We must bring real wisdom to the building of data centers in our communities.
In this moment, the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is driving a corporate building spree in the region our congregations serve.
Already, over 600 “hyperscale” data centers have been built across Virginia and more are proposed for Maryland: massive, loud server warehouses that occupy acres of land and run day and night, making obscene demands on our energy grid and polluting entire communities’ air and water. And too often, the cost of all this infrastructure is borne by us on our energy bills. (See video here from More Perfect Union.)
Neighbors in Virginia and across the country can testify that data centers are often sited in overburdened and underserved Black, brown, and lower-income communities. Since existing laws are generally inadequate to restrict data center development, many of these facilities can get permitted without any requirement to seek community input from those who will be most impacted. And communities that already are being made sick by pollution from clusters of fossil fuel facilities therefore have precisely the kind of energy infrastructure in place that attracts data centers, compounding environmental injustice.
While the prospect of corporate profits from the AI “boom” is imposing one data center proposal after another onto our region, every local community has grassroots power to weigh in on how their land, water, and energy are used.
Data center expansion is driven by AI, but we are driven by something else: our ancient sacred traditions – real human wisdom – about living well in community and caring for each other and for the land and water we share.
Real Wisdom Decides: Our Faith Communities Facing Data Centers, Together
Tuesday, August 11th from 7-9 PM
Online | REGISTER HERE
Join us and invite your congregation to this webinar to learn about the data center threat to our communities, reflect on our how we are called to respond, and connect (in place-based breakout groups) with grassroots leaders in data center fights in your community.
Learn & Speak Out In Your Congregation
Invite your congregation to learn more about data centers, to speak out for pending legislation in Maryland and Virginia with downloadable photo petition signs, and to make thoughtful decisions about their own uses of AI. (See snapshots of our emergent faithful response to data centers.)
Is a new or expanded hyperscale data center coming to your community? Your congregation can join with neighbors to bring wise-heartedness to data center debates already underway in Baltimore City, and in Baltimore, Calvert, Caroline, Charles, Frederick, Montgomery, and Prince George’s counties.
Our Faith Traditions Respond
see more
Participate:
WEBINAR: Let’s Talk About Energy – Affordability, Clean Energy, and Data Centers
Tuesday, July 21 @ 2PM
Online | Register Here
Join this webinar from Catholic Climate Covenant for a discussion on the environmental and economic impact of data centers as well as how governments and Catholic churches can respond and transition to clean energy.
Watch:
- IPL-DMV’s Robin Lewis speaks to Catholic Climate Covenant – The Growing Impacts of Data Centers on Our Neighbors and God’s Creation
- United Methodist Creation Justice Movement’s June 2026 Movement Café: Energy Impacts of Data Centers
Read:
On May 25th, 2026, Pope Leo XVI’s published his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas (or Magnificent Humanity) focusing on AI ethics and centering humanity in a world of technological advancement. Visit this page from Catholic Climate Covenant for a summary of the encyclical, a pastoral kit and many other resources.
- A Jewish Case for AI work exemptions – Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg
- You Can Now Get a Religious Exemption From Using AI at Work (featuring a Unitarian Universalist) – Futurism
- The ethical risks of using AI as a Muslim – Athan Academy
Make More Mindful Use of AI
It’s important to remember that we as human beings and our own wise hearts should be deciding how we use technology. Explore some ways to make choices about how much you engage AI in your daily life.
Take Action on Data Centers
Nationwide
Amidst a growing number of proposed state moratorium bills pausing data center development across the country, Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced an AI Data Center Moratorium Act in the US Congress in March.
Keep track of data centers: Advocate Erin Brockovich launched this crowdsourced mapping initiative showing projects operational, under construction, proposed, and community reported.
In Maryland
Maryland congregations are coming together through Interfaith Power & Light (DC.MD.NoVA) to join the Maryland Data Center Reform Coalition in speaking out for strong policies that hold data centers to high standards of community input and responsible energy usage.
Our voices are urgently needed: A 2025 report found that data centers are currently costing customers on Maryland’s regional grid over $9 billion in increased energy costs annually. The two dozen tech companies promoting data centers to our legislators through the Maryland Tech Council may be loud, but our wise hearts, the real human wisdom of those most impacted, must prevail.
In December 2025, the Maryland General Assembly overrode Governor Wes Moore’s veto of a data center study bill passed during the previous legislative session. The results of the study are to be released in September 2026. Several pieces of data center legislation passed during the 2026 state legislative session.
