Overview
- A deal announced Thursday between Amazon and Loudoun County ended the company’s site-plan for four data centers on the George Washington University Ashburn campus and stopped planned legal challenges to the project.
- Under the agreement called Project Potomac Promise Amazon will transfer roughly 25 acres to the county and contribute $5 million to the Loudoun County Affordable Housing Trust Fund while working to rezone the remaining land for mixed use.
- Amazon told officials it will stop requiring nondisclosure agreements for government partners on data-center projects and said the company is changing its approach to win community buy-in.
- Questions about resource impacts remain unresolved: Amazon says its data centers use water only on the hottest days and reported 2.5 billion gallons withdrawn in 2025, while public records reporting shows local governments promised at least 19.6 million gallons per day to the company.
- Local leaders are now weighing a temporary pause on new data-center applications and the case may influence how other U.S. counties set rules for large data infrastructure and community benefits.