ELLIS CAMPAIGN RENEWS CALL FOR STATEWIDE DATA CENTER BAN

For Immediate Release
September 23, 2026
Contact: andy@gogreen2026.com | 443-320-5296

BALTIMORE — On Wednesday, Andy Ellis, the Green Party nominee for Maryland Governor, renewed his call for a statewide ban on new data center construction and permitting. This announcement came ahead of an announced executive order from Governor Wes Moore relating to the controversial issue. 

Data center policy is on the agenda this week in seven jurisdictions across Maryland, including Baltimore City and Baltimore, Calvert, Charles, Frederick, and Prince George’s Counties. It’s an issue with broad, multipartisan opposition, and elected officials such as Governor Moore are trying to pivot ahead of the General Election in November.

"Moratoriums are just a pause,” Ellis said. “I commend every grassroots coalition that’s won a moratorium for their community, but all the organizers know that the industry and their lobbyists have deeper pockets and limitless patience. A statewide ban wins the fight instead of just kicking the can down the road.” 

Since February, fourteen of twenty-four Maryland counties have passed data center moratoriums or bans, covering 80 percent of the state's population. With the exception of Harford County, which passed a comprehensive data center ban in June, these all expire in the next 18 months. 

Governor Moore promised in 2024 to "supercharge the data center industry in [Maryland]." Moore doubled-down on this promise in 2025, vetoing a bipartisan study on data centers’ impacts on Marylanders. The General Assembly overrode the governor, but Moore’s veto delayed the study’s original delivery of September 1st.

“Governor Moore continues to try to grab headlines to keep pace with other Governors,” said Ellis. “But as long as the data center industry knows it has a champion in Moore they will wreak havoc on communities across Maryland.”

The Ellis campaign's full data center policy, written with the communities and grassroots organizations leading the fight, is available at www.gogreen2026.com/data-centers. 

# # #

Andy Ellis and Owen Silverman Andrews are the Maryland Green Party candidates for Governor and Lt. Governor. Their campaign is funded by small donors and refuses corporate or PAC contributions. Their campaign is focused on ending the duopoly in Maryland politics to Learn more at www.gogreen2026.com.