Two Data Center Provisions had Public Hearings: The hearing room was packed on Tuesday for the first public hearing for ZTA 26-01 that would allow data centers on industrial land, and Bill  4-26 proposing a task force for Data Centers. There was even a waitlist for speakers interested in providing comments. 
The theme repeated throughout the afternoon was that residents welcome regulation of these highly consumptive land uses but that these two bills don't go far enough to protect residents from impacts on health, water resources, and household budgets. 

To remind, Atmosphere's proposal for 5 data centers in Dickerson would use: 
-I Gigawatt of power (=750,000 homes)
-Up to 2 Million Gallons of the Potomac/day
-1.2 Gigawatts of power from many, many dirty diesel generators testing monthly 

Watch Testimony Here (some testified on both in the first section): 

• ​Bill 4-26 CM Glass' bill establishing a task force to study Data Centers  (here are the amendments the MoCo Climate Coalition suggest for this bill)
• ZTA 26-01 - CMs Fani Gonzalez, Balcombe and Sayles ZTA creating a zoning class for data centers. ​
• MCA's Testimony (transcript here) ​

Speakers giving voice to concern came from all parts of the county and all walks of life. Notable speakers included the GMU professor who just released a new study on the serious health impacts of data centers gathered from research in "data center alley" in Northern Virginia. 

Residents spoke to a need to get data center regulations right - calls for strict regulations were paired with a call for a pause or moratorium to host a transparent and inclusive process to craft said regulations.
The lawyers for Atmosphere, the developer of the Dickerson cluster of 5 proposed data centers, were there and argued against a moratorium. "A moratorium will delay and possibly derail the project." We strongly hope the Council will not be pressured to step away from their duty to uphold the public good by a contract purchaser of 110 acres of land in Dickerson who has not gained local or state permits to proceed. 

What's Next?
Written testimony will be accepted until March 5. Click below to write an email to the Council. 

Back in 2024, owner of the former PEPCO coal plant property Terra Energy secured conceptual approval for a cluster of 5 data centers on land zoned heavy industrial along the Potomac River. This conceptual approval was given under zoning meant for "cable communications" because there is no zoning in Montgomery County then or today that governs data centers. Here are the questions we put to the Planning department about how that works.  The conceptual conditional permit review was conducted without legally required components, including site plans.

Residents want, and are entitled to, more information. How much water and power will these plants use? What about noise and air quality from backup generators? 

 We understand that Atmosphere, the developer of a 5 data center complex proposed on 110 acres in Dickerson, has submitted an application to modify the conceptual approval to the Montgomery County Planning Department. The application is not yet available to the public. Here is our best effort to answer the many good questions from the public (with links to far more info) . 

What About Backup Power? 

Data Centers need consistent power 24/7 even when the grid fails. Unfortunately, most of the time this is provided by dirty diesel backup generators that send nitrous oxide and particulate matter into the air. 

According to Atmosphere's own fact sheet - though they claim to be industry innovators, Atmosphere will use diesel generator for backup power. It also says that they will only be turned on "periodically". The industry standard established by the National Fire Protection Association calls for running data center generators monthly to prevent failures and fires when the generators are needed. 

Emergency generators can run up to 100 hours for testing per year and unlimited hours in emergency situations under EPA rules. Recently, the Trump Administration ordered that data centers use exclusively backup generators for winter weather.  

How many generators? The industry rule of thumb is 20% above the full power needs of the facility - so 1.2 Gigawatts of power (which again is over 750,000 homes and enough to power a DeLorean through time in Back to the Future) being turned on for testing monthly. 

Because of Governor Moore's SB474 that passed in 2024, data centers can now use as many generators as they need, having waived the regulations and public oversight required for diesel generators over 2MW.
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It should also be mentioned that the fact sheet talks about the 12 acre BESS battery backup development adjacent to the Atmosphere project - Atmosphere in fact has no access to this power supply - it is owned and operated separately.