Contact: Lesley Paredes, lesley.paredes-hernandez@sierraclub.org.
Maryland Sierra Club Responds to Governor’s Data Center Executive Order
“Executive order does not go far enough to meet the moment”
Annapolis, MD – Today, the Moore Administration signed an executive order for responsible data center development in Maryland. The order establishes a Data Center Review Task Force, a set of guidelines, and a public online data center dashboard in Maryland.
While the executive order names a number of important principles, most of the critical details are left to the Task Force, which is tasked with publishing the “Framework Guidance explaining how the criteria in Section D of this Order will be applied.”
In response, Maryland Sierra Club Director Josh Tulkin has released the following statement:
Governor Moore’s executive order takes a few steps in the right direction, but it does not go far enough to meet the moment. While we are pleased to see plans for increased review of data center projects and a statewide data center dashboard, the most critical details aren’t in the executive order, they will only be determined in the Framework Guidance. That will be the measure of how protective and effective this policy is. But in the meantime, the public and localities across the state are demanding action. We urge the Moore Administration and the legislature to take this executive order further and implement a statewide pause on new data centers sufficient to establish guardrails that protect Marylanders from the harms and costs of data centers.
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Founded in 1892, the Sierra Club is America’s oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization. The Maryland Chapter has over 70,000 members and supporters, and the Sierra Club nationwide has approximately 620,000 members