A proposed data center project in Northern Virginia’s Prince William County is stoking debate between local residents, officials, and developers.

The implementation of Prince William Digital Gateway, one of the largest data center developments in the world, has been debated in rural Gainesville for years. When the Prince William Board of County Supervisors approved the project in 2023, 11 local residents, backed by the Oak Valley Homeowners’ Association, sought to block the development with lawsuits. A judge ruled last week that one lawsuit would be allowed to proceed, dealing an initial blow to the county and two multi-billion-dollar data center companies, Compass Datacenters and QTS, which had attempted to dismiss the case.