Listen: State Senator Katie Fry Hester discusses data center policy on the Maryland Energy Talk podcast
In Virginia
Our neighbors in Northern Virginia have been on the front lines as the Commonwealth has become the world’s largest data center market over the past few years, and their struggle holds lessons for all of us. Northern Virginia congregations are working with our partners at Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions (FACS) and Virginia Interfaith Power & Light in supporting legislation to insist that new data centers be better neighbors.
In late June 2026, the Virginia General Assembly passed a two-year budget that included a number of new regulations on data centers — a hotly debated topic during negotiations. This includes a new energy consumption tax that could generate a maximum of $600 million a year, but it is little offset for the nearly $2 billion a report from Good Jobs First estimates the state would lose from unchanged tax incentives in the 2025 fiscal year alone. Other legislation requires the Department of Environmental Quality to create and enforce noise level standards alongside heightened water use oversight in to-be-determined “scarcity areas.” A previous version of the budget bill included a more stringent provision prohibiting all cooling systems that evaporate used water in these selected locations, but a milder version pushed by Governor Abigail Spanberger passed. Read more here.
Learn:
- The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality is monitoring the air around data centers
- Data Center reform legislation in the 2026 session and how each bill fared
Bring Real Wisdom to Data Center Conversations in your Community
Your neighbors are coming together to respond to data center proposals for communities across Maryland, as are communities across the country (see this Data Center Site Fight Guide, a living document from the Data Center Working Group, and RMI’s Community Guide One-Pager).
Baltimore City
In Baltimore City, we’re following the lead of Sacred Parks and Waterways — a grassroots group protesting the pollution and tree removals brought by Johns Hopkins’ proposed Data Science and AI (DSAI) Institute. (In addition, a transmission line BGE proposed for Port Covington at the Baltimore Peninsula raised community concern that the infrastructure would not only tear up the streets and raise bills but might also enable data center development there. Outcry from city and state legislators and residents prompted BGE to pause the project on March 4, 2026.)
In late March, Council President Zeke Cohen introduced a one-year moratorium on data center development in the Baltimore City Council, which advanced out of the Land Use & Transportation Committee on May 7, 2026. During this hearing, IPL-DMV’s Anjali Gulati, a Baltimore City resident, testified to the committee pushing for the Johns Hopkins data center to be included in this moratorium (click on the video to see her testimony). However, the project is not subject to this pause, and the Maryland Board of Public Works approved over $9 million in state funding to its construction. The moratorium passed by a full council vote just days later on May 11.
Learn:
- Baltimore Brew: Despite protests, poetry and a cease-and-desist letter, Hopkins cuts down city trees for AI Institute
- Baltimore Peninsula considering data centers
Baltimore County
Security Land and Development LP had proposed a data center for Woodlawn, seeking to begin development as soon as summer 2026, until the Baltimore County Council passed a moratorium on data center permits in February that will delay for at least a year.
Watch: Baltimore County Planning Department’s Data Center Study Meeting (March 2026), featuring a number of the most common pro-data center arguments, made by union representatives and a slide presentation by the Maryland Tech Council’s Kelly Schultz
Connect: Stop Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project (StopMPRP)
The Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project, which some landowners describe as an “extension cord” for the data centers in Northern Virginia, would place a 67-mile transmission line across three Maryland counties — Baltimore, Frederick and Carroll, and faces tremendous opposition from impacted farmers.
Calvert County
In March 2025, the Calvert County commissioners adopted a zoning text amendment regulating where data centers are permitted. Records obtained by Informed St Mary’s showed that that same month, County Commission President Earl “Buddy” Hance signed a nondisclosure agreement related to a potential project, and found reference to a pending permit for a “Minut Developers LLC – Data Center” at 1650 Calvert Cliffs Parkway in Lusby.
In late February 2026, Amazon Web Services posted a job ad on LinkedIn seeking a “senior construction manager” for building a data center in Lusby, which was widely shared on social media, driving concern among residents that new data centers adjacent to the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant and 2.5 miles north of Southern Middle School were already a done deal.
In late March, Amazon Web Services shared a concept plan at a community meeting, which envisions up to eight data centers to the south and west area of the nuclear plant. The property is already zoned for heavy industry use, and would not need to be rezoned for the project to proceed.
Separately, real estate firm Natelli Holdings is proposing a data center on 133 acres of County land south of the potential AWS campus, at 10475, 10485, & 10495 Solomons Island Road.
The County Council considered a two-year data center moratorium and voted it down.
According to the County’s website, “government departments and other reviewing agencies completed the 1st round review of the Concept Site Plan and review comments were provided to the applicant on July 13, 2026.”
