Baltimore residents crowded a City Council hearing Thursday to oppose a bill they fear could crack open the door to data center development despite the city's active moratorium on such projects. Council Bill 26-0174, introduced by Councilmember Phylicia Porter, would require any future data center to obtain a conditional-use permit and undergo a health equity assessment. The council did not vote on the measure Thursday.
The bill, as described in reporting from CBS News Baltimore, would establish a health equity assessment examining potential impacts within a 1.5-mile radius of any proposed data center as part of the permit application process. Porter told the hearing that her legislation aligns with the moratorium and welcomed efforts to strengthen it further, adding that no current legislation exists to ban data centers outright in Baltimore. She also said the health equity assessment would shift disclosure responsibility onto the developer rather than the city or residents.
A Petition Demanding a Full Ban
Opposition at the hearing centered on Hillary Gonzalez, founder of the People's Green Liberation Coalition, who presented a petition with nearly 8,500 signatures. Gonzalez said the signers are Baltimore City residents and voters seeking a full citywide data center ban, not a conditional-permitting framework. She argued the data center industry is rushing to build before additional regulations can take hold, and she urged councilmembers to extend the moratorium and give the city more time to study the issue.
At the hearing, one resident said AI data centers threaten the lives of children, while another said the facilities increase heat pollution and noise pollution in surrounding neighborhoods. Baltimore City has an active data center moratorium even as the council bill proposes a permitting pathway, and the bill has drawn opposition from residents seeking a full citywide ban.
Councilman Warns of a Back Door
Councilman Mark Conway also opposed the bill at the hearing, saying it creates a back door for data centers and does not sufficiently protect Baltimore residents. Conway pointed to Section 5-411(d), which allows a project to proceed if decision-makers find that a compelling public interest outweighs negative community public-health impacts. He questioned how much additional burden Baltimore neighborhoods should be asked to accept in the name of broader public interest, and he called for a clearer standard for projects affecting communities already facing environmental and public health challenges.
Porter has since announced amendments to the bill, including an update to the definition of a data center and a change assigning review of the health assessment to the city's Office of Sustainability. Despite the pushback, the reporting is clear on one contested point: the existing data center moratorium would not be lifted if the bill were approved. The hearing followed a meeting the previous day in which Baltimore city leaders met with agencies to discuss potential data center impacts on the city.
Part of a Nationwide Regulatory Wave
Baltimore's fight is unfolding amid a surge of local action nationwide. According to the Federation of American Scientists, which reviewed 42 local data center ordinances and 12 state actions, 33 of those local measures passed in 2026 alone, compared with just two in 2024 and six in 2025. The actions span 24 states and include moratoria, special permits, setbacks, noise limits and water-use restrictions.
Some of those measures have gone further than what Baltimore is debating. Monterey Park, California voters approved Measure NDC 3 on June 2, 2026, with 86% support, in what the Federation of American Scientists describes as the first local voter-enacted ban on data center construction in the country. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul's Executive Order 62, issued July 14, 2026, created the first statewide data center permitting moratorium in the nation. Reno, Nevada, took a middle path in June, extending its own temporary moratorium until August 2027 or until new regulations are adopted, a move the city council approved 6-1 according to Nevada Current, with officials saying the pause would let them study strain on energy, water, noise and air quality.
Texas has emerged as a particular hotspot, with localities there primarily adopting moratoria, zoning and permitting frameworks, or resolutions expressing disapproval, per MultiState. Austin County passed a countywide moratorium on new AI data center and battery-storage projects in July, while El Paso now requires new facilities to sit at least 300 feet from residential neighborhoods or ecological sites and obtain a special-use permit. Forney restricts data centers to light-industrial zoning with a conditional-use permit and a 1,000-foot residential buffer. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also directed state regulators in early August to audit data centers connecting to the electric grid, and MultiState reports that no data center project will move forward in the state until that audit is complete.
Back in Baltimore, the debate over Council Bill 26-0174 remains unresolved. Porter's amendments to the bill's definitions and review process may address some concerns, but for residents like Gonzalez and officials like Conway, the underlying question is whether a permitting framework can ever adequately shield neighborhoods already burdened by environmental and public health challenges.
