Ferguson seeks to ban data center at Baltimore Peninsula, increase BGE scrutiny

Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson is seeking to prevent Baltimore Peninsula’s next owners from constructing a data center there, part of a legislative proposal aimed at curbing rising power bills in the region.

The Baltimore Democrat said Monday that he would file the bill this week, which also expands the state’s regulatory oversight of costly utility projects. Baltimore Gas and Electric Company and its parent company, Exelon, have a $537 million plan to build new distribution and underground transmission lines throughout South Baltimore in order to meet future power demands at Baltimore Peninsula.

Ferguson said the project comes with “innumerable questions” that the utility has largely ignored.

“BG&E has created a scenario with this transmission line that is wholly unacceptable,” he said.

Private utilities are able to recoup costs and earn a rate of return, essentially a margin of profit, on infrastructure projects. The Public Service Commission, Maryland’s utility regulator, is supposed to scrutinize the rate of return, but some lawmakers and critics say utilities are incentivized to overbuild and have questioned the BGE project.

Ferguson’s bill would require the Public Service Commission, the state’s utility regulator, to evaluate whether proposed transmission lines are needed and if the project is cost-effective. As it stands, the Public Service Commission doesn’t weigh in on underground or underwater transmission projects and the federal body that does regulate them often acts as a rubber stamp.

Del. Elizabeth Embry, also a Baltimore Democrat, filed an almost identical measure in the House last month. Her bill, which is sponsored by two delegates in Ferguson’s district but does not have a Senate sponsor, has had one hearing so far.

“I’m happy the Senate president is putting in legislation and I very much look forward to working with his office,” Embry said.

The proposed transmission lines would follow a serpentine path through Baltimore’s Otterbein and Ridgely’s Delight neighborhoods in order to connect a substation near downtown with one on the peninsula. Narrow residential streets on historic blocks would have to be torn up, which is preemptively drawing residents’ ire.

Joe Levy, a former president of the Otterbein neighborhood association, described the transmission line plans as “incomprehensible” at a news conference on Monday. Wary of sounding as if he were opposed to development, Levy said there were routes the transmission line could take along main thoroughfares that would not be as disruptive to residents.

“The likely monthslong noise and disruption from this work will present serious safety and sleep problems for these children and their families,” Levy said.

BGE has had plans to make massive upgrades to support Baltimore Peninsula for a decade. The costs associated with the project have quadrupled since 2016 due to the rising price of labor and materials, among other items, according to a filing with federal regulators last month. The utility claimed in that filing that the infrastructure improvements are needed to meet estimated future power demands there.

Nick Alexopulos, a spokesperson for BGE, said the improvements are required regardless of development at Baltimore Peninsula. Aging infrastructure needs to be replaced and the new construction will improve reliability and resiliency, Alexopulos said.

BGE earned $578 million in profit in 2025, while its parent company, Exelon, earned profits of $2.7 billion.

Formerly known as Port Covington and owned by Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank, the Baltimore Peninsula development has not progressed as expected. Plank got out of the project last year with about one-tenth of his original vision complete.

However, the head of the company that led Baltimore Peninsula development said last year that the site was getting “a lot of data center interest.” Data centers require an immense amount of power to operate, and that demand can raise costs for other customers.

Ferguson, though, is seeking to prohibit such a facility from being built there. His bill prohibits the construction of data centers in Baltimore City on land that benefits from tax increment financing. Known as TIF districts, these areas receive government investment to build out infrastructure. Embry’s bill does not include prohibitions on data centers.

“We look forward to partnering with Senate President Ferguson to explore his proposals for improved state processes around critical infrastructure work,” Alexopulos said.

Ferguson has spoken repeatedly this year about the need to counter high utility bills in Maryland. The issue has become more critical as Ferguson’s primary opponent, Bobby LaPin has made affordability a key component of his insurgent campaign. As Senate president, Ferguson holds unique power to address that issue, something his allies pointed out Monday.

“If he were to lose his seat, Baltimore would lose an enormous amount of influence,” Baltimore City Council President and regular BGE critic Zeke Cohen said. “Today is a great example of why it matters that the Senate president lives right here in Baltimore.”