Maryland Governor Wes Moore signed an executive order establishing statewide guardrails for data center development, creating a task force to review large projects and a public dashboard tracking their water use, power demand, and permits. The move lands as counties across the state have been racing ahead of Annapolis with their own moratoriums and outright bans on the server farms reshaping Maryland's landscape.
The new task force will review proposed data center projects requiring more than 25 megawatts whenever a developer requests a state permit, incentive, or letter of support, according to WBAL-TV. Its membership draws from the Maryland Energy Administration along with the departments of commerce, labor, environment, natural resources, agriculture, and planning. Reviewers will weigh ratepayer and grid protection, economic benefits for Marylanders, community voice, environmental protections, and transparency, then classify each project as aligned, conditionally aligned, or not aligned.
“By signing this executive order, we are establishing clear safeguards…” Moore said, per the station's report. The task force will also maintain a public dashboard disclosing each project's developer, projected power demand, projected water use, and the status of every state action a company has requested — and it's tasked with supporting local governments navigating their own zoning fights.
Moore Also Wants the 2020 Tax Break Repealed
Moore said he will seek repeal of a 2020 tax exemption that lets qualifying data centers skip Maryland's sales and use tax, provided they create at least five net new jobs for the life of the benefit — a program originally meant to lure high-tech investment. Watchdog group Good Jobs First found that break cost the state $22 million in forgone revenue in 2026 alone, according to The Baltimore Banner.
The pivot marks a reversal from just two years ago. In 2024, Moore signed the Critical Infrastructure Streamlining Act, which clarified the framework for emergency backup generation and enabled automatic approvals, per Quantum Loophole.
Counties Have Already Moved Without the State
Local governments haven't waited for Annapolis. Baltimore County's council voted Tuesday to extend its temporary data center moratorium through December 2027, while Harford County approved the state's first indefinite ban on data centers in June, the station reported. Multiple Baltimore-area counties now have moratoriums running until 2027, and the Baltimore City Planning Commission discussed its own restrictive bill last month.
Maryland is far from alone. Lawmakers in 16 states, including Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, are weighing moratoriums or bans on data centers, per the same WBAL-TV account. Four Republican delegates introduced House Bill 120 in 2025 to prohibit data center construction statewide; it got a hearing in January but never came to a vote. Moore has said he would “absolutely sign” a legislative moratorium if the General Assembly passes one in 2027, a comment reported by The Hill amid growing bipartisan pressure for a freeze.
Grid Strain Fuels the Regional Backlash
The pressure isn't just political. Regional grid operator PJM Interconnection projects 32 gigawatts of peak load growth across its multistate territory between 2024 and 2030, with roughly 94% of that growth tied directly to data centers, according to Introl.
Neighboring Virginia, a major data center market, took similar action last week. Governor Abigail Spanberger issued an executive order eliminating by-right approvals for projects over 25 megawatts and banning state non-disclosure agreements tied to data center deals, as reported by FFXnow. The parallel actions in two neighboring states over a matter of days suggest the same 25-megawatt threshold is emerging as a regional standard for triggering closer scrutiny.
House Bill 1534 includes Tier 4 emission controls and sound limits, as previously reported by Hoodline. With county-by-county bans, a stalled statehouse bill, and now a governor's task force all operating at once, Maryland's data center fight is playing out on nearly every level of government simultaneously — and Moore's own comments suggest a statewide legislative moratorium remains squarely on the table if the new safeguards don't satisfy local communities.
