Ellis/Andrews : Data Center Debate Exposes Maryland's Two-Party Consensus
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 3, 2026
CONTACT: Andy Ellis andy@gogreen2026.com
Both parties converge on gas plants for AI—Green candidates offer a clean moratorium.
ANNAPOLIS, MD — Today's hearing on HB 120, a Republican-sponsored data center moratorium, revealed a two-party consensus. Democratic Governor Wes Moore and the Republican Freedom Caucus are converging on the same answer—build gas plants to power AI data centers—while disagreeing only on the details.
HB 120, sponsored by Freedom Caucus Delegates Fisher, Chisolm, Morgan, and Szeliga, would pause data center construction in Maryland until the General Assembly passes co-location legislation allowing data centers alongside new gas plants, nuclear facilities, or small modular reactors. The bill fits the Freedom Caucus energy plan released Tuesday: go all in on fossil fuels, shield utilities from scrutiny, and block reform to PJM, the regional grid operator..
The co-location approach mirrors Democratic policy. In May 2024, Governor Wes Moore signed the Critical Infrastructure Streamlining Act (SB474), which he said would "supercharge the data center industry" in Maryland. In October 2025, Moore joined governors from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Virginia to present a joint proposal to PJM, on behalf of the Data Center Coalition, the industry's lobbying arm. The proposal centered on a "bring your own power" framework that translates to new gas plants co-located with data centers.
In this year’s General Assembly Ellis and Andrews support a clean data center moratorium, without a mechanism that lets gas plants sneak in.
"When the debate about data centers gets narrowed to a debate about energy prices, co-location becomes the bipartisan consensus," said Andy Ellis, a Green Party candidate for Governor. "The Freedom Caucus bill has a co-location incentive. Governor Moore presented a co-location plan to PJM alongside the data center lobby. Republicans blame 'green scam' policies while Democrats try to regulate their way out of a crisis they helped create. Neither party is asking the harder question: who bears the burden when we build gas plants to power AI? The answer is always the same: Black and Brown neighborhoods, low-income areas,and places that already can't breathe."
The Science Policy and Diplomacy Group at Johns Hopkins University testified in favor of HB 120 with amendments, calling for removal of the co-location exception. Their testimony cited research projecting 14,000 additional asthma cases and 13-19 premature deaths in Northern Virginia communities near existing data centers, with a $54 million annual health burden on six Maryland counties.
Communities across Maryland—from Prince George's to Baltimore County to Frederick to Southern and Western Maryland—are organizing against data centers. They're fighting to stop them, not to add gas plants.
"Marylanders can tell when corporate interests are spinning the narratives coming out of both corporate parties," said Owen Silverman Andrews, candidate for Lieutenant Governor. "Activists here have organized for years for cleaner air and energy, hard-won gains that would be undermined by HB 120’s dirty energy co-location exemption. We need affordable public power for people, not climate change accelerating carve outs for corporations."
Northern Virginia shows what happens when data centers grow unchecked. South Memphis shows what happens when gas plants are co-located—Elon Musk's xAI facility operated 35 turbines without permits in a predominantly Black neighborhood where cancer rates are four times the national average. The EPA has since closed the loophole, and the NAACP has appealed the facility's permits. HB 120's co-location exception would bring Maryland the worst of both.
Ellis and Andrews will release a Green energy plan in March built on four pillars: a ban on hyperscale data centers, ratepayer focused energy policy, a public power alternative to PJM, and a sustained transition to renewable energy produced in Maryland.
"Republicans won't challenge the utilities because they love wealthy corporations. Democrats regulate them but accept their dominance as a given," Ellis said. "The Green Party offers something neither major party will: a vision where communities control their own energy future. That's why HB 101 matters. Marylanders deserve to hear this alternative on the debate stage."
HB 101, sponsored by Delegate Simmons, would require Maryland Public Television and other public broadcasters receiving state funding to include all candidates who have qualified for the general election ballot. The bill has its hearing today at 2:00 PM before the Government, Labor, and Elections Committee.
About the Ellis/Andrews Campaign
Andy Ellis and Owen Silverman Andrews are running for Governor and Lt. Governor on the Green Party ticket. Their campaign is seeking public financing and small donors—no corporate cash. They're running to prove that Maryland's democracy can work for everyone, not just the two parties that take turns. Get involved at gogreen2026.com.