Legislative Priorities

Study Environmental Impact

With the veto of the Data Center Study Bill successfully overturned, it will be imperative that the study is thorough and timely so that Maryland and its jurisdictions can make the best decisions for their communities to mitigate potential data center projects’ impacts.

Establish a Regulatory Framework

Maryland has no hyperscale data centers within the state (yet), as such, Maryland’s legislatures have not made specific regulations concerning water use, power consumption, or opportunities for community input. Marylanders for Data Center Reform are advocating for bills on the city, county, and state level that will set rules and guidelines for data center development that will help the environment and human health.

Some of our priorities include:

  • Utilize mechanisms to better stabilize the grid through demand response and load shedding. 
  • Implement statewide siting and comprehensive grid planning that accounts for the increased load growth from data centers. 
  • Protect ratepayers by ensuring developers pay for new construction, infrastructure, and maintenance costs from data centers.

Address Water Usage

According to the Potomac Interstate Commission, data centers withdraw over 22 million gallons of water per day from the Potomac Watershed. This water consumption occurs during a time when many Maryland communities face water scarcity concerns and drought conditions. Marylanders for Data Center Reform advocates for data centers to be accountable for the water they consume and to mitigate consumption with the best available technology.

Protect Communities & Air Quality

Hyperscale data centers require a large amount of infrastructure and are often sited in close proximity to overburdened communities and on prime agriculture land. Public health and climate impacts are a growing concern, especially during peak demand that occurs on hot summer days. We support legislation that requires the state to track and report water usage and electricity usage from data centers and monitor air quality impacts from diesel generators. The state should also provide oversight to address light and noise pollution and establish siting requirements for data centers that consider cumulative impacts to communities.

Increase Transparency

Due to nondisclosure agreements and a lack of transparency in the state’s Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) process, local governments and communities do not know who is behind the build out of these large-scale facilities. Therefore, we support legislation to establish new requirements to increase transparency in the state’s regulatory review processes. This includes mandatory and publicly available state reporting of new data center locations, interconnections, size, number of diesel generators, electricity and water usage.