Maryland lawmakers plan statewide data center moratorium bills for January
No state legislature has passed a statewide pause on data centers. Gov. Wes Moore has said he would sign one.
Maryland lawmakers plan to introduce bills in January that would pause new data center construction statewide for several years, a step no state legislature has taken.
State Sens. Mary Washington and C.T. Wilson, both Democrats, intend to file multi-year moratorium bills when the General Assembly convenes, WYPR reported. The plans were discussed Saturday at a one-day meeting of state and local officials and climate advocates in Baltimore, hosted by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network.
Gov. Wes Moore has said he would sign a statewide moratorium if one reached his desk, though he has described such decisions as a local matter, according to Maryland Matters.
Much of the state has already acted locally. The Chesapeake Climate Action Network says 90% of Marylanders live in a jurisdiction with a local pause or ban on new data centers. Governors in New York and Texas have paused development by executive order, WYPR reported.
A second proposal would go further on power. Del. Lorig Charkoudian, a Montgomery County Democrat, wants to require data centers to supply their own clean electricity rather than draw on the regional grid. Maryland’s current approach is voluntary. A 2026 law lets projects that bring clean power equal to 80% to 100% of their peak demand move to the front of the line for a grid connection.
Moore issued an executive order in September creating a task force to review projects of 25 MW or more and barring state agencies from signing new nondisclosure agreements with developers. It stopped short of a pause. He also plans to seek repeal of a 2020 state tax exemption for data centers. Senate Minority Leader Steve Hershey, a Republican, has criticized that approach, arguing that removing incentives while trying to recruit data centers makes Maryland less competitive.
The debate follows a federal ruling that left the question to states. Federal regulators last month rejected most of a plan by PJM, the regional grid operator, to set its own rules for connecting data centers, saying key parts intruded on state authority.
Sources: WYPR, Maryland Matters via Route Fifty, Bisnow