Diana Mendez-Smith, Ethan Cox, and neighbors protest proposed data centers in Calvert County in April 2026. (Photo: Jeff Dixon)
Connect:
- Join Stop Data Centers in Calvert Facebook Group
- Facebook group Southern MD Data Centers Watch posts news and updates on data center developments across Calvert, Charles, Prince George’s, and St. Mary’s Counties.
Take Action:
- Sign this Change.org petition in support of a moratorium. They are looking for 10,000 signatures by 6/16 and are just over a thousand away!
- Other grassroots petitions from Calvert County residents opposing data centers include this Care2 and this unrelated campaign on Change.org. Share your concerns about data centers on this survey from Keep Calvert County.
Caroline County
On June 26th, 2026, the Town of Federalsburg said in a statement that town and Caroline County officials were “exploring” data center development. While they assert no “official discussions” have taken place, The Star Democrat reports that “According to Federalsburg Mayor Kim Abner, discussions for a potential data center have taken place with David Wright of Landwright Power Strategies, based in Washington state, according to his LinkedIn.”
On July 13th, the town, Maryland Tech Council (a pro-data-center trade association) and project developers hosted a public meeting at Federalsburg Elementary School. The three hour event featured slide presentations by the Tech Council and developer David Wright to the hundreds of attendees, followed an often contentious question and answer session. “Why we need data centers ” at one point was projected on the gymnasium screen. The developer states the campus dubbed the “Fieldstone Technology Center” is still in early planning and has not been formally proposed or approved by the City of Federalsburg. Council Member Ian Ferguson opposes the plan stating in part to WBOC, “Too many examples lay before us of communities that have had their resources extracted, their lands compromised, and their futures cut short by the promises of wildly inflated benefits.”
Carroll County
The Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project, which some landowners describe as an “extension cord” for the data centers in Northern Virginia, would place a 67-mile transmission line across three Maryland counties — Baltimore, Frederick and Carroll, and faces tremendous opposition from impacted farmers.
A data center moratorium was recently approved by the Board of County Commissioners.
Connect: Stop Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project (StopMPRP)
Charles County
On Feb. 2, 2026, TeraWulf Inc. announced it had acquired the Morgantown Generating Station in Newberg. (Several groups have called on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reject the purchase, though, because TeraWulf failed to disclose Google’s 14% ownership stake in the company.) While no specific development plans have been announced, TeraWulf develops and operates data centers and the site includes about 250 acres and the capacity for additional energy generation, raising the possibility that a data center could co-locate with the power plant. Learn more here about the data center proposed for the Morgantown Generation Station.
On March 26th, advocates rallied in Annapolis to oppose Governor Moore’s administration, and the Maryland Department of the Environment expediting a massive gas-burning power plant to power anticipated Charles County data centers. (Watch here.)
A proposed zoning text amendment related to data centers was drafted by the Planning Commission, which will make a recommendation to the County Commissioners. An amended version of this Zoning Text Amendment (numbered #25-187) was drafted after previous public comment, which No Data Centers Charles County says still does not address:
- “Regulating the data centers electricity and water uses.
- Environmental protections against noise, air, or water pollution
- Bringing relief to residents with skyrocketing utility costs due to data centers outside of our county.”
On June 1st, the Planning Commission held a hearing on this amended Zoning Text Amendment where dozens of concerned neighbors packed the room and spoke out on data centers. Preceding the hearing, No Data Centers Charles County hosted a rally outside the County Government Building in La Plata featuring speeches from leaders and friends, including IPL-DMV’s own Anjali Gulati and Dr. Sacoby Wilson of CEEJH.
Connect: No Data Centers Charles County is a grassroots coalition of community groups calling for a moratorium.
Connect: Facebook group Southern MD Data Centers Watch posts news and updates on data center developments across Calvert, Charles, Prince George’s, and St. Mary’s Counties.
Frederick County
In late December 2025, against the Planning Commission’s recommendations and public outcry, the County Council voted to allow for data center expansion beyond the original EastAlco Data Center Complex, including by rezoning land currently designated as Priority Preservation Areas and Rural Legacy Areas.
The Frederick County Data Center Referendum Committee, led by Envision Frederick, collected signatures for a referendum on the ballot that “would give residents the opportunity to weigh in before additional expansion occurs and before the state has completed comprehensive studies on the environmental, energy, and economic impacts of data centers.”
In March 2026, a Frederick County official told a Monocacy River advisory commission to cancel a public discussion about data center impacts on waterways which had been planned for April.
On April 3rd, the Board of Elections validated the Data Center referendum to be placed on the ballot, with 21,029 validated signatures.
