HOWARD COUNTY, Md. (WBFF) — The Howard County Council just passed a temporary pause on new data center development in order to study the impacts of data centers.
“We really need to update our outdated regulations that were last, really put in around 1993. So this is not just a pause to say hold on calamity, it’s actually a pause to make meaningful recommendations and create meaningful change,” Councilmember Christiana Rigby, the bill’s sponsor, said.
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The bill places a moratorium on data centers until November of 2027, so a task force can be appointed. The task force will study various impacts of data centers related to noise, locations, energy and water consumption, as well as zoning regulations. The councilmembers will then consider those findings to update the county’s code.
While Rigby noted the county already has smaller data centers in place, she said “as we continue to grow, we know that in this modern world, that data centers will grow, but we have to ensure that any of that growth is occurring in a way that is thoughtful and respectful to our residents and businesses that are here and to the planet that we all inhabit.”
I certainly understand the pushback by some for us to do this, but the reality is, we are not alone doing this, pretty everyone much around, all the counties around us are doing this,” Howard County Councilmember David Yungmann said.
The bill now heads to County Executive Calvin Ball‘s desk.
“I support being thoughtful about data centers. It is important to modernize our regulations, so that this new technology isn’t driving up the cost of energy, consuming too much water, or degrading our quality of life,” a statement from County Councilmember Deb Jung reads.
Howard County is the latest county to consider temporary restrictions on data centers. Prince George’s County, Baltimore County and Baltimore City have all had similar discussions.
“I think there’s a real opportunity for Baltimore to be a leader in putting thoughtful guardrails on this technology, so that the harms are not disproportionately borne by residents,” Baltimore City Council President Zeke Cohen previously said.
Leaders in Harford County are considering a data center ban, which is currently up for debate. A hearing on the bill is currently scheduled for June 9.
“We’ve done our homework, we looked at this very carefully, and we were just not able to both protect the citizens and accommodate these data centers,” Harford County Executive Bob Cassilly said.
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