‘The urgency is real’: Glass introduces bill to halt data center permits

County Councilmember says six-month moratorium would apply retroactively to planned Dickerson campus

May 6, 2026 8:50 p.m. | Updated: May 6, 2026 8:52 p.m.

Montgomery County Councilmember Evan Glass (D-At-large) on Tuesday introduced a bill to temporarily pause the development of data centers in the county, including a project in Dickerson that already is pending final approval.

During a Tuesday press conference at the council office building in Rockville, Glass cited county residents’ concerns about the potential environmental impacts of future data centers — specifically, a 360-megawatt campus proposed at the site of a former coal-fired power plant in Dickerson — as a driving force behind his decision to push for a moratorium.

“The urgency is real. Our climate is on the line, the cost of utilities are on the line, and these decisions are irreversible,” Glass said. “We have to be very prudent in how we move forward.”

Glass’ bill would prevent the county’s Department of Permitting from accepting, reviewing or issuing building or grading permits for data centers projects for a period of six months. The clock on the moratorium would start as soon as the bill takes effect.

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If approved by the council, the moratorium 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.

Montgomery Planning staff are still reviewing an amended conditional use application from Atmosphere Data Centers, the California-based developer behind the proposed data center campus in Dickerson.

Even if that application is approved and Atmosphere obtains grading and building permits before the council takes a final vote on the moratorium bill, Glass said he would make changes to his bill to ensure the pause applies retroactively to the Dickerson project.

Other legislative efforts

The proposed moratorium is the latest attempt by a councilmember to regulate the development of data centers in the county.

On Jan. 20, Council President Natali Fani-González (D-Dist. 6), Vice President Marilyn Balcombe (D-Dist. 26) and Councilmember Laurie-Anne Sayles (D-At-large) introduced a zoning text amendment aimed at limiting where data centers can be built.

On the same day, Glass introduced separate legislation that would have created a task force to study the potential impacts of future data centers in the county. That bill was shot down in March in a joint vote by the council’s Economic Development and Transportation & Environment committees.

Early last month, Fani-González, Balcombe and Sayles proffered a series of amendments to their zoning proposal to address the possible environmental impacts of data centers.

One amendment would require all data centers that use more than 20 megawatts of electricity to either use 100% carbon-free energy or match their usage of non-renewables through the purchase of renewable energy certificates from power suppliers.

Another would prohibit data centers in the county from using potable water for cooling.

Both amendments would apply retroactively to the Dickerson campus, which already plans to use water from the Potomac River for cooling rather than water from the area’s aquifer.

According to Balcombe, the proposed amendments will be formally introduced during a session of the council’s Planning, Housing and Parks (PHP) committee, which is expected to review the full zoning text amendment in late June or early July.

If the committee accepts the amendments, they would be part of the package that advances to the full council, which could still consider them individually.

Elrich’s position

The first elected official to publicly float the concept of a moratorium on data center development was County Executive Marc Elrich (D).

During a February public hearing on the proposed data center zoning text amendment, county Climate Change Officer Sarah Kogel-Smucker said Elrich would be open to a moratorium of up to six months on data center development “if the council needs more time” to develop regulations for the facilities.

Atmosphere pushed back against the idea during the same public hearing, with attorney Scott Wallace telling the council a moratorium “would significantly delay, and quite possibly derail the project.”

“Imposing a moratorium would be unfair given the deliberate, thoughtful way the stakeholders in the project have pursued approvals under existing county rules,” Wallace said at the time.

Asked during his weekly media briefing Wednesday about Glass’ proposed moratorium, Elrich seemed uncertain about the idea. He said he has not ruled out a temporary moratorium on data centers but would be inclined to go about it in a different way.

“My thinking is, if I do it … I would do it to a date certain, long enough to give the council the time to actually create legislation,” Elrich said.

“I think the council has enough information to act without waiting six months,” he continued. “Whichever way we go, we should know what we’re gonna do sooner than later.”

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 in the June 23 Democratic primary.

Whether to impose a moratorium on data center development and for how long has become a point of contention among the candidates vying to succeed Elrich.

Two of the three sitting councilmembers in the race — Glass and Will Jawando (both D-At-large) — have expressed support for the concept of a data center moratorium, with Jawando saying the moratorium should be in place for as long as two years. Glass in January won the endorsement of the Montgomery County Sierra Club.

Councilmember Andrew Friedson (D-Dist. 1), who is also seeking the Democratic nomination for county executive, has not expressed support for a moratorium. He says data centers in the county should bring their own clean energy sources, a position on which he is aligned with his main primary opponents.

Bethesda Today reporter Elia Griffin contributed to this story.

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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine