Engage Louisa is a nonpartisan newsletter that keeps folks informed about Louisa County government. We believe our community is stronger and our government serves us better when we increase transparency, accessibility, and engagement.
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According to Louisa County’s website, there are no public meetings in the coming week, July 27 through August 1.
“I am very grateful that somebody’s actually listening and actually [looking beyond] Amazon telling them that all these things aren’t true.”
-Austin Newsom on the news that his lawsuit against Amazon Data Services related to the tech giant’s construction of a data center campus off Route 33 across the street from his home is moving forward in federal court. Read more about the suit in the article below.
A Louisa resident’s lawsuit alleging that Amazon Data Services’ (ADS) ongoing construction of a data center campus in central Louisa County has damaged his home and hurt his small business is moving forward in federal court.
U.S. District Court Judge Jasmine Yoon in early July denied a motion from ADS, an affiliate of Amazon Web Services, to dismiss the lawsuit. Austin Newsom and his business, Central VA Marine, filed the suit in Louisa County Circuit Court last August. It was subsequently moved to U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Charlottesville.
Yoon ruled that Newsom’s private nuisance claim can move forward. She dismissed on procedural grounds a separate claim seeking injunctive relief but noted that Newsom is free to pursue an injunction as relief for the alleged nuisance. Yoon’s ruling isn’t a decision on the merits of the case, only whether it can proceed.
The suit stems from Amazon’s construction of the Northeast Creek Technology Campus, the first phase of a sprawling data center complex that the tech giant is building on a 1,444-acre tract south of Jefferson Highway (Route 33) and east of Mt Airy Road (Route 644) near the Northeast Creek Reservoir. Amazon plans to build 10 data center buildings, three substations and ancillary structures in the project’s initial phase, which is expected to be complete by 2031, according to court filings.
Newsom, who lives directly across the street from the campus, alleges that, through its construction, Amazon has “obstructed and interfered” with “reasonable and comfortable use” of his property, including contaminating his water supply, causing structural damage to his home, subjecting him to loud noise, light pollution and dust, and driving customers away from his boat repair business, among other ills.
As part of the suit, Newsom asks the court to grant a preliminary injunction, which wouldn’t stop construction but, as litigation proceeds, would bar Amazon from “further invasion of [his] property rights.” The company “would be free to continue construction” but not in a way that “unreasonably interfere[s] with the use and enjoyment of Newsom’s property,” per a motion and supporting memorandum filed in May.
The suit also seeks at least $1 million plus interest and any other relief the court deems appropriate. A hearing on Newsom’s motion for a preliminary injunction is set for August 19.
The suit comes as a growing number of residents have soured on data center development, expressing concerns that the warehouse-like facilities, which power cloud-computing and artificial intelligence, are a threat to the local water supply, a strain on the power grid and a detriment to the community’s rural character due to noise and light pollution and an onslaught of heavy truck traffic on rural roads during years of construction.
County officials have maintained that the facilities are an economic boon, expected to generate millions of dollars in tax revenue annually on a relatively small footprint.
Amazon is building two data center complexes in Louisa—one off Route 33 across from Newsom’s home and the other on 150 acres adjacent to the North Anna Power Station near Lake Anna. EdgeCore Digital Infrastructure plans to develop a third campus at the 697-acre Shannon Hill Regional Business Park off Interstate 64 in south-central Louisa.
The suit
Newsom’s initial complaint describes Amazon’s construction of its data center campus as an “ongoing nuisance,” claiming it’s caused physical damage to his home, subjected him to noise, light pollution and dust, impacted his mental health and hurt his boat repair business.
The complaint alleges that excavation, via heavy equipment, has physically damaged Newsom’s property. Specifically, it claims that heavy construction has caused vibrations that cracked Newsom’s home; disrupted “natural drainage” leading to flooding in a nearby roadway; and spewed dust and debris, negatively impacting air quality.
The complaint also claims that, shortly after construction started at the campus in March 2025, Newsom “began experiencing issues with the water at his house, which had previously not existed.”
“Namely, the water will turn brown intermittently. Mr. Newsom reasonably fears for his health and is reluctant to drink the water at his home,” the complaint says.
The complaint further contends that construction-related vehicles traveling to and from the campus have damaged roads, created safety hazards and impeded access to Newsom’s property, “frequently obstruct[ing] the roadway.”
Newsom has “suffered from a barrage of noise and light pollution,” according to the complaint, as “extraordinarily loud” noise emanates from the construction site at hours not permitted by county code and “flashing blue lights are nearly continuously displayed,” including at night.
The complaint claims that Amazon “has flouted Louisa County Code in its construction” of the data center campus, pointing specifically to a provision in the county’s noise ordinance, which prohibits noise related to construction activity from exceeding certain limits at the property line “from sunset until 7:00 a.m., except in the case of emergency,” and “from sunset to 6:00 a.m.” in July, August and September.
Taken together, the suit contends that the “constant nuisance” created by the construction site has taken a toll on Newsom’s mental health. It also claims that it’s devalued his property.
Beyond those alleged impacts, the suit contends that Central VA Marine, a boat repair business that Newsom owns with a partner, has lost customers because of Amazon’s construction activities. Newsom operates the business out of a shop adjacent to his home.
According to court filings, the business caters to a clientele of high-end recreation boat owners “that expect a clean and professional environment for the care of their vehicles.” Instead, the suit alleges, “dust and din” from the data center campus have turned the shop into a “chaotic workplace” and made “customer service and boat repair nearly impossible.” On multiple occasions, the suit claims, customers towing boats to and from Newsom’s property have nearly been involved in accidents.
“In fact, several of Central VA Marine’s customers have stated that they will not return to have their boats serviced at the Newsom property until construction of the Northeast Creek Data Center is complete, directly and severely impacting Mr. Newsom and his business,” the complaint says.
Amazon asked the court to dismiss the case, arguing Newsom failed “to state a claim upon which relief can be granted,” per Yoon’s 24-page opinion. The company contended, in part, that Newsom didn’t back up his claims with enough facts to plausibly infer that its activities had endangered his health or unreasonably interfered with the use of his property. But Yoon ruled that Newsom had sufficiently met the standard to bring a private nuisance suit.
“In the aggregate, the allegations about the various interferences are enough to plausibly infer that Amazon’s Data Center activity obstructs Plaintiffs’ reasonable and comfortable use of the Newsom Property,” Yoon wrote in the July 10 opinion.
In an interview last Friday, Newsom said that he’s grateful the case is moving forward.
“I am very grateful that somebody’s actually listening and actually [looking beyond] Amazon telling them that all these things aren’t true,” Newsom said.
Raising concerns in Louisa County and beyond
Newsom has been a critic of Amazon’s project over the last few months, sharing his story on social media and with several media outlets. In a story on WTVR in May, Newsom complained of constant noise from dump trucks traveling to and from the campus, and dust from the construction site blanketing his property. The story showed Newsom on his front lawn with a decibel meter measuring the roar of trucks as they continually pass his home.
Newsom and his family have also spoken out on Facebook, posting a video of muddy water running from a faucet, which they contend is a consequence of the heavy construction across the street.
Newsom’s plight has caught the attention of Erin Brockovich, an environmental and consumer activist made famous more than three decades ago when Julia Roberts portrayed her in an Academy Award-winning film bearing her name.
Newsom recently appeared on a livestream with Brockovich where he talked about his experience living across the street from a massive data center construction site and his efforts to get more information about the project from Louisa County, in part, through a Freedom of Information Act request.
In a mid-July Facebook post, Newsom said that, for over a year, he’s repeatedly raised concerns to the county about Amazon’s activity with the belief that he’d get a “fair resolution.” But he said his complaints have been “ignored and dismissed,” prompting him to share his story.
“I believe the residents of Louisa County and the Commonwealth of Virginia deserve to hear my experience firsthand and to ask their own questions about what is happening. I encourage everyone to look at the facts, review the public records, and come to their own conclusions rather than relying solely on what they are told,” Newsom said.
Newsom said on Friday that he’s reached out to county officials on numerous occasions to lodge complaints about the construction site, including Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams, who represents the area. But, he said, those conversations haven't led to meaningful action.
“I just got a bunch of run-around, a lot of excuses, and not one resolution to anything,” Newsom said, noting that his concerns about dust had prompted the county to request more street sweepers, but that didn’t resolve the problem.
Adams said in a brief interview on Friday that he’s communicated with Newsom and his wife multiple times and worked to remedy or, at least, mitigate the impacts of the project.
He shared an email chain in which he reached out to Clark Construction, the general contractor for the campus, requesting that they deploy a water truck to address a complaint from Newsom about dust as well as a Facebook exchange in which he said he’d speak with Amazon and Clark about loud music emanating from the site early in the morning and Newsom’s wife thanked him.
