Maryland is tightening its rules for data centers, joining a growing number of states pushing back on the industry's demands for power, water and land. On Wednesday, Democratic Governor Wes Moore signed an executive order establishing a statewide framework for large data centers, requiring projects of 25 megawatts or more seeking state action to undergo a standardized review of their effects on the electric grid, water supplies, communities and the state's economy. "Truthfully, the people are fed up, and so am I," Moore told WTOP.
The order creates a state task force to review projects. It also establishes a public dashboard that will disclose information, including a project's location, developer, expected electricity demand and water use, requested state approvals, and the task force's determination. "Marylanders will be able to see what a company has proposed, how much electricity and how much water it expects to use, and how it plans to meet those needs," Moore said.
The approach puts Maryland in the middle of a rapidly changing national debate over an industry that states once competed aggressively to attract. Texas, meanwhile, has taken a different approach. Republican Governor Greg Abbott has directed the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to stop issuing permits sought by data centers while state agencies conduct audits of their electricity and water demands.
The two states illustrate the choices now confronting policymakers as artificial intelligence drives demand for enormous new computing facilities: impose a pause, impose new conditions, or continue trying to attract data center investment while making developers pay more of the costs. Moore's executive order creates what his administration describes as one standard, one review process and one public record for large data centers seeking state action. Projects are set to be evaluated against five principles: The task force is expected to include representatives from the Maryland Energy Administration and the departments of commerce, labor, environment, natural resources, agriculture and planning.
The group would issue a written determination for each project: "Aligned," "Conditionally Aligned" or "Not Aligned." The state's public dashboard is supposed to be updated monthly. The order also directs the administration to incorporate the new standards into the state's existing data-center incentive process to the extent allowed by law. Moore said Marylanders "deserve a real say in what happens in their communities, and truthfully, that is just common sense.
Local governments know their communities better than anybody." Moore is separately asking the General Assembly to repeal Maryland's data-center sales and use tax exemption, which dates to 2020. That would require legislative action as the executive order itself does not repeal the exemption. Texas has taken a more direct approach to slowing data-center development.
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