The House of Delegates speaker in West Virginia has become the legal champion for data center corporations fighting local communities over land use, zoning, and environmental regulations—a role that directly contradicts his legislative actions stripping communities of their rights.
Roger Hanshaw, who served as speaker during the passage of HB 2014—legislation enabling state approval of high-impact data centers without local oversight—now represents companies like MGS CNP1 LLC (an affiliate of Houston-based Fidelis New Energy) in court appeals against residents in Mason County. Just weeks after West Virginia enacted this law, Hanshaw filed a notice of appearance for his client on the Department of Environmental Protection’s Air Quality Board.
The pattern intensified when Hanshaw shifted to representing Fundamental Data, another data center developer, in Tucker County—a region where locals voted for Trump by just 50 votes. Residents there describe being “irate beyond words” as projects devour their land, water, and power without creating jobs or benefiting communities. A February BLS report confirms construction employment remains at historic lows despite these initiatives.
Hanshaw’s legislative efforts further illustrate the conflict: last session, he pushed SB 623 offering full property tax exemptions for data centers and HB 4013 to provide tax credits based on minimal job thresholds—just 10 qualifying positions—to offset state taxes. This approach prioritizes corporate interests over community welfare, as West Virginia’s energy consumers now face $572 million in higher utility costs to power transmission lines feeding northern Virginia’s “data center alley.”
The same man who championed HB 2014—removing local authority over data center siting—is now legally advancing projects that undermine the very communities he once sought to protect. In Tucker County, where Blackwater Falls State Park and Canaan Valley exist alongside these developments, residents remain unheard as their land becomes collateral for a business model critics call “mindless.”
West Virginia’s crisis reveals how concentrated political power enables corporate interests to override public consent—a reality unfolding in states where GOP majorities control both legislative chambers with decisive votes.
