Five Ways HB 2014 Harms Communities, Local Governments, and Schools

This fact sheet was co-authored by Kelly Allen (WVCBP), Sean O’Leary (WVCBP), and Robert Bastress (John W. Fisher II Professor of Law Emeritus, West Virginia University College of Law)

Overview

During the 2025 West Virginia state legislative session, lawmakers passed HB 2014, the Certified Microgrid Program. While proponents focused on how the legislation would permit microgrids and seek to draw High Impact Data Centers (HIDCs) to West Virginia, the law has broad implications for local communities, municipal and county governments, and school districts in which microgrids or HIDCs locate.

READ THE FULL FACT SHEET.

While the legislation has several components, this piece will discuss two of them in detail:

• Its dramatic limitation of local legal jurisdiction of sites with microgrids or high impact data centers; and
• Its unconstitutional seizure and redistribution of locally levied tax dollars that would have otherwise gone to school districts and other public services to the state for use toward other priorities.

While many provisions of the law raise concerns for different parties, the taxation-related changes raise serious Constitutional questions, which will be outlined in this piece.

The law seeks to attract data centers by severely limiting local control.

Section 5B-2-21b mandates that High Impact Data Centers and microgrids “may not be subject to… the legal jurisdiction of the community or municipality in which the certified microgrid district or certified high impact data center is …located, except as specifically provided in this article.”

Explicit prohibitions of local governments in §5B-2-21b include any and all ordinances, regulations, or rules that would limit in any way the creation and operation of microgrids and HIDCs. Counties and municipalities are expressly prohibited from enforcing zoning, horticultural, noise, viewshed, lighting, development, or land use ordinances, restrictions, limitations, or approvals. They are also expressly forbidden from enforcing permitting and licensing requirements.

The prohibitions on zoning, land use, and other local governance raise serious concerns given the well-documented environmental and health impacts of data centers. In Tennessee, an xAI data center has caused major backlash from community members about noise and pollutant emissions exacerbating asthma and lung diseases. In Georgia, local officials are grappling with the enormous light pollution and water needs of data centers and how to balance those with drought planning.

In Tucker County, a permit application for a planned microgrid power plant, presumably intended to power a data center, outlines a plan to use gas-fueled turbines like those in Tennessee that are known for exacerbating respiratory health issues. Thirty million gallons of diesel would be kept on site as a backup power source in case of gas line interruptions, with gas leaks anticipated, per the application. 

The prohibition of local powers in light of inevitable health and environmental impacts raises many additional questions regarding enforcement and provision of public safety and public health measures including (but not limited to) the following unanswered questions:

• Can county law enforcement enforce laws at HIDC sites?
• Can county emergency responders dispatch services to HIDC sites?
• Can county health departments regulate sewage disposal or food service at HIDC sites?
• Can counties enforce permitting and enforcement of storm water runoff and other illicit discharges into surface or ground waters?
• What recourse exists for a county commission if the HIDC violates light restrictions in an airport zone?

Read the full fact sheet. Please note, there are other components of this law not explored in this paper including its impact on consumer energy prices and further environmental concerns.

If you are a community member or local official in an impacted county and want to discuss any of the policy or constitutional implications laid out above with more specificity, please reach out to Kelly Allen at kallen@wvpolicy.org.