As Charles County, Prince George's County and Calvert County now all have effective moratoriums on data center development in their counties, and St. Mary's County has yet to pass the zoning changes needed for data center development, the anti-data center momentum in Southern Maryland continues! Residents in each County in the Southern MD region have made abundantly clear what the overwhelming consensus is: short-term moratoriums are only a temporary solution, but what we really need is a PERMANENT BAN on data centers in our Counties, as they have already passed in Harford County, MD.

Join us on Saturday, September 12 at 11 AM for a regional Southern MD-wide meeting, to call for permanent bans on harmful data center development in our respective counties/region. This regional meeting will be co-hosted by several groups who've been leading the fights against data centers in Southern MD, including the Charles County Against Data Centers Coalition, the Southern MD Sierra Club, the People's Coalition for Freedom and Unity, and Informed St. Mary's.

At this meeting, groups representing each Southern MD County will have an opportunity to present on what is the current status of the data center fights in each of our respective Counties, we will be discussing why short-term moratoriums are inadequate solutions and why permanent bans are necessary, and we will also be debunking common talking points and attacks used to try to dissuade Counties from pursuing outright bans on data centers. We will also be doing breakout groups by County at the event, so that attendees from each County have an opportunity to learn how to get more involved with the groups and movements against data centers in their particular County.

This event is scheduled just 3 days before a Public Hearing in Charles County on Tuesday, September 15 at 6 PM at the Charles County Government Building at 200 Baltimore Street, La Plata, MD 20646, on 2 bills that pertain directly to Southern Maryland: 1. A regional ban on data centers that would apply to Charles, Calvert and St. Mary's counties; and 2. A 3-5 year regional moratorium on data center development that would apply to Charles, Calvert and St. Mary's counties. The Sept. 15 hearing will also include proposals on a statewide ban and statewide 3-5 year moratorium, too, which we also encourage people to testify in support of. You can read the exact proposals that were submitted for the Public Hearing here.

The September 15 Public Hearing will be in front of the Charles County Commissioners and Charles County State Delegation on state legislative proposals from the Charles County Commissioners and Charles County residents, which members of the Charles County State Delegation may introduce at the next state General Assembly in January, if there is enough support for the proposals. Although this is a Public Hearing with the Charles County Commissioners and State Delegation, though, residents from other Counties are still allowed to testify in support of the proposals, as well. As a Code Home Rule county, as explained in this document from the Maryland Association of Counties, the Charles County State Delegation has the ability to introduce "Public Local Laws" which apply to all of the Counties in the same "class" of code counties that Charles County is a part of. State law (MD Code, Local Government, § 9-302) puts Charles, Calvert and St. Mary's counties all in the same class of code counties (the Southern Maryland class), meaning any Public Local Law passed by the Maryland General Assembly would apply to those counties, and only to those counties. Attending the September 12 event will be a great way to educate yourself on the necessity of permanent data center bans in preparation of the Sept. 15 Public Hearing. We hope to see you there!