Adams also said that he’d rectified Newsom’s concern about a bright light on Amazon’s property shining into a bedroom in his home.
“I’ve always tried to be responsive, just as I have [with] any constituent. I have a lot of empathy when something’s negatively impacting any of my constituents…I know the issue with the light in their child’s bedroom and the loud music that was coming from some construction workers was resolved because I helped resolve it. I know that the dust issue has certainly been mitigated because I helped get that mitigated with the water [truck],” Adams said.
Regarding Newsom’s concerns about his drinking water, Adams said that he doesn’t know what the issues are with the well, but he’d recommended that Newsom contact the Virginia Department of Health, which regulates public and private drinking water sources.
In an email on Friday, Louisa County said it has fielded complaints about noise and dust from the data center campus and “followed up on those concerns with the appropriate parties.” To date, the county said, it hasn’t taken any enforcement action.
“The County will continue to review specific complaints and take appropriate action if a violation of an applicable ordinance is identified. The County does not intend to comment on the merits of the pending litigation,” Deputy County Administrator Chris Coon said.
After just 10 months on the job, Louisa Town Manager Stuart Turille has resigned, effective immediately.
In a resignation letter submitted to the town last Wednesday (July 22), Turille didn’t provide any reason for his departure. He said he’d seen “much growth” in the town during his tenure, “particularly in the morale and spirit of the Town staff and the community.”
“It is my sincere hope and belief that I have contributed to that growth, in some small way, and positioned the organization and Town for all the future success I am sure lies ahead,” Turille said.
In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, the Town of Louisa said that Turille is “no longer serving in the role of Town Manager” and wished him “all the best in his future endeavors.”
Turille’s departure comes the day after Louisa’s town council convened for its July meeting. Turille was in attendance for most of the meeting before council convened in closed session, in part, to discuss “personnel matters regarding performance, evaluation or job assignments of specific employees,” according to a disclosure required by Virginia’s open meeting law.
When members emerged from closed session, Turille didn’t rejoin the meeting. Council subsequently voted 5-0 to hire the Berkley Group, a Bridgewater-based local government consulting firm, to assist the town in finding an interim town manager.
In the absence of a town manager, Louisa’s charter tasks the mayor with ensuring that the manager’s duties are carried out “if the Town Council has not acted otherwise.”
“The Town Council remains committed to ensuring a smooth transition and the continued delivery of quality services to the residents and businesses of the Town of Louisa. Information regarding interim administrative leadership and the process for selecting a new Town Manager will be shared as it becomes available,” the town said in its statement.
Council hired Turille as town manager last September, touting his deep experience in local government. He replaced interim Town Manager Craig Buckley, who served for about nine months, following the resignation of former Town Manager Liz Nelson in late 2024.
Beyond his brief tenure in Louisa, Turille made quick exits from his three previous jobs, according to media reports. He served for just eight months as manager of the City of Southport in North Carolina before resigning and immediately leaving his post. He led Pittsylvania County as county administrator for just over a year before stepping down with the board of supervisors waiving the 30-day notice required by his contract. He served as manager of the City of Petersburg for nine months, resigning a week after city council placed him on administrative leave for reasons that remain unclear.
When asked about his employment history after he took the job in Louisa, Turille suggested that he didn’t mesh with leadership in some of his previous positions because, as he put it, he’s interested in making things better, “not just maintain[ing] the status quo.”
The town has seen significant staff turnover over the last couple years. After Nelson’s departure in late 2024, it lost its clerk and treasurer and struggled to share basic updates on town government, including minutes from council meetings. The dearth of public information drew criticism from some community members, who questioned the town’s transparency.
Just prior to bringing on Turille, council hired a new clerk and treasurer. Over the last year, it’s launched a new website and an app and started posting video of council meetings.
By Roxie Pearl Beebe-Center
Residents opposed to Valley Link Transmission Company’s proposed Joshua Falls to Yeat transmission line have launched a new effort to protest the project—the Red Ribbon Campaign.
The brainchild of long-time Louisa residents Amy Seay, Helene Purcell and Robin Horne, the campaign urges folks in Louisa County and beyond to fly red ribbons on fenceposts, mailboxes, front doors, and in shop windows in the hope that the colorful protest will raise awareness about the proposed 765-kilovolt (kV) transmission line and demonstrate community disapproval of the project. The ribbons also act as a display of solidarity across the nine counties that could be impacted if state regulators give the project a green light.