“I expect most county residents don’t fully appreciate yet what sort of money developers and data center interests are going to dump into an all out campaign to convince voters here that they are the best thing that ever happened to Frederick County,” writes community activist Kai Hagen. “It will … include highly polished and slick mailers to all of us. It will be a massively expensive and one-sided messaging blitz unlike anything we’ve ever experienced here.
“And the opposing point of view, that says we should let the current data centers in the hopper get substantially built out, and the real impacts be properly evaluated before approving additional expansion … will have to come from a broad and diverse collection of people and organizations that will not have even a tiny fraction of money that will be spent by the data center interests.
“This a David vs. Goliath fight ahead, folks. But some good news is that, across the country … the Davids have been winning these fights against the Goliaths. And we can win, too.”
On April 10th, the developer behind the proposed project, Quantum Maryland LLC, filed a lawsuit to challenge the Board of Elections’ certification of the referendum votes. On June 30th, the Supreme Court of Maryland upheld the Frederick County Circuit Court’s decision to invalidate the referendum and preventing inclusion in the November ballot.
A day later on July 1st, County Executive Jessica Fitzwater announced an executive order halting all data center applications through the end of 2026. However, existing projects already in the pipeline will continue moving through their approvals.
Connect:
- Join the conversation on the Frederick County Data Center Referendum Committee group on Facebook.
- Stop Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project (StopMPRP)
- The Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project, which some landowners describe as an “extension cord” for the data centers in Northern Virginia, would place a 67-mile transmission line across three Maryland counties — Baltimore, Frederick and Carroll, and faces tremendous opposition from impacted farmers.
Collecting referendum signatures at Beyond Comics in Frederick.
Harford County
Concurrent to reports of data center development talks at Mountain Branch Golf Course in Joppa, Councilmember Jacob Bennett proposed a 90-day moratorium during an April 21 Harford County Council meeting. In early May 2026, following concerns from the community and Harford County Executive Bob Cassilly on the short length of the pause, he introduced legislation to permanently ban data centers in the County. In a packed hearing room on May 19, the County Council simultaneously approved amendments to Executive Cassilly’s ban, while throwing out Cm. Bennett’s 90-day pause. Read here WMAR-2’s story on the hearing and the community’s testimonies.
During a packed public hearing on June 9th, the Council passed County Executive Cassilly’s outright data center ban, becoming the first county in Maryland to do so.
Connect: Our Land. Our Home. Our Harford. is leading the charge in advocating for strong data center legislation in the County. Visit their website and join their group on Facebook to keep updated on news and actions.
Howard County
In early May 2026, councilwoman Christiana Rigby introduced Council Bill 31-2026, “Strategic Moratorium for Assessing Responsible Technology” or S.M.A.R.T. Siting bill. This bill will pause any potential data center development for 17 months (November 2027) while a task force conducts a study and issues a report on how the facilities should be defined, their implication for public health and safety and provides recommendations. Learn more about the proposal here. There are no publicly known hyperscale data center proposals in the county.
On May 18th, a public hearing on this bill took place to overwhelmingly favorable comments, and the Council unanimously voted to pass it just two weeks later on June 1st.
Montgomery County
Since the summer of August 2024, Terra Innovations has been seeking to develop a data center in Dickerson on the site of a former coal-fired power plant, with Sugarloaf Citizens Association and Montgomery County Countryside Alliance tracking closely. Watch this webinar from The Climate Mobilization MoCo’s webinar to learn more about the proposal.
County Executive Marc Elrich issued draft data center recommendations in mid-January, to which the county’s own Climate, Energy, and Air Quality Advisory Committee has responded, as has the Montgomery County Climate Coalition, which is calling for “an immediate moratorium on permitting for data centers while these policies are discussed and adopted in a transparent process with stakeholders.”
Council members have introduced a year-long task force which did not get out of committee, and a zoning measure which the council is likely to take up over the summer. On March 13th, all three major candidates for county executive pledged to support only data centers powered by 100% clean energy. Councilmembers Evan Glass and Will Jawando have introduced competing data center moratoria — Cm. Glass’ lasting six months and Cm. Jawando’s expiring after two years. However, Cm. Glass’ shorter pause will NOT halt the Dickerson proposal.
