On September 25 the Planning Commission held a public hearing on the Clarksburg Sector Gateway Plan. In the build out of Clarksburg residents have had to advocate for carefully balancing development and the fragile watershed around Ten Mile Creek and Little Seneca Reservoir - the County's backup water supply for 4.2 Million in the region. This area is known as the Clarksburg Special Protection Area (or SPA) and it has taken advocates like you to be sure that protection for forests and water quality in this special area are centered in decisions about development. 
The County Executive weighed in here. 

​Please see this action alert from our partners at Friends of Ten Mile Creek for more. 
Here is the testimony we signed on to with our partners 

​Hyperscale data center projects are already in planning or are underway in Frederick, Prince George’s, and Montgomery Counties. There is an urgent need to bring together and amplify voices across the state to measure, learn and understand the impact of the industry, how local governments are coping and ensure that community’s benefit.

There is a lot we don't know - a few things we do know about the needs of data centers: 

• Many thousands of gallons of potable water to cool equipment 24/7
• Large areas of land to site warehouses - often taking farmland and open space
• Each data center has the constant, round the clock power needs of a small city - ratepayers can expect to see increases up to 70% in their bills in the next 5 years.
• When power can't come from the grid - that constant power comes from high emissions diesel generators.

In Montgomery County, a data center site along the C+O Canal has been given preliminary approval without providing data on how many data centers will be at the site, much less river water or electricity used for these highly consumptive uses. 

Today, six organizations from across Maryland have joined together to form
the Maryland Data Centers Analysis Group.
MCA joins: 
Envision Frederick County
The Sugarloaf Alliance
The Fellowship of Scientists and Engineers
Sustainable Hyattsville
The Tri-County Coalition 

Maryland state Sen. Karen Lewis Young (D-District 3) sponsored a bill during the 2025 legislative session that would have created a study about the economic, energy and environmental consequences of data center development in the state.
That bill was vetoed by Gov. Wes Moore, who cited financial strain on Maryland and uncertainty about receiving funding from the federal government as his reasons for doing so. 

We are honored to join our collaborators from across the region to gather the facts around this brand new, unregulated land use to balance it with important commitments to farms, forests, water and the climate. 

Press release
Frederick News Post Coverage