Why red ribbons? The color, like the campaign, sends a simple message—stop. Just as red road signs and traffic lights signal drivers to stop, red ribbons across Central Virginia urge Dominion Energy and the project’s other developers to halt their plans for the overhead transmission line.
Horne has called Louisa home for “over 30 years” and is “afraid that these lines are going to destroy [the county].”
The Red Ribbon Campaign’s organizers are part of a larger coalition of residents working to block the line. The group will hold a community meeting this Tuesday, July 28, at Moss-Nuckols Elementary School at 6 pm to share information about what citizens can do to fight the project.
The colossal power line, rolled out in February, is slated to run approximately 115 miles across the rural Virginia Piedmont on one of multiple proposed routes. Valley Link, the developer, is a partnership between Dominion Energy, Transource and FirstEnergy Transmission.
Valley Link has said the line is necessary to meet the growing demand for power across the region, driven largely by data center development. The company says on its website that it aims “to build the infrastructure that keeps your lights on and powers the future while keeping bills as low as possible.”
The power line would connect planned substations in Culpeper County at its northern end and Campbell County at its southern end. In Campbell, it would link to an existing 765-kV line, channeling power generated in the Ohio River Valley. The proposed venture has an estimated cost of at least $1 billion, according to the company.
The physical cost of the transmission line would be immense, with 200-foot rights of way along its route and four or five 150-to-175-foot-tall steel towers erected every mile.
Louisa County residents have expressed concern about the scar the project could carve across the region, as well as the potential implications for property values, personal health, and the environment. To many, such a large project threatens to destroy the sanctity of rural land and rural life. Some have pressed Valley Link to underground the line.
The project is still in the planning stages, and Valley Link intends to approach Virginia’s State Corporation Commission (SCC) with an official proposal later this year. In a letter to potentially impacted residents shared earlier this month, Valley Link said it will present its preferred route and any proposed alternatives at a virtual meeting this fall.
The company said residents would receive postcards with information about the meeting. The SCC’s deliberation process is anticipated to take about a year, and, if approved, the transmission line would aim to power up in 2029.
Valley Link’s forthcoming application to the commission will be discussed at Tuesday’s meeting. Attendees will have an opportunity to sign a petition to present to the SCC, which already boasts over 4,000 signatures; sign letters to Governor Abigail Spanberger; and, of course, collect red ribbons for display.
The event will feature several speakers, including Louisa County Board of Supervisors Chair Duane Adams; Mike Regan, an Orange County resident who has led advocacy efforts against the project; and Theodora M. Scarato, director of the Electromagnetic Fields [EMF] Program at Environmental Health Sciences and Special Expert to the International Commission on the Biological Effects of Electromagnetic Fields.
Scarato will address community concerns about the impact of EMF and magnetic fields on health and share her research on their effects on wellbeing and the environment. Throughout her career, Scarato has worked to fortify government policy on cell tower and cell phone radiation exposure limits.
Organizers expect that Scarato will provide a perspective on the ecological and biological effects of transmission lines, which differs from that voiced by Valley Link. On its website, the company says that “scientists across the globe have studied the potential health impacts of EMF since the 1970s and found no cause-and-effect link between EMF exposure from power lines and negative health impacts.”
For the founders of the Red Ribbon Campaign, the potential impact of the Joshua Falls to Yeat line is personal. An earlier transmission line proposal was set to run through Amy Seay’s family farm in Fluvanna County. Her daughter and grandchildren are the fourth and fifth generation to live and farm the land now threatened by Valley Link. Seay hopes that the Red Ribbon campaign will ensure that this legacy won’t be splintered.
“One ribbon might not seem significant, but when hundreds of people are tying one to a mailbox, their fence, their gate, so forth and so on, it becomes a visible reminder that communities are just united in this, and I think that’s really the power of a grassroots movement,” Seay said.
To learn more about The Red Ribbon Campaign and the proposed Valley Link transmission line, check out Tuesday’s meeting at Moss-Nuckols Elementary School, 2055 Courthouse Road, Louisa, at 6 pm.
A Louisa County resident and summer correspondent for Engage Louisa, Roxie Pearl Beebe-Center is a rising fourth-year student at the University of Glasgow where she’s studying English literature and theology.
Click here for contact information for the Louisa County Board of Supervisors.
Find agendas and minutes from previous Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission meetings as well as archived recordings here.
Click here for contact information for the Louisa County School Board.
Click here for minutes and agendas for School Board meetings. Click here for archived video.
Click here to access past editions of Engage Louisa.
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