Take Action:
Council Committee Worksessions on Moratoria & Zoning Text Amendment
Wednesday, July 22
9:30am: Moratoria Worksession & Vote in Economic Development (ECON) Committee
1:30pm: Zoning Text Amendment Worksession in Planning, Housing & Parks (PHP) Committee
Stella B. Werner Council Office Building, 100 Maryland Avenue, Rockville, Maryland 20850 – 3rd floor Council Hearing Room
On July 15th, Council President Natali Fani-González, Vice President Marilyn Balcombe and Councilmember Laurie-Anne Sayles (co-sponsors of Zoning Text Amendment (ZTA) 26-01 on data centers) released a statement announcing a stronger and expedited approach to regulating data centers in Montgomery County.
On July 22nd starting at 9:30am, the Economic Development (ECON) Committee will hold a worksession on both Cm. Evan Glass’ six-month and Cm. Will Jawando’s two-year moratoriums. If the committee favors one of the bills, it will proceed to full Council for a worksession and action on July 28th.
Later in the day at 1:30pm, the Planning, Housing and Parks (PHP) Committee will review the data center Zoning Text Amendment, and will amend it to prohibit data center use in every zone in the county — which is a striking departure from previous versions which allowed them in all industrial zones. The co-sponsors say this ZTA would serve as a bridge between the current zoning ordinance and the future ZTA that will comprehensively address all the complex issues surrounding these developments.
Please join us in person at these committee worksessions on July 22 with signs to show your support to the 2-year moratorium and to request the Council members to amend ZTA 26-01 to prohibit data center use in every zone in the county! If you are not able to join us in person, you can watch both worksessions here.
Join Climate Coalition Montgomery County’s action to email the County Executive and your Councilmembers asking them to take strong action on data centers!
Watch:
Testimony
- IPL-DMV Program Associate Ethan Lucas testifies at 6/16/26 moratoria hearing
- IPL-DMV’s Director Joelle Novey, of Silver Spring, at the County Executive’s forum and at the 100% clean energy pledge rally
- IPL-DMV’s Ignatian Volunteer, John Hisle of Chevy Chase, testifies at Montgomery County Council in support of a task force
From: Baltimore Banner: Montgomery County executive eyes 6-month data center moratorium, by Jack Hogan 2/4/26 (photo: Valerie Plesch)
Prince George's County
At least two data centers are proposed, one in Landover and one at the former Six Flags site. A County Council resolution in February 2025 established a Data Center Task Force, and a moratorium on data center permits awaiting the task force’s report. Just before the report was released in late 2025, 30 county organizations and community leaders sent the council a letter, asking for “a comprehensive, independent, science-based review must be undertaken to evaluate all viable scenarios for data center development” and requesting that the moratorium be extended.
On July 7th, 2026, the Council approved a two-year moratorium. This came days after County Executive Aisha Braveboy’s September 2025 executive order pausing data center development expired at the end of June 2026.
Take Action:
Planning Board Hearing on Data Center Zoning Bill
Thursday, July 23 @ 10am
M-NCPPC, Parks and Recreation Administration Building (Auditorium) 6600 Kenilworth Avenue, Riverdale, MD 20737 or online
On July 23rd at 10:00am, the Prince George’s Planning Board will take up and hear public comment on zoning legislation introduced by Council Member Wanika Fisher (LDR-155-2026) that will permit data center development “by right” in areas zoned as Agricultural Residential or Rural Estate. The Planning Board’s legislative staff recommends the Board oppose the bill. Sign up here by 12:00pm on Tuesday, July 21st to speak on this bill in person or virtually.
Read:
Report from Data Center Task Force – “Qualified Data Centers in Prince George’s County”
Counter report from CEEJH & NAACP – The People’s Report: A Gap Analysis of Data Center Infrastructure in Prince George’s County, Maryland
Data centers spark ‘fight for the soul’ of a mostly Black MD county
Connect: Facebook group Southern MD Data Centers Watch posts news and updates on data center developments across Calvert, Charles, Prince George’s, and St. Mary’s Counties.
Queen Anne's County
On June 4th, 2026, Queen Anne’s County Commissioners approved a one-year data center moratorium, which went into effect upon passage. During this pause, the county looks to conduct an impact study and then amendments to zoning laws. No serious development proposals are publicly known.
Washington County
On June 30th, 2026, Washington County commissioners passed 4-1 a one-year data center moratorium following a public hearing on the issue. A suitability study will be conducted by County staff during this period, albeit on a shorter timeline than the 18 months they recommended.
Regional Data Center Calendar
Keep in-the-know on all data center related events and dates in the MD, NoVA and DC region with our calendar!
see calendar
Data centers are being proposed rapidly in our region, and while some sites are tracking the known proposals, some developers begin projects under the radar. If you know of a data center proposal in your area, let us know!
Email ethan@ipldmv.org
