Data centers were a hot topic on Sunday when Montgomery County executive candidates assembled for a public forum at Temple Beth Ami in Rockville. Candidates expressed a wide variety of opinions on when and how, or if they should be permitted to build in Dickerson.
Friedson Response
Councilmember Friedson replied to the moderator’s question first. He cited a rise in energy bills as a huge consideration in their establishing a foothold.
“The Dickerson proposal that’s about 17% projected of the entire energy consumption for the county right now, which is just a staggering number. I have proposed that they generate their own energy to protect your energy bill. I don’t think we should socialize the costs on each of us while they privatize the benefits to themselves and the profits to themselves.”
Friedson recommended the council act on the decisions about data centers now.
“I believe it’s time that we do our job. We have the opportunity to do that starting as early as this summer.”
Wells Weighs In
Candidate Esther Wells pointed out that all households share in the energy price hikes since all customers in the DMV get service from the same utility, PJM.
“And so what Virginia does will directly impact us… we do not need to punt. We do not need to pause. We don’t need to study…The state governor has already put in incentives to bring data centers here. And so as local leaders [in] one of the largest jurisdictions, it’s important that we are decisive and that we are taking into account the needs of our residents.”
James Rejects Centers
Completely opposed to data centers, candidate Peter James stated his case on why.
“Now, if the Nobel Prize winner that got the Nobel Prize for this breakthrough technology is telling you we need to shut it down because there’s a 10% chance it will kill us all. Wouldn’t you listen to him?,” said James. “At least we’re saying, Dickerson, we’re going to let you put a hydrogen bomb out there and it’s got a 10% chance it will accidentally go off. Until it can be proven that it’s not going to go off, there’s no data centers.”
James is referring to Geoffry Hinton, dubbed the “Godfather of AI”, who has warned the technology has a 10 – 20% chance of leading to human extinction.
Banerjee Reacts
Mithun Banerjee, also a candidate for county executive, questioned whether to get on board with the current data center configuration.
“Utility bills. Aren’t they so high? Oh my gosh, it’s been three times. We need to take payment plans to pay them on top of the current bill. And what is the government doing for us? They’re in the office for almost eight years. Governor did something. He gave $150 one-year credit a month, $12.50,” said Banerjee. “Go figure out what you get with that. So that’s what we are saying. This establishment politicians are out of touch. You need a commonsense person, which is not very common, of course, to get over there and fix it.”
Glass Wants a Pause
Councilmember Evan Glass defended his proposal to put a pause on data center construction in the county.
“… You can’t move forward in the dark of night. We need to figure this out. When I introduced the six-month pause, again, there were no co-sponsors,” said Glass. “I introduced six months to get something done, not to make a headline. And so, we have to continue working on this.”
Jawando Proposes a Moratorium
For county executive candidate and Councilmember Will Jawando, six months is not enough time to work out the challenges.
“… I introduced a two-year moratorium bill supported by environmental groups who prefer my bill because it will stop the Dickerson data center. The one that was introduced prior will not … stop it,” Jawando said. “And you need more time because we need state laws to change before we move forward. We don’t need to be first. We need to be right if we do it at all.”
Council Will Address Soon
Data centers will be an agenda item at council meetings in July. Meanwhile, Terra Innovations, the company that owns the Dickerson location, told MCM it plans to unveil a website to answer many questions about their data center proposal.
