Tag: Sustainable Land Use
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Woodlawn Data Center, Baltimore, MD: Maryland Data Center Series Pt. 2
Woodlawn is no stranger to large buildings, but plans for data centers threaten the health of an overburdened and underserved community.
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TeraWulf Data Center, Charles County, MD: Maryland Data Center Series, Pt. 1
Developer TeraWulf plans to convert an oil power plant in Charles County into a data center, raising concerns from environmental and consumer protection organizations. But what are the details of the proposed data center? And who is TeraWulf, the crypto-mining company-turned data center developer behind the project? The Proposed Project In February 2026, TeraWulf filed…
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Fairfax County’s FY27 budget is open for comments!
Fairfax County is facing another economically tough year, and the County Executive’s draft budget reflects the challenges via streamlining and cutting costs. For the past several years, in conjunction with our partners in the Fairfax Parks Coalition, we have engaged in budget advocacy to ensure the County is making wise investments in the Fairfax County…
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Ask Fairfax County’s Board to Support the Planning Commission’s Recommendations for Active Transportation
Fairfax County is updating its Active Transportation Plan, and we need your help to ensure that the Board of Supervisors passes it with recommendations that promote trail development that does not damage our environment. On May 5, the Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing regarding the Active Fairfax Transportation Plan Study (PA-2025-00001) and…
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Virginia’s General Assembly: highs and lows
Updated 4/13/26 @ 11:15am Thank you to Nature Forward volunteers Anne DeNovo, Chris Powell, Heather Safford, and Sabine Miller who helped track VA legislation this General Assembly and co-wrote this blog post with NOVA Conservation Advocate Renee Grebe! Lots of good environmental wins and some progress still to be made It is undeniable that many…
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Post-Sine Die Updates
The Maryland General Assembly will wrap up Monday, April 13th after many hours of poring over legislation, tracking amendments, and hundreds of letters from Nature Forward’s members to their legislators. Read on to understand which of our priority bills were able to pass muster this session. This year, Nature Forward and Marylanders for Data Center…
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Nature Forward Statement on Fairfax County Board of Supervisors’ Sale of Publicly Owned, County Land for New Data Center Development
For Immediate Release – March 18, 2026 For more information contact Lisa Goodnight at [email protected] or 301-450-1478, or Nature Forward Communications Director [email protected] 301-450-1458 Chevy Chase, MD – Fairfax County’s Board of Supervisors undermined its own climate goals and One Fairfax equity policy by unanimously approving the sale of publicly owned, County land to a…
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2026 Maryland General Assembly Legislative Priorities
Updates: Bill Outcome Next Steps CHERISH (HB1287) Dead – read more here Work with MDE and coalition members to ensure that CHERISH finds a middle ground for next session CHERISH (HB1268) Dead – read more here Work with MDE and coalition members to ensure that CHERISH finds a middle ground for next session Bottle Bill…
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Data Centers are said to create jobs, but people need to know: what kind and how many?
Guest post by Nature Forward volunteer Sheila Igoe…if you’d like to research, write, and edit educational materials like this, reach out! Photo via The Cyber Express Among the many controversies surrounding data center construction is the question of jobs–how many and what kind will be created during construction and operational periods? Empirical evidence shows that…
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What is PJM? Why Does It Matter? How Can You Help?
PJM is the regional transmission organization (RTO) for our area here in the mid-Atlantic. Originally responsible for Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland (thus, PJM), it now manages the electric grid for the entire mid-Atlantic and parts of the Midwest. As explained below, PJM has enormous power over electricity rates and the availability of clean energy.