MCA and our partners at Sugarloaf Citizens Association received a very strange email this week from the CEO of Atmosphere DC, Chuck McBride. The full text is here.
The email alleges a number of things. One is that SCA and MCA have misrepresented the amount of water the 5 proposed data centers will use for cooling their equipment. The up to 2 Million gallon per day figure we quote is from the only publicly available information we can find - a withdrawal permit from Atmosphere filed with the MD Department of the Environment in September 2025. We've asked for updated permit requests and they have not been forthcoming
The email alleges a number of things. One is that SCA and MCA have misrepresented the amount of water the 5 proposed data centers will use for cooling their equipment. The up to 2 Million gallon per day figure we quote is from the only publicly available information we can find - a withdrawal permit from Atmosphere filed with the MD Department of the Environment in September 2025. We've asked for updated permit requests and they have not been forthcoming
Since 2023 when we first heard of this data center project we have worked to find out more information. The plans submitted to the planning department are encumbered with a number of NDAs making fact finding difficult. The email asks, 'What are we so worried about?" Here are a few things:
Water:
Noise:
Water:
- Atmosphere will only withdraw water from the River when the ambient temperature exceeds 75 degrees and lose 67% of it to evaporation or other loss - the summer months are when the river is at its lowest and existing data centers across the watershed are already using 12% of the Potomac during the summer months. The Interstate Commission on the Potomac is sounding the alarm about data center water use throughout the region increasing drought frequency and severity.
- The Potomac was just named "the nations most endangered river" siting rapid data center growth in the watershed.
- The water will be cycled multiple times through the system and amended with bleach as a biocide. Bleach will be made and stored on site above the Piedmont Sole Source Aquifer - the only source of water for one third of the county.
- Atmosphere has not yet gained permits or constructed any Data Centers, Dickerson would be their first. Their website lists potential projects in South Carolina, Nashville, and Kansas City.
- This massive power consuming industry presents a real challenge to the county's climate change goal of achieving carbon neutral by 2035.
Noise:
- Data Centers have become synonymous with noise impacts - the cooling fans and pumps plus generators emit a low background hum around the clock that interrupts sleep and has other health impacts. Recently, reports of lower frequency “infrasound” that is felt rather than heard detail major health impacts like chronic nausea and vertigo. This low frequency vibration noise pollution is not addressed by current county noise ordinances.
- The Maryland Office of People’s Counsel has raised the alarm that Marylanders are on the hook for $2 Billion in increased power rates from data centers built in neighboring states.
- Regional grid operator PJM has advised leaders that data center demand will lead to black outs and brown outs by 2027.
- The Dickerson data center project will be bringing none of its own power and instead rely entirely on the grid to meet its 360 MW needs (300,000 homes) and use 149 diesel generators for back up power, tested monthly. A study out of GMU has found that diesel exhaust makes living next to a data center less healthy than living close to a gas plant.
We are, of course, not funded by the Chinese Communist Party. Rather - we rely on local folks like you that want to see sensible data center policies in Montgomery County. We also won't be "backing down asap" - can you help? We'd be honored by your tax deductible gift.
