How long is enough for a data center moratorium? Residents weigh in

Dozens participated in County Council public hearings on competing proposals to pause permitting

June 17, 2026 12:00 p.m.

Advocates for a two-year data center moratorium hold signs saying "You Can't Drink Data" during a rally outside the office building in Rockville. Credit: Ceoli Jacoby

Holding signs saying “AI Won’t Pay My Electric Bill” and “You Can’t Drink Data,” dozens of environmental advocates gathered Tuesday on the front steps of the Montgomery County Council office building in Rockville to support a proposed two-year moratorium on new data center permits.

“Six months is just not enough. It’s great, but it’s not enough,” said Jomar Llyod, a Maryland organizer for the nonprofit Food and Water Watch. “We need to take our time to make these important decisions about data centers, and if we really do want them in Maryland, in Montgomery County, in Rockville, in North Bethesda, in Dickerson and so on.”

Kevin Walton with the Climate Coalition of Montgomery County said during the rally his group is concerned about the health of the Potomac River, water from which could be used to cool planned data centers in the Upcounty.

“Without the right regulations, the water demands to cool hyperscale data centers will challenge the ability of the Potomac River to meet our needs for drinking water in the future,” he said, garnering chants of “Save Our Water!”

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Councilmembers Will Jawando (D-At-large) and Kristin Mink (D-Dist. 5) organized the rally in advance of council public hearings on proposed legislation to temporarily pause data center development in the county. The county Planning Board next month is scheduled to review an application from the California-based Atmosphere Data Centers to build a campus of five data centers at the site of a former coal-fired power plant in Dickerson.

Advocates hold signs saying “Data Center Moratorium Now” and “AI Won’t Pay My Electric Bill” during a public hearing at the council office building in Rockville. Credit: Ceoli Jacoby

Speakers at the council public hearings inside the building later on Tuesday were not so unanimous in their views on data center regulations.

Multiple people asked councilmembers to combine their various proposals for moratoria and project approval criteria. Some said a six-month pause would be sufficient, while others argued there should be no moratorium at all. A few pushed for a total ban on the facilities.

“You cannot expect businesses — especially in the life sciences, cybersecurity and advanced computing — to wait while Montgomery County puts itself on pause,” said Esther Wells, president of the Montgomery County Taxpayer’s League and a Republican candidate for county executive in the June 23 primary election.

Political considerations

The plan to redevelop the former Dickerson power plant site into a campus of data centers has been publicly known since 2023, though debate over that project and data centers generally has picked up ahead of the June 23 primary election.

Under pressure from community members and fellow elected officials, County Executive Marc Elrich (D) on Friday signed an executive order barring the county’s permitting department from accepting, processing or considering applications to build new data centers for six months.

Though both expressed support for Elrich’s executive order last week, Jawando and Councilmember Evan Glass (D-At-large) are continuing to push competing bills to implement moratoria on new data centerdevelopment in the county.

Elrich is in the final months of his second four-year term as county executive. He cannot seek re-election this year due to term limits and is running for a council at-large seat instead.

Glass and Jawando, along with Councilmember Andrew Friedson (D-Dist. 1), are considered top contenders for county executive in the Democratic primary. The race also features Democrats Mithun Banerjee and Peter James as well as Republicans Wells and Shelly Skolnick.

Friedson is not sponsoring a moratorium bill, but expressed support for Elrich’s executive order in a Friday statement.

“This six-month pause will give us the opportunity to develop a responsible framework for data centers that addresses energy use, water resources, community impacts and environmental concerns while protecting Montgomery County residents and ratepayers,” he said.

Competing proposals

Glass, who chairs the council’s Environment and Transportation Committee, says he’s the first county elected official to propose a moratorium on data centers and has accused others of seizing on the issue for political gain.

Glass first floated the idea for a six-month moratorium during a March committee hearing on his proposal to establish a county task force to study data centers. On May 6, he formalized the moratorium proposal in a bill.

On May 12, Jawando introduced a competing moratorium bill to halt new data center permits for two years, arguing a longer pause is needed to address policy questions at the state level. Mink is co-sponsoring the bill.

Montgomery County Councilmember Will Jawando (D-At-large) speaks in favor of a two-year moratorium on data centers during a rally outside the council office building in Rockville. Credit: Ceoli Jacoby

Jawando has been critical of Glass’ proposal, arguing that the bill as introduced would not apply to the Dickerson project because it included an exemption for cable communication facilities — the zoning category that currently includes data centers.

Glass on Tuesday told Bethesda Today that the exemption for cable communication facilities was a drafting error that has since been corrected through an amendment.

He also urged the council in a statement on Tuesday to reconsider his proposed task force bill in light of Elrich’s executive order.

“Time is of the essence,” Glass said in the statement. “We must use this moratorium to put strong guardrails in place to protect our environment, our residents and future generations from irresponsible data centerdevelopment. The task force is exactly the structure we need to guide us at this time.”

Asked at Tuesday’s rally about Glass’ call to revive the task force bill, Jawando said he is “agnostic” about the proposal and would also be open to an informal community work group or a policy discussion led by the county executive.

“No matter what, the whole point of this moratorium and having enough time is to work through the issues,” he said.

In addition to the proposed moratorium bills, the council is also considering a proposed zoning text amendment to limit where data centers can be built in the county and require developers to use renewable sources of power and non-potable water for cooling.

The council’s Planning, Housing and Parks Committee is expected to review the zoning text amendment in July. Friedson, who chairs the committee, is supportive of the proposal.

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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine