It’s Time To Ban New Data Centers in Maryland

It’s Time To Ban New Data Centers in Maryland

The Ellis/Andrews campaign, seeking the Green Party nomination for Governor and Lt. Governor, calls for a statewide ban on new data center permitting and construction.

Across Maryland, residents and communities are rising up to stop the rapid buildout of large-scale data centers. County governments and the Baltimore City Council are hearing complaints related to the environment, water, climate, energy, sound, and land use. Some local governments are pushing bans or moratoriums, while others are signing non-disclosure agreements and working with the data center industry.

The reason these fights are occurring at the county level is that at the state level, Annapolis politicians have worked hard to bring the data center industry to the state. In 2020, Republican Governor Larry Hogan and a bipartisan coalition in the General Assembly opened the door with tax breaks for new data centers. Then, in 2024, Democratic Governor Wes Moore prioritized deregulation and easier permitting, pushing the Critical Infrastructure Streamlining Act and declaring, "This bill is going to supercharge the data center industry in our state." In 2025, Moore vetoed a bill that would have studied the impacts of data centers and another that would have created a statewide plan to regulate their energy usage.

Despite a flurry of bills aimed at regulating the rapid data center buildout in the 2026 legislative session, the best the General Assembly has been able to do is make suggestions for voluntary actions from the industry and some too-little, too-late focus on the energy usage of data centers. Mostly, though, the 2026 legislative session continued Moore’s plan to “supercharge” the rapid data center buildout and fight against any meaningful regulation.

The Ellis/Andrews campaign is calling for a statewide ban on new data center permitting and construction. 

We call on everyone running for state or local office to join us in this advocacy.

We are collaborating with Taylor Frazier-McCollum, a leader in the coalition to stop the data center in Landover, and welcome similar collaboration with other local struggles opposing the data center buildout.

Our campaign believes a statewide ban is the best solution to this crisis for three reasons.

First, county-by-county fights are necessary but not sufficient. We must fight county-by-county right now because the state has abdicated its responsibility; this will give the industry the opportunity to pit one county against another and create division in the movements forming to resist this big-tech takeover of our state. Furthermore, the more counties that pass a ban or a moratorium, the more likely it is that the Annapolis Democrats take this power away from localities and force each county to defer to state authority.

Second, the current statewide policy approach of welcoming the industry but trying to regulate it simply will not work in the existing political climate. Time after time, state-level Democratic Party leaders eager for revenue have shown us they are willing to let destructive and extractive industries write regulations as long as the state can take a cut of their profits. This can be seen in surveillance pricing legislation passed this year, sports betting, and countless other examples where industry lobbyists decide what regulation looks like.

Third, moratoriums are not enough. A one-, two-, or three-year moratorium starts with the assumption that we want this industry here and that we just need more time to figure out how to regulate its practices. We believe this is the wrong assumption, and only gives the industry time to regroup and plan. In Maryland and across the country, the data center lobby has demonstrated a disregard for everything but its bottom line. Most politicians in power today have demonstrated that they cannot be relied on to effectively regulate most industries, especially this one. A ban starts from the position that we cannot trust the industry or the politicians promising to regulate it.

Importantly, a ban does not need to be the end point, but it must be the starting point for what comes next. If at some point the state of Maryland comes up with a means of regulating the industry so that it serves the public good, then we can allow the industry in with strict regulations. But it is important to understand we can’t do that from any position other than a ban.

Over the summer and the rest of the campaign season, we will be working on two fronts. First, we will support local efforts to stop the data center buildout in each county. Second, we call on the local movements, state and local politicians, and institutional non-profits to join our call for a statewide ban.

We know that the people of Maryland oppose the agenda of the politicians in Annapolis when it comes to data centers, and we will use our campaign as a vehicle to put this question on the ballot of every Maryland voter in November.