Maryland risks watching the next wave of cloud capacity settle in other states. That is the warning from Kelly Schulz, CEO of the Maryland Tech Council, who told the Baltimore Sun that restrictions on data centers will likely push the industry outside the state. The Maryland data center moratorium debate has now reached the point where an industry leader is publicly counting the cost.
The pattern is easy to see on a map. Howard County, Prince George’s County, Carroll County and Baltimore City have imposed temporary moratoriums on data center construction, and Harford County has banned the facilities outright. Amazon Web Services, meanwhile, pulled out of a planned project in Lusby in 2026 and never said why. Schulz argues those moves add up to a signal, and developers read signals fast.
This is not only a Maryland story. Grid limits, local backlash and shifting corporate plans are colliding in several markets at once, as we saw when Microsoft walked away from an Nscale data center deal while the UK grid lagged. Maryland is the latest test of whether a state can protect residents and still stay in the cloud infrastructure race.
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What Kelly Schulz Actually Warned About
Schulz leads the Maryland Tech Council, the state’s main industry association for technology and life sciences employers. Her core message is simple. If Maryland builds a reputation for blocking data centers, the projects will go elsewhere, and the tax base and construction work that come with them will follow.
She pointed to Virginia as the cautionary example. According to the Baltimore Sun’s account, Virginia has already captured a data center opportunity she described as “economic and fiscal,” and Maryland could miss out unless it positions itself as data center friendly. The phrase matters because it frames the debate as a budget question, not just a land-use fight.
A second voice backed the timeline. Degliomini of Rekor Systems said the effects of moratoriums and restrictions could show up within two to four years. That is a long enough lag that today’s decisions will not look costly until the next budget cycles, and a short enough one that the damage could be hard to reverse.
The Maryland Data Center Moratorium Map
Local governments, not the state, are writing most of the rules. The result is a patchwork where the severity of the restriction depends on which county line a developer happens to be standing behind. Reports compiled by the Baltimore Sun list the following actions, and The Banner’s explainer on data centers in Maryland offers a plain-language primer for readers who want the local background.
| Jurisdiction | Action reported | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Howard County | Temporary moratorium on data center construction | Pause |
| Prince George’s County | Temporary moratorium on data center construction | Pause |
| Carroll County | Temporary moratorium on data center construction | Pause |
| Baltimore City | Temporary moratorium on data center construction | Pause |
| Harford County | Outright ban on the facilities | Permanent |
| Frederick County (Adamstown) | Campus near Adamstown could yield about $215 million a year from 2036 if fully built | Open, under debate |
Four of the five restrictive jurisdictions chose a pause, not a permanent ban. That distinction matters to developers. A moratorium can end, but it also creates uncertainty, and uncertainty is often enough to send a site selection team to a different state while the pause plays out.
Why Virginia’s Head Start Worries Maryland
Virginia is the benchmark every East Coast state measures itself against. Schulz’s argument is that Virginia already banked the early gains, and each month Maryland hesitates widens the gap. Data center clusters feed on themselves. Once power, fiber, skilled trades and tax treatment line up in one region, new projects tend to land beside the old ones.
The money behind that pull is enormous. Hyperscalers are spending at a pace that would have sounded absurd three years ago, a trend we broke down in our look at Meta’s $34.9B quarter against Tesla’s $4.73B capex. Spending on that scale does not wait for slow permitting. It goes to the jurisdiction that says yes.
Maryland has real advantages on paper. It sits in the same regional electricity market as Virginia, close to federal customers and major fiber routes. But proximity only helps if the state lets projects through the door. If it does not, a developer can serve the same customers from a Virginia campus and Maryland keeps none of the revenue.
Adamstown: The $215 Million Question in Frederick County
The clearest example of what is at stake sits near Adamstown in Frederick County. A data center campus planned there could generate roughly $215 million a year for the county starting in 2036, if it is fully built out. The Baltimore Sun’s coverage frames that figure as the upside Maryland would forgo if the political mood hardens.
Two caveats apply. First, the number depends on full build-out, which is a long road, and the 2036 start date shows how patient the payoff is. Second, the sources we reviewed do not provide a project capacity, a job count or a total investment figure for the campus, so none of those should be assumed. Readers should treat $215 million as a ceiling scenario rather than a forecast.
Even with those limits, the figure explains why Frederick County sits at the center of the argument. A single campus changes local budgets in a way few other private projects can, and residents who live next door weigh that benefit against noise, land use and power demand.
AWS Leaves Lusby, and Nobody Says Why
The other headline fact is a project that vanished. Amazon Web Services had planned a data center in Lusby, near the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, and withdrew in 2026 without publicly explaining the decision. The location was no accident, since proximity to a large nuclear plant signals a serious power strategy.
The silence is the problem. Amazon has offered no reason, so any explanation is guesswork, and we will not guess here. It could reflect local politics, power logistics, internal capacity planning or something else entirely. What can be said is that a major cloud provider left, and Schulz and others now cite the exit as evidence the climate has turned.
For a state trying to attract technology employers, an unexplained departure by the largest cloud provider is a reputational hit regardless of cause. Rivals and site selectors notice it, and they rarely wait for the full story.
The Two-to-Four-Year Lag Effect
Degliomini’s two-to-four-year window is worth unpacking, because it explains why the debate feels abstract today. Data center decisions run on long cycles. Land, power and permits get lined up years before a building opens, so a moratorium imposed this year changes the pipeline that would have opened later in the decade.
What shows up first
The early signs are likely quiet in this kind of slowdown. Projects go unannounced, land options lapse and engineering firms turn to other states. None of that makes a headline, which is why officials can miss it until the gap is obvious.
What shows up later
The later signs are visible in budgets. Counties that passed on development see slower growth in commercial tax revenue, and neighboring states report the construction and operations activity Maryland did not capture. By then, reversing course means starting the pipeline over.
What the Economic Studies Say
Supporters of data centers lean on economic impact research, and Maryland has some of it. Sage Policy Group published a 2025 study of the state. One of its estimates says a typical 800,000-square-foot data center project in Maryland “generates approximately $775 million in economic activity during construction.” The same study estimated about $18 million in state tax revenue during construction.
On jobs, Sage Policy Group stated that “once operational, a typical 800,000-square-foot data center in Maryland can support nearly 500 permanent jobs.” An earlier 2020 Sage Policy Group analysis looked at four Maryland counties and found that “a large data center in four Maryland counties was estimated to generate between $13 and nearly $33 in local tax revenue for every $1 consumed in local government services.”
Readers should weigh these figures with care. They are modeled estimates, not audited outcomes, and the right test for any study like this is who paid for it and what assumptions it uses. They still show why local officials listen when someone promises a better revenue ratio than most commercial land uses can offer.
| Metric | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Economic activity during construction (800,000 sq ft project) | About $775 million | Sage Policy Group, 2025 |
| State tax revenue during construction | About $18 million | Sage Policy Group, 2025 |
| Permanent jobs once operating | Nearly 500 | Sage Policy Group, 2025 |
| Local tax revenue per $1 of services (4 counties) | $13 to nearly $33 | Sage Policy Group, 2020 |
| Frederick County annual revenue, Adamstown campus | About $215 million from 2036 | Baltimore Sun report |
| Community benefits package offered by Maryland developers | $110 million, incl. $30 million for an elementary school | Tom’s Hardware |
The last row shows how the industry is responding. Tom’s Hardware reported that Maryland data center developers offered what it called the biggest community benefits package in US history, a $110 million deal that includes $30 million for an elementary school and a water reclamation system. Developers clearly know they have a trust problem and are trying to buy their way past it.
Power Demand: The Pressure Behind the Pushback
Much of the local resistance traces back to electricity. Gartner forecast in June 2026 that “global data center electricity consumption is forecast to reach 565 terawatt-hours in 2026, up from 447 terawatt-hours in 2025.” That works out to growth of roughly 26% in a single year, and every megawatt has to come from somewhere.
Residents hear numbers like that and ask who pays for the new generation and transmission. Maryland lawmakers have responded with large-load rate rules meant to make data centers cover the grid costs they create, according to state policy documents. Water is the other flashpoint. As we covered in our piece on AI cooling and water use reaching 222 billion liters, cooling choices now shape both siting fights and public opinion.
This is the honest tension in Maryland’s debate. The power and water worries are legitimate, and a moratorium is a blunt but understandable response. The industry’s counter is that rules on cost allocation, not bans, solve the problem while keeping the tax base.
Cloud Market Impact: Where the Capacity Goes Instead
For cloud customers, a blocked Maryland campus does not mean less demand. It means the same workloads land in another state. Capacity planning for enterprises and agencies in the Mid-Atlantic will quietly shift toward Virginia and wherever else developers can get a permit.
The market is not stalling in Maryland altogether. DatacenterDynamics reported a proposed 150MW data center in Baltimore County, which shows developers still see opportunity where rules allow it. Projects like that will be judged against the same political backdrop Schulz is describing.
