Update: The County Council final vote on both the 18 Month Data Center Moratorium bill and the ZTA  on Tuesday 7/28 was 11-0 in favor of sweeping data center pauses. See the agenda with staff reports, bill texts and videos here. 

What Happened? 
Montgomery County Council President Natali Fani-González, Vice President Marilyn Balcombe and Councilmember Laurie-Anne Sayles announced a multi-pronged approach on July 15th regarding data center legislation. Read more here.

In a nutshell - the 6 month (Glass) and two year (Jawando) moratoriums already proposed are being fast tracked while the proposed ZTA 26-01 that would have opened 2000 acres of the county to data centers will now get an amendment from its own sponsors defining hyperscale data centers and then prohibiting them in ALL zones - meant to clear up the lack of regulations we have now while proper regulations are crafted. 


To be clear, MCA and our partners support both a two year pause and the amended ZTA to allow time and space to first research and then craft strong standards for data centers.


How can you help?

It all goes down Thursday Wednesday the 22nd - Please join us if you can at one/both of these council committee worksessions with signs and your presence to push for a 2 year pause/the ZTA amendment that prohibits data centers. 

• 9:30am- The ECON Committee will take up both the 6-18 month* and 2 year moratorium bills. Whatever makes it out of committee will come up for a vote at the whole council on July 28th. An affirmative vote at full council on an expedited bill means they go into effect immediately. 
  * the 6 month bill has an amendment stretching it to 18 months see the staff report here. The 2 year bill has not been amended. 
  

• 1:30pm - The PHP Committee will hear an amendment to ZTA 26-01 that would define and then prohibit data centers. If approved, this reaches the Council on July 28th for a vote as well. 
  
  

• See exact schedule for July 22 on Council's website, as it may change.
• Location: Council Hearing Room on the 3rd Floor, 100 Maryland Avenue, Rockville.
• If you are not able to join us in person, watch the work session here.

 There is still time to contact your council member about the importance of a two year moratorium. 

We can't thank our supporters enough - this potential victory is because of all the folks who kept the pressure up. Time and again, this is how we come together to get it done - your support and action looks to have won the day.

Plus - A Statewide Moratorium? 
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Perhaps you saw that New York State just enacted a year pause on Data Centers- why not Maryland? The upcoming special session in Annapolis (Aug 3-5) is an opportunity to get a pause statewide. Take a moment to write your state senator with a letter tool from our partners at the MoCo Climate Coalition. 

By signing on as a party of record in the Dickerson Data Center Application, MCA has just been sent the permit application for water discharge from the MD Department of the Environment (MDE). This would be the water that flows back to the Potomac after being used to cool the computing equipment, water that many months of the year is treated with bleach and then neutralized before return to the River. 

The documents we received are here. ​Looks like an average of 443,000 gallons per day will be discharged to the River. 

We have a lot of questions. Luckily, the public is invited to a virtual hearing on this application on August 5th at 5:30pm. The more people that register and show up the better - however this is not an opportunity to speak.  
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Through the hearing we would like to understand how an average of 443,000 gallons per day will be discharged when the water is supposed to be in a closed loop system. There are also real questions about what temperature the discharge water will be compared to the ambient river temperature. We just saw last week that high river temps can lead to dramatic fish kills - and it isn't even August yet. 

What questions do you have? Please register to join us if you can. Because there are so many lingering questions, we still really need a two year moratorium on data centers while the answers are found. When will the expedited moratorium bill get a committee assignment? There's another question. We have a letter writing tool to get your concerns to the Council quick.

We received an email newsletter this morning from the Council President reiterating a misunderstanding: 

The first part is true - there are no rules governing data centers but that is because the second part is false - they are not in the zoning code and as a result can not be sited in the County - yet. 

The Department  of Permitting Services sent guidance to the Planning Chair on June 12th -
​"Data Centers are not specifically listed in the Zoning Ordinance, do not fall within any listed use, and are not similar in impact, nature, function, and duration to any listed uses. Therefore, Data Centers are not currently approved uses in Montgomery County."
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In fact, the proposed data center ZTA the Council President is co-sponsoring is not protecting us from Data Centers that can go anywhere - it is opening up the county to Data Centers that are currently a prohibited use and allowing them in all industrial zones (2000+ acres) - i.e- every Council district. 
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And the ZTA is moving quickly - we've heard from Councilmembers that after a PHP committee hearing on July 22nd, they want to have a vote on the ZTA by October 31st. 

What is the rush? Hundreds of speakers and many thousands of emails from concerned residents have urged a meaningful pause of 2 years - like PG County just enacted, along with moratoriums in Baltimore City/County, Washington, Carrol, Howard, Queen Annes and an outright ban in Hartford County.

We understand that the State's study of Data Centers planned to be wrapped in September will now not be done till December. Why are we rushing ahead of hearing the results?  Troubling studies on the impacts of data centers and the health of our Potomac are stacking up (Infrasound - a new data center problem). Where is the cost- benefit analysis?

We want to be clear - MCA and our broad coalition insist that a 6 month pause is breathing room - there must now be no less than a two year pause to engage stakeholders and independent experts. There is no way to get this done before October. 

There is still time to write to the Councilmembers - please take a moment with our letter writing template to make your concerns heard. 

We were shocked to receive an email (huge thanks, Nadine!) with this Zillow link. 11 acres of farmland in Ashton, the Eastern County zoned RC (Rural Cluster) were being advertised as suitable for a data center or commercial solar. 
From the County code: "The intent of the RC zone is to provide designated areas of the County for a compatible mixture of agricultural uses and very low-density residential development, to promote agriculture, and to protect scenic and environmentally sensitive areas."

Can they do that? Yes and maybe. 

After a heartbreaking bill passed in Annapolis in 2025 and our coalition organized an unsucessful statewide ballot referendum effort, commercial solar and battery storage is allowed on even protected farmland and prime soils across the state (but notably not land encumbered with easements). 

Currently, data centers are not allowed for in the county code, but a ZTA (zoning text amendment) is moving forward to allow data centers of any size in all industrial zones - over 2000 acres of the county (see: A Data Center in Every Council District?). Montgomery County's planning board director has said that the proposal as written would allow 12 hyperscale data centers across the county. It is too early to say if data centers could be sited on farmland in our county - like they are in Virginia and many other places. But as evidenced here, the speculation has begun - locking up farmland that is needed for its intended purpose. 

Since this  Zillow listing was posted just two months ago, we've had 8 new applicants to our Land Link program - seasoned farmers seeking long term leases in the county. These 8 are seeking to join the 50+ farmers seeking land on the site. The majority of farmers in the program are farmers of color, a large portion are immigrants and almost all have plans to donate a substantial amount of their harvest to local food banks. 

This is one more reason we need a pause on data centers - not moving ahead until there are clear guidelines about where and how data centers can be sited. Our broad coalition is seeking strong regulations that protect air, water, farmland and our climate. A two year moratorium is the way to get there with transparency and resident engagement. 

We are hearing from councilmembers that the ZTA could have a vote by October of this year. That is simply not enough time to craft responsible policies. 

Take a moment to write your councilmembers in support of a two year moratorium.