Participants spoke out at the Baltimore County Planning Board meeting to shape recommendations on zoning, environmental impacts, and oversight; demanded leaders put neighborhoods before Big Tech interests

TOWSON, MD — To demand greater community involvement in data center projects, Baltimore County residents, including clergy, students, and environmental advocates, gathered outside the Jefferson Building in Downtown Towson yesterday, Thursday, May 21. Participants, including voices from Interfaith Power & Light (DC.MD.NoVA), Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) Action Fund, and Sierra Club Greater Baltimore Group, then attended the 5:00 PM public input meeting, where many testified.

“I’m grateful to Baltimore County for slowing down the data center gold rush long enough to allow time for public input and proactive planning,” says Delegate Sheila S. Ruth (D-44B). “Given the huge potential impact that data centers have on communities and the environment, I call on the Planning Board to develop meaningful recommendations on whether, where, and how data centers should be built in the county, and to ensure that communities have an opportunity to weigh in early in the planning process for any proposed data center.”

“The voices of people like my family – people who will be most impacted – must be at the center of the conversation about building data centers in Baltimore County,” says Joshua Long of Interfaith Power & Light (DC.MD.NoVA), whose family lives in Woodlawn, where Security Land and Development LP proposed to build a 150 MW data center last fall. “As a parent, I worry about the infrastructure and energy demand for such a facility making our energy bills even worse; I worry about pollution of our local waterways with chemicals; I worry about noise and heat island effects further diminishing safe places for my children to play outdoors. And as a person of faith, I am angry at the environmental injustice of proposing to place a data center in my neighborhood, a place where so many Black and immigrant families live.”

In February, the Baltimore County Council unanimously passed Bill Number 3-26, a one-year moratorium on data centers until the Baltimore County Planning Board completes its study on the impacts of data centers and presents its findings to the Council. As part of the legislation, the Planning Board held a single public input meeting at its offices in Towson, where County residents testified in person and virtually. The study is due on October 1st, 2026.

 “We need to put our communities first, not Big Tech,” said Dustin Branch of Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) Action Fund. “Development can change the trajectory of a neighborhood for decades. As we’ve seen with the repeated splitting up of communities like Historic East Towson, people often pay the price for private profit. Homes in Black communities like Woodlawn, where the 150-megawatt data center was proposed, are valued 21-23% less than comparable homes in other neighborhoods. On top of skyrocketing utility bills, working families across the county are already dealing with rampant flooding brought on by climate change, and in a place like Baltimore County which was built upon a delicate system of rivers leading to the Chesapeake Bay, our elected officials have an opportunity to join us in defending our communities from the uncertainties and burdens brought on by polluting, fossil fuel-driven data centers.”

The Planning Board’s study will research topics, including assessing the electricity and water usage of data centers, and make recommendations to the Baltimore County Council on appropriate siting, community notice and outreach requirements, zoning changes, and other topics. This public input process was a critical opportunity for residents to directly influence recommendations on zoning, environmental safeguards, and transparency requirements. 

“We are concerned about data centers slowing our transition away from fossil fuel-generated electricity, the significant water usage and potential contamination, and air and noise pollution impacting the health of county residents and biodiversity,” said Marie LaPorte of the Greater Baltimore Group of the Sierra Club. “When people talk about the need for public safety, it includes a safe and healthy environment.”

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Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) Action Fund is dedicated to driving change in public policies at the local, state, and national levels to address the climate crisis. Through voter education, lobbying, and participation in the electoral process, we seek to advance our country’s leadership in the global movement toward clean energy solutions — focusing our efforts primarily in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC. We know that a vibrant democracy is central to our success, so we work to defend democratic integrity wherever we can.

Through Interfaith Power & Light (DC.MD.NoVA), hundreds of congregations of all faiths across Maryland and the DC area are coming together to save energy, go green, and respond to the climate crisis. IPL-DMV is coordinating faith communities in joining the grassroots response to data center development across the region through their Real Wisdom program: ipldmv.org/realwisdom.

Greater Baltimore Group of the Sierra Club: As part one of the most respected environmental groups in the country, Sierra Club helps enact change from the top down (legislatively) and from the bottom up (through grassroots education/organization). Greater Baltimore Group (GBG) spans the coastal area from Hawkins Point up to Havre de Grace, then north to PA. We are most effective when members from Baltimore City, Baltimore County, and Harford County bring a diversity of experiences, skills and ideas to the table. We work on a broad range of issues impacting the environment.