A proposal to create a task force to study the potential impacts of data centers in Montgomery County failed in council committee.
Councilmember Evan Glass proposed the task force, which would create a report on potential risks and benefits like economic impacts, energy demands, environmental impacts on air and water, and quality of life impacts.
Large data centers are facilities that house computer equipment used to store, process and share digital information. They require electricity and cooling power. There are at least four data centers currently in the county, according to council documents.
A 3-2 Vote
Members from two county council committees voted 3-2 against the bill Monday. Council President Natali Fani-González, Council Vice President Marilyn Balcombe, and Councilmember Laurie-Anne Sayles voted against it. Glass and Councilmember Kate Stewart voted in favor.
Fani-González, chair of the economic development committee, said “we have been saying for a while” that the council will wait for a report that the state is currently working on regarding data centers, and then at that point the council would work on a bill for data centers.
“We don’t need a task force for that,” she said.
There is a separate proposal sponsored by Fani-González, Balcombe and Sayles for a Zoning Text Amendment (ZTA) or zoning update to restrict where data centers are located.
Balcombe agrees that the task force is not necessary.
“I feel like the same people that would be on the task force are already engaged,” Balcombe said. She added, “It’s the ZTA that is going to define how we move forward with data centers.”
“I feel like we have a lot of engagement with the community,” Councilmember Laurie-Anne Sayles said. She mentioned council hearings and a county executive public forum in February.
Sayles said she is very confident that the ZTA is “the appropriate path.”
On the other side, Glass and Stewart support the task force.
The county has a goal to reduce climate emissions by 80% by 2027 and 100% by 2035.
“I am concerned that we will not be able to meet those climate goals without this level of assessment, without this level of coordination and without the detailed information that this task force would provide,” said Glass, who is chair of the transportation and environment committee.
“We need to address these climate concerns with any large-scale energy-guzzling facilities,” he said.
According to Glass, “there is no definition for what a data center is in Montgomery County in this year 2026.” He said there is an antiquated definition that does not meet the reality. Part of the task force’s work would be to produce a definition of “data center” specific to Montgomery County.
Stewart said she supports the formation of the task force, also acknowledging that it was not going to move out of council committee.
Glass thinks it is a “missed opportunity” for engagement, community buy-in and for meeting all the county’s goals from climate to economic growth.
He said he put together the task force legislation, not knowing that there was a ZTA moving concurrently.
In a statement after the vote, Glass said, “I’m disappointed and frustrated by this vote. We’re being asked to make monumental, generational decisions about data centers without first doing the evaluation our community deserves.”
Additional Context
A data center located at the former Dickerson Power Plant site has provisional approval.
Last month, there was a community forum on data centers hosted by County Executive Marc Elrich in Rockville. Supporters cited economic benefits, and skeptics – who made up the majority of the speakers – brought up environmental and social concerns.
View MCM’s coverage from the February meeting below:
