Jawando introduces bill to implement two-year moratorium on data center permits
Council already considering separate bill to halt data center development for six months; public hearings on both proposals set for June 16
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Ceoli JacobyMay 13, 2026 11:25 a.m.
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Data center projects in Montgomery County would be placed on hold for two years if legislation introduced by Councilmember Will Jawando (D-At-large) on Tuesday passes.
“When data centers are built without guardrails, without planning, without accountability, without firm, hard commitments around clean energy, they do not serve our community well,” Jawando said during a Tuesday press conference at the council office building in Rockville.
A two-year pause on data center development, would give the council enough time to “get the standards right,” Jawando said during Tuesday’s press conference.
Under Jawando’s bill, the county’s Department of Permitting would be barred from issuing data center building permits for two years after the moratorium takes effect, which would happen immediately if the bill becomes law.
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Councilmember Kristin Mink (D-Dist. 5) is co-sponsoring Jawando’s moratorium bill. Also supportive are several local and regional environmental groups including the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and the Climate Coalition of Montgomery County.
Jawando has raised the idea of a two-year data center moratorium before, including in March during a live taping of WAMU’s “The Politics Hour with Kojo Nnamdi.”
“We don’t need to rush,” Jawando said at the time. “In two years, they’re still gonna want to build data centers.”
Jawando was joined on the show by Councilmembers Evan Glass (D-At-large) and Andrew Friedson (D-Dist. 1), who are also among the candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for county executive in the June 23 primary election.
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All three have called for future data centers in the county to use clean energy, but disagree about whether or for how long to impose a moratorium on their development.
Other calls for moratorium
Glass last week introduced a bill to implement a six-month moratorium on data center development. Glass previously sponsored legislation that would have established a task force to study the benefits and drawbacks of future data centers in the county. The task force bill was rejected in March by two council committees.
The moratorium outlined in Glass’ latest bill would apply to data centers for which a conditional use application is submitted on or after the effective date of the bill.
It would also apply to data centers that already have a conditional use application pending and those that have received conditional use approval, but have not yet obtained the building or grading permits necessary to begin construction.
During Tuesday’s press conference, Jawando said “it’s good that you have several council members that say that we do need a pause.”
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But there is disagreement between Jawando and Glass about whether both of the proposed moratoria would impact a planned 300 megawatt data center campus at the site of a former coal-fired power plant in Dickerson. The campus would be developed by Atmosphere Data Centers, a California-based company.
During Tuesday’s press conference, Jawando said the Atmosphere is likely to secure the permits needed to begin construction on the Dickerson campus before Glass’ bill takes effect.
“The Dickerson decision is one of enormous magnitude. We have several data centers here, smaller ones, but this is a different beast altogether,” Jawando said, adding that his goal is to “actually impact and have a real pause here in Montgomery County.”
Glass, meanwhile, has said he is committed to making sure his moratorium applies retroactively to the Dickerson data center project by amending the bill as needed during the legislative process.
County Executive Marc Elrich (D) has expressed doubts about whether a pause on development is needed. In February, he said the developers of the planned Dickerson campus specifically “have a right to go forward” in the county’s planning process after an attorney for Atmosphere said a moratorium has the potential to “derail” the project.
So far, Friedson has not expressed support for either of his colleagues’ moratorium bills. He is in favor of proposed amendments to a data center zoning text amendment also under consideration by the council, including one to address concerns about carbon emissions.
Public hearings on both moratorium bills are scheduled for June 16.
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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine