On July 21, 2026, the Charles County Commissioners unanimously decided to withdraw the proposed Zoning Text Amendment that would've allowed for data centers to be built in Charles County, if passed, and also decided to create a Task Force to study the impacts of data centers, while the zoning process to enable data center construction is paused in the meantime.

However, there are several huge issues with the so-called "Task Force" that the Commissioners decided to pursue on July 21: the County Commissioners expressed support for a Task Force in general, but did not specify any details about the Task Force, such as who would be on it, how they would be appointed, what the scope of the Task Force would be, and perhaps most importantly, how long the Task Force would last for (which in turn determines how long the effective moratorium on data center zoning and development in the County would last for). While leaving all of those details unspecified, the County Commissioners instructed County staff to draft a Resolution, which would presumably specify what those important details of the proposed Task Force may be, while the County Commissioners were away for their August recess.

This Resolution has still not been formally proposed yet, meaning the features of this supposed Task Force are still open to being changed, hopefully in response to strong community pressure and advocacy for certain Task Force features which will reduce the Task Force's chances of being co-opted by supporters of the data center industry, as has happened in many other local jurisdictions who have created similar Task Forces thus far.

Perhaps the most glaring issue with the vague Task Force proposal that the County Commissioners decided to begin exploring on July 21 is the "hybrid" nature of the Task Force. For context, this Task Force and moratorium idea was first proposed by Commissioner Gilbert Bowling back in March, and although it did not pass at that time, he was very clear then that what he wanted was a "Resident-led" Task Force. Dozens of residents subsequently sent the County Commissioners emails, echoing Commissioner Bowling's call for a resident-led Task Force and data center moratorium.

But unfortunately, the County Commissioners do not currently seem to be intending to create a "resident-led" Task Force, as so many County residents were calling for. Instead, the County Commissioners came to the consensus to create a "hybrid" Task Force, which would apparently be spearheaded and "facilitated" by unnamed private consultants. Let's be 100% clear here: NO ONE asked for a "hybrid" Task Force with the involvement of private consultants! County residents were very clear that what they wanted was a RESIDENT-LED Task Force!

Luckily because the Task Force resolution has not been presented nor voted on yet, this means that we still have time to influence the composition of the Task Force, and to try to pressure the County Commissioners to drop the "hybrid"/private consultant component of the Task Force, so that it truly is resident-led, and so we do not have to worry about private consultants who would likely have sympathies to the data center companies trying to bias the Task Force in a pro-data center direction, as has happened with most of these types of Task Forces in other counties.

Please fill out this letter-writing campaign to send all 5 County Commissioners, and the candidates in the upcoming General Election, an email calling for the Commissioners to fulfill Commissioner Bowling and the community's original call for a RESIDENT-LED Task Force, without interference or involvement from private consultants! The fact that the Task Force resolution still has not been introduced or voted on yet also means that we still have an opportunity to try to influence the other Task Force features, too, such as how the appointment process works and how long the Task Force will last for, and so this letter-writing campaign also addresses those features, as well.

The features that we are calling for in a RESIDENT-LED (not a "hybrid" one with private consultants) Task Force include the following:

1. Length of time of task force: Minimum of 3-5 Years

2. Composition of the task force: A Charles County Against Data Centers Coalition member, zoning expert, environmental expert, racial justice advocate, no more than 1 industry participant, public health expert, a community member from each Commissioner district

- No county employees or appointees on the Task Force

- No private consultants on the Task Force

3. Appointment process– County Commissioners should not appoint task force members, to prevent political interference in the appointment process. Instead, an Independent Third party appointee board should make these recommendations, made up of credible organizations and experts, such as Sierra Club, Center for Engagement, Environmental Justice and Health (CEEJH), Food & Water Watch, etc.

4. Public Participation & Input Process: A certain number of public engagement hearings, community roundtables, and discussion sessions should be required

- All Task Force meetings shall be public

- Each meeting have a public testimony section

- The task force shall be mandated to hold at least two town halls per district per year

- Public comments should be allowed for the duration of the Task Force, with the Task Force needing to provide a substantive response to each unique public comment

- Task force should be required to meet with community members impacted by data centers from other counties/states to get input

- Before the recommendations are made final, the Task Force shall hold a final town hall to go over the recommendations and receive input from community members

- The Task Force, after finalizing recommendations, shall present the recommendations to the Commissioners, and there shall be a Public Comment section immediately preceeding this presentation

5. Scope of the Task Force: The Task Force should focus on negative impacts of data centers on the environment, economy, public health, and racial and socioeconomic inequities.

- The Task Force should have the Possibility of recommending that the Charles County government not allow data center development at all, and/or outright ban them