By Megan Sayles
AFRO Staff Writer
msayles@afro.com
Montgomery County environmental leaders are urging the county council to require a proposed data center in Dickerson, Md. to run on 100 percent clean energy, warning that the facility could significantly undermine the county’s climate goals and impact public health.
The hyperscale data center would pull 300 megawatts of electricity from the regional grid, producing massive greenhouse gas emissions if powered by fossil fuels, and would require large volumes of water for cooling.
“Without a clean energy commitment, this one data center in Montgomery County will emit 1 million tons of carbon dioxide per year. That is the equivalent of adding 200,000 dirty cars onto the roads of Montgomery County every year. That’s how much climate pollution this one data center will trigger,” said Mike Tidwell, founder of CCAN. “It will literally blow up the county’s climate goals.”
Tidwell noted that the facility would also increase county greenhouse gas emissions by 12.5 percent and represent a one to two percent rise in carbon dioxide for the entire state of Maryland.
CCAN is calling on the county council to intervene.
“If this data center company won’t voluntarily commit to this goal of 100 percent clean energy, the only entity that can protect the health of Montgomery County voters and our climate policies is the Montgomery County Council,” said Tidwell. “The bottom line is if we can’t build a green data center in Montgomery County, where can you build one?”
In January, Montgomery County introduced a zoning text amendment (ZTA) confining data center development to industrial areas and requiring projects to undergo a conditional use review process that evaluates potential environmental and community impacts before approval.
Credit: Photo courtesy of Montgomery County Government
The ZTA was sponsored by Montgomery County Council President Natali Fani-Gonzalez, Vice President Marilyn Balcombe and at-large Councilwoman Laurie-Anne Sayles. Sayles told the AFRO that Montgomery County is evaluating the energy use and emission risks of data center development— examining how projects could affect waterways, woodlands and parks, as well as the levels of light and noise pollution they might create.
“We’re trying to ensure that we are prioritizing not just responsible economic growth, protecting neighborhoods’ quality of life and ensuring that this infrastructure delivers lasting benefits, but also the public health and environmental impacts,” said Sayles. “We are open to exploring the possibility of renewable energy on site. We are asking the applicant to prioritize reducing fossil fuel reliance.”
Sayles said she commissioned an Office of Legislative Oversight (OLO) report to research best practices for data center development from jurisdictions around the world. She noted that she’s yet to see any facilities in the U.S. run entirely on renewable energy— though some overseas examples exist.
While she acknowledged that the county would ideally like data centers powered by renewables, she explained that the county needs to first understand what Maryland’s grid can support. The state is currently studying the environmental, energy and economic impacts of data centers, with a final report due in September.
Montgomery County’s Climate Action Plan, created in 2021, commits the locality to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2027 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2035. Sayles emphasized these goals will remain a guiding factor as county officials consider data center proposals.
“We’re not going to deviate from that plan just to bring infrastructure to the county,” said Sayles. “Though we know that these structures are very important to businesses and the economy, we are only welcoming data centers that are going to meet the strong environmental standards that we have prioritized to protect our communities.”
