Land & Environment
Virginia DEQ cites Google's Project Peanut data center site for seven sediment runoff incidents
Partially confirmed
- Date
- 2026-09-29
- Location
- Chesterfield County, Virginia, United States
- Category
- Land & Environment
- FLOODROAD DAMAGEPOLLUTION
Evidence
- Did the harm happen?
- Under investigation
- Did the data center cause it?
- Probable
- AI connection
- No verified AI connection
- What was affected
- Surface water, Wildlife, Land
- Why
- DEQ Notice of Violation lists seven sediment runoff incidents from the construction site.
- Denials and outcomes
- A notice of violation is an allegation by the regulator; outcome pending.
Virginia DEQ issued a Notice of Violation to Peanut LLC, the Google data center project on Bermuda Hundred Road, on September 29, 2026, detailing seven sediment runoff incidents between December 2025 and August 2026. DEQ estimates they affected 7,735 linear feet of stream channel, 0.75 acres of forested wetlands and 0.65 acres of emergent wetlands, with sediment up to 12 inches deep in places, none of it authorized by the project's water permit. A notice of violation is a regulator's allegation; the outcome is pending.