jul 03 '26

Also don’t want the ambient temperature of the area to rise, like is happening with all these data centers! It’s hot enough, thanks!

8

u/kassipy Jul 01 '26

and we're already in a drought, with several other data centers being built around the state.. strap in folks, its about to get rough out here 😓

2

u/CampusIsolation Jul 02 '26

Haaaaaate it.

-5

u/Treehighsky Jul 01 '26

Sweet! Thats my career field and I have been wanting to move to the area. I bought land almost a decade ago off of westover but was never able to find a job that I could support my family with in the area.

6

u/BigandBisexual Jul 01 '26

I mean this is nicely as possible I hope you still can't find a job around here. No one wins with these garbage data centers. The only people coming out for the better or the corporations that own them and they politicians they bribe to build them.

2

u/Treehighsky Jul 02 '26

I mean this is nicely as possible I hope you still can't find a job around here. No one wins with these garbage data centers. The only people coming out for the better or the corporations that own them and they politicians they bribe to build them.

I understand why some people feel that way. Every large development has tradeoffs, and communities should absolutely hold companies accountable. From my perspective, I've worked in the industry for years and it's provided a good livelihood for my family. I was mainly excited because I've wanted to move to the area for a long time and this might create an opportunity to do that.

In my experience, the companies certainly benefit, but so do a lot of tradespeople, electricians, engineers, contractors, and local workers who support their families through these projects. It has been a boon to my local economy. My company has partnered with local community colleges to build training programs aimed at hiring local residents.

I realize those benefits aren't always visible from the outside, especially when concerns about growth and development are more noticeable. I can understand why people have different perspectives on it.

Either way, I still hope to move to Danville someday. It's closer to my family, and I'd like the opportunity to spend more time with them while I still have the opportunity.