Rockville, MD — Today, the Montgomery County Council unanimously voted to establish an 18-month moratorium on new data center facilities. The moratorium, once signed into law, will codify and expand protections from County Executive Marc Elrich’s June executive order which paused data center development for six months. Council also approved zoning text amendments to the county’s current zoning ordinances that block any data centers larger than 25 megawatts from being built in the county. 

The move is a critical victory for data center opponents, who are calling on the county to go further, including by developing a comprehensive plan for engaging county residents and weighing the full impacts that hyperscale data centers would have if allowed in the future. Advocates also want the county to implement rules and regulations for data centers under 25 megawatts, which are not covered under today’s moratorium.

Jorge Aguilar, Southern Regional Director with Food & Water Watch issued the following statement:

“As an AI data center invasion threatens our homes, we applaud the Montgomery County Council for taking this much needed action to curb the rushed buildout of hyperscale data centers in places like Dickerson. This victory belongs to the growing data center opposition movement — and we aren’t stopping here.

“Today’s vote shows that the council is committed to protecting families from Big Tech’s AI data center takeover, and advocates look forward to seeing future rulemaking to protect the public and engage them in siting decisions.” 

A Food & Water Watch report lays out the wide range of harms and hazards associated with the sudden explosion of the data center industry in the United States, including: 

• Annual water usage equivalent to 18.5 million households by 2028; annual electricity usage equivalent to 55 million households by 2028.
• Dangerous new demand for fossil fuels, posing heightened risks of air and water pollution for impacted communities and a grave threat to our global climate.
• A host of other societal threats, from national economic catastrophe, to loss of critical farmland, to unrelenting noise pollution, to threats to children and democracy.