Maryland won’t have data center study by Sept. 1. Why a lawmaker remains hopeful

BALTIMORE (WBFF) — Maryland’s statewide study of data center development was supposed to be delivered Sept. 1. Instead, everyone anticipating the details will have to wait a bit longer for an analysis they hope will help answer questions already reshaping communities across the state.

State Sen. Karen Lewis Young, a Frederick County Democrat who sponsored the legislation, said the report is meant to offer a more independent look at the economic, environmental and energy consequences of data centers as Maryland counties set their own rules.

“The only study that was done was done by the Maryland Tech Council,” Young said. “They’re not exactly an objective entity. Whereas I’m hoping in the state study we’ll have a more objective analysis and a better understanding of both the costs and the benefits.”

The study was delayed after Gov. Wes Moore vetoed the original bill in 2025 as part of a package of studies that he said would be too costly and labor-intensive amid state budget uncertainty. Lawmakers later overrode the veto.

Young said the new report should help policymakers weigh the industry’s promised economic gains against its demand for electricity, water and land.

“We need to much better quantify the job opportunities because most of them are short-term,” Young said. “They’re during buildout. They don’t exist once they’re established.”

She also said the state needs a more comprehensive examination of water use and other effects that do not stop at county lines.

“Water and air don’t necessarily respect county boundaries,” Young said. “For many of these very important issues, we need to look at it from a state perspective.”

The study will not directly address health consequences, according to Young, who said that could require a second phase of research. She pointed to studies in Virginia and argued Maryland should not overlook the question.

Young’s comments come as concerns about the industry range from noise and light pollution to diesel generator emissions, water use and pressure on the regional power grid.

Still, Young said she is not calling for the state to turn away data centers.

“We’re going to need data centers as long as there’s a growing demand for A.I., which is what’s really driving data centers,” she said. “So, they need to pay their fair share.”

Gov. Moore has said that developers, not taxpayers, should bear the cost of the infrastructure needed to support the industry.

“Data centers have to bring their own energy,” Moore said. “And they have to be able to pay for their own improvements or pay for their energy. Taxpayers cannot pay for it.”

The governor has also said projects must follow environmental standards, avoid polluting air and water, hire local workers and give local jurisdictions a meaningful say in where development occurs.

The Maryland Tech Council, which represents technology businesses and formed a Data Center Alliance, said the study should be a tool for creating standards, not an excuse to let Maryland lose prospective investment.

Kelly Schulz, the council’s chief executive, said moratoriums can be useful if counties use the time to learn from jurisdictions already confronting data-center development.

“I get that you want to take time to figure out what those guardrails are,” Schulz said during an interview on FOX45 News In Depth. “But use that time in order to be able to figure out what’s going right in other areas.”

Schulz said the industry needs community support to succeed, but warned leaders against assuming developers will wait indefinitely for Maryland.

“The community has to be okay with what is happening in their community,” she said. “But we also need to be prepared to put those guardrails up so that we don’t lose an opportunity that could be very beneficial for those same communities.”

In Frederick County, where construction is underway near Adamstown, officials have paused new data center development through the end of the year while existing projects continue. The county has rules on noise, vibration, lighting, landscaping, buffers near homes and water use.

But for farmer Steve Black, whose property is near the development area, the study’s eventual findings will arrive as decisions with permanent consequences are already being made.

“Once you destroy that land, you have lost that tool and you cannot get it back,” Black said. “You can redevelop an industrial site, but you can never go back to agricultural production.”

While the next legislative session doesn’t start until January 2027, Young said she’s already preparing, regardless of when the study is published. She said she has formed what she described as a grassroots work group of community volunteers and is “working on legislation right now.”

The study, she said, should give lawmakers a factual starting point. But she does not expect it to settle every question about water, energy, health, transparency and who ultimately pays for Maryland’s A.I. expansion.

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