Teams that run workloads in these regions should also watch cost. When capacity is scarce, pricing power shifts to providers, which is one reason disciplined cost tracking matters, as in our walkthrough of a FinOps pipeline built on FOCUS 1.4. For more infrastructure coverage, see the cloud computing section.
Competitive Comparison: Restrictive vs. Friendly Policy
The table below summarizes the trade-offs as reported. It reflects qualitative positions, not scored rankings, since the sources provide no cross-state metrics.
| Factor | Restrictive approach (several Maryland counties) | Friendly approach (Virginia, per Schulz) |
|---|---|---|
| Developer certainty | Low during moratoriums | Higher, established track record |
| Fiscal upside | Forgoes revenue such as the Adamstown $215 million a year scenario | Captured an “economic and fiscal” opportunity |
| Community control | Strong, local voters set the pace | Weaker, projects advance faster |
| Grid and water risk | Limited by pausing growth | Larger load to manage |
| Time to see effects | Two to four years, per Rekor Systems’ Degliomini | Already visible |
Neither column is free. The restrictive path protects neighborhoods and the grid today and may cost revenue later. The friendly path gets revenue sooner and takes on more infrastructure strain. Governor Wes Moore’s office has also stepped into this space, publishing AI principles and a data center executive order that local community leaders and stakeholders praised, which suggests the state is trying to set terms instead of leaving everything to counties.
Historical Context: How Local Opposition Reshapes Siting
Data center backlash is no longer a rare event. Over the past two years, communities across the US have fought campuses over power, water and noise. The industry’s early playbook was to move fast and sign nondisclosure agreements. Residents now push back harder, and local officials respond to them.
Operational risk has become part of the conversation too. Our report on the cooling failure that hit nine named systems at a George Washington University data center showed how a facility failure can reach far beyond its walls, and that kind of story feeds public caution. Maryland’s moratoriums fit a national pattern, even if the specifics differ by county.
For hyperscalers, the lesson has been to diversify. Amazon’s Lusby exit may reflect many factors, but the broader trend is clear. Companies now keep several candidate sites alive and move capital to whichever jurisdiction clears first.
The Counterargument: Why Residents Push Back
Fairness requires saying that Schulz speaks for an industry group. Her warning is credible, and it is also an advocate’s warning. Residents near proposed sites worry about the load on the grid, the water used for cooling, the noise and the land that disappears for generations.
The strongest local argument is control. A moratorium gives a county time to write zoning, noise and water rules before the first shovel hits the ground. Several of the counties acted precisely because they wanted that time, and a pause is not the same as a rejection.
The practical path likely sits in the middle. Clear standards on power costs, water use and community benefits give residents protection and give developers a predictable rulebook. The question is whether counties can finish that work before projects move on.
Five Predictions for Maryland Data Centers
These are our analysis, not reported facts, and they carry real uncertainty.
- Moratoriums will turn into rulebooks. Expect several of the temporary pauses to end with new zoning and large-load standards instead of simple extensions.
- Frederick County stays the focal point. The $215 million Adamstown scenario gives supporters their best exhibit, and opponents their best target.
- Community benefit deals grow. The $110 million package reported by Tom’s Hardware sets a bar that other developers will feel pressure to match.
- Site selection shifts quietly toward Virginia. Without public announcements, the first sign will be projects that never get named in Maryland.
- The state steps in. With Governor Moore’s executive order already on the books, a more statewide framework looks more likely than a county-by-county patchwork.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who warned that Maryland could pass up data center investments? Kelly Schulz, CEO of the Maryland Tech Council, made the warning, as reported by the Baltimore Sun. She said restrictions will likely push the industry outside Maryland.
Which Maryland jurisdictions have restricted data centers? Howard County, Prince George’s County, Carroll County and Baltimore City imposed temporary moratoriums on construction. Harford County banned the facilities outright.
What happened with the AWS project in Lusby? Amazon Web Services planned a data center in Lusby, near the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, and withdrew in 2026 without publicly explaining why.
How much could the Adamstown campus generate? A data center campus near Adamstown in Frederick County could generate approximately $215 million a year for the county starting in 2036 if it is fully built out. The sources we reviewed give no project capacity, jobs or investment total.
When would the effects of restrictions show up? Degliomini of Rekor Systems said the effects of moratoriums and restrictions could appear in two to four years.
Why does Virginia keep coming up? Schulz said Virginia has already captured a data center opportunity she called “economic and fiscal,” and Maryland could miss it unless it positions itself as data center friendly.
Are Maryland’s moratoriums permanent? Four of the five restrictive jurisdictions imposed temporary moratoriums, which can end or be replaced by new rules. Only Harford County’s action is described as an outright ban.
