By PETER RICCIO and HOLLIDAY WOODARD
Capital News Service
WASHINGTON – A proposed data center project in Prince George’s County, Maryland, was paused on Sept. 16 to give a task force time to evaluate potential impacts on public health, the environment and energy demand.
The Prince George’s project is controversial, underscoring growing public concerns over the proliferation of data centers nationwide.
Data centers can range from massive warehouse-sized facilities to office buildings and are the physical backbone of everything digital.
The growth of these centers has surged, with 44 operational or planned data centers in Maryland, according to Data Center Map. Prince George’s County is one of the latest battlegrounds where local opposition has slowed what data center supporters insist would be a major boom to the economy.
“The only reason the county is considering data centers is for money,” Prince George’s County Council Member Wala Blegay said in an interview with Capital News Service. “The reality is that our commercial tax base is very low. We’re mostly relying on residential (taxes) because our residents are not able to get relief on the high property taxes that we have here. That is why we are looking at data centers.”
Blegay’s District 6 borders the District of Columbia and is mostly inside the Capital Beltway, encompassing communities including Suitland, District Heights, Marlow Heights, Camp Springs and Forestville.
The county council created the Qualified Data Center Task Force in April 2025. The council faced local protests at their three meetings in July from residents concerned about energy consumption, electric bills and environmental factors.
On Sept. 16, the council approved a resolution pausing the development of current and future data center projects until the task force has completed its work. The task force is expected to release its findings in November.
“There is no point in having a task force if all of these projects can move forward,” Blegay said. “We’re studying all of these infrastructure issues. So we’re talking about the next three months, we’re going to be passing legislation to address that… and we don’t want people to rush out and expedite their process, so they’ll get ahead of us.”
Prince George’s County Executive Aisha Braveboy told Washington’s WTOP radio that the county council’s 2021 decision to speed up the data center approval process “was a huge mistake because the residents have a stake in where these data centers are located.”
“I’m in support generally of data centers,” Braveboy said. “I do believe it’s a really good economic tool in the right locations.”
“I think we gotta look at what the land use implications are and be really thorough in these decisions,” Del. Ashanti F. Martinez, D-Prince George’s, said in a Sept. 18 Instagram post. “You know, at the state level we try to provide as much oversight as possible, and I’m really concerned that we are moving a little fast on the data center conversation.”
Access to electricity and the price residents pay are critics’ primary concerns, as the average monthly electric bill for Maryland, according to poweroutage.us, stands at $167.55. Electric bills are expected to slightly rise with the anticipated new data centers, according to a letter from the Office of People’s Council for the State of Maryland.
“What we know is that no data center is going to be turned on, especially with high gigawatts, not within the next four to five years, because of all the issues with electricity and energy sourcing,” Blegay said.
Maryland currently does not produce enough electricity on its own, so it relies on importing the shortfall from outside the state.
“Historically, Maryland has imported about 40% of its annual electric needs from other states,” according to a 2024 fact sheet from PJM, a transmission organization that coordinates the use of wholesale electricity among 13 states and the District of Columbia.
As of last year, data centers accounted for about 4.4% of total U.S. electricity consumption, according to a report from the Department of Energy (DOE).
“(AI is) a much more significant data hog than any type of search you have today, and it’s something that is exponentially growing with the types of searches Americans are doing,” Michael Kratsios, director of the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, told a Sept. 10 hearing of the Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee’s science, manufacturing, and competitiveness.
The increased use of AI has provided an opening for Republicans who advocate a renewed reliance on traditional fuels to meet the energy demand. Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, for example, wants “good, old-fashioned” coal and gas to provide U.S. power needs.
“When you had 94% of new power generation in America over the last four years, be it wind and solar, that probably isn’t nearly enough to produce the kind of energy that we need to power the AI revolution,” Moreno said at the subcommittee hearing.
But Sen. Edward Markey, D-Massachusetts, warned that “Americans’ electricity bills are going to rise by as much as 25% over the next four years – 25% because of data center demand. It’s not just a future fear, it’s a present problem.”
“So, Mr. Kratsios, do you think it’s appropriate that the administration is forcing Americans to pay more on their electricity bills while using their taxpayer dollars to make the problem even worse by funding the unfettered growth of the AI industry?” Markey asked.
“I do not believe there’s been an administration in American history more committed to growing power generation for the American people and lowering energy costs for everyday Americans,” Kratsios responded. “And I’m proud to work for a president and administration that has that level of commitment.”
In October, PG County will host another public council meeting to continue discussions about the data center. By the end of November, the Prince George’s County Qualified Data Center Task Force will report its findings, giving the council six months to decide on next steps, according to the resolution.
