by Maria Russo, West Virginia Rivers Coalition
Delegate Evan Hansen attends a House Committee meeting on Energy and Public Works. Photographed by Perry Bennett for the West Virginia Legislature.
The House Committee on Energy and Public Works debated late into the evening on Tuesday, discussing House Bill 4983 (HB4983): “Authorizing the Department of Commerce to promulgate a legislative rule relating to certification of a microgrid district or certification as a high-impact data center.”
HB 4983 advances the rulemaking for 145 CSR 20, which defines the process for data center site certification, after the passage of HB 2014 during last year’s legislative session.
Our lobby team and partners worked diligently with legislators over the past week to introduce an amendment that would improve the rule by improving transparency on water use. The amendment would have required any data center seeking certification to disclose potential water use and impacts upfront. Multiple legislators in the meeting pointed out that this amendment would place the assessment burden on the shoulders of the applicant (developer), not state agencies.
While we were thrilled to see bipartisan leadership show up to represent our voices, we were disappointed that the amendment did not ultimately pass.
Delegate Kayla Young addresses the House on February 12, 2026. Photographed by Perry Bennett for the West Virginia Legislature.
We want to thank Delegate Jordan Bridges and Delegate Evan Hansen, who co-sponsored this amendment and used their voices to advocate for communities’ concerns regarding the lack of transparency in this process. Further, Delegate Kayla Young and Delegate David Green added fantastic points about the need for disclosure and how transparency builds trust among impacted communities.
The amendment ultimately failed 8–12 (with 5 members absent), but we want to recognize the delegates who supported stronger transparency and responsible water stewardship:
✔ Bridges (33)
✔ Hansen (79)
✔ Green (26)
✔ Young (56)
✔ Cannon (89)
✔ Ward (74)
✔ Moore (16)
✔ Sheedy (7)
If your delegate supported the amendment, consider sending a quick thank-you note for standing up for water use transparency.
This topic is of utmost importance because data centers use large volumes of water for cooling and operations, and some reports show the use of billions of gallons of freshwater annually.
We believe communities have the right to know how proposed data centers could affect local water resources, especially those without reliable access to water in their homes and in drought-prone regions of our state. In the last 18 months, West Virginia has faced some of the worst drought conditions in over 20 years, emphasizing the importance of these concerns.
It is up to our legislators to put forth legislation that supports responsible development and ensures the protection and preservation of our state’s long-term water security.
We were disappointed to see this amendment fail, and we will continue to push for common-sense measures to increase transparency across all our legislative priorities. We hope to see this bipartisan work to improve the bill continue, as the bill makes its way to the House Floor this coming week.
