Moore wanted to ‘supercharge’ Maryland data centers. Now he’s changing course.

For much of Gov. Wes Moore’s first term, he worked to “supercharge” the development of data centers, seeing them as just the kind of rocket fuel Maryland needed for its stagnating economy.

AI’s endless appetite for computing power had the industry booming in nearby Northern Virginia, the data center capital of the world. And building these server farms held even more appeal after President Donald Trump’s moves to dismantle federal agencies hit Maryland’s tax base.

But then data center politics rapidly shifted.

Now, Democratic- and Republican-led counties across the state have passed development moratoriums, and Moore is trying to balance the allure of an economic driver that has labor support against opposition from environmentalists and community groups. The space between courting data centers and public demand for regulation has narrowed.

With Moore considered a 2028 presidential contender, his decisions today could be viewed in a different light by primary voters in two years.

Last week, the governor laid out a new review process for data centers and argued that the state needs to change its approach in response to the industry’s expanding scale.

“If you’re not protecting your people from this,” he said, “then I think you’re derelict in your duty.”

This tough talk on data centers contrasts with the governor’s previous approach. At points, he has smoothed pathways for large-scale data center projects. He’s also opposed legislation to bolster regulatory reviews of data centers, vetoed a study of their energy and environmental impacts, and warned against the repeal of a 2020 industry tax break that has cost the state tens of millions of dollars in forgone revenues.

Moore now seems more open to a data center slowdown. Though he has not called for a statewide moratorium, he said last month that he would “absolutely” sign a pause or ban if lawmakers pass one next year.

Moore’s recent action follows other governors across the country who have looked to crack down on data centers in response to a public backlash. New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott have imposed sweeping development stoppages in their states, while others have looked to tighten regulations on data centers’ use of land, water and energy.

Chris Borick, a political scientist at Lehigh University, sees similarities in how Moore and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro — another 2028 contender — have evolved on this issue.

Both Democrats followed a timeworn playbook. It’s typical for governors to roll out a red carpet for tech investment, using fiscal incentives and relaxing regulatory barriers for industries that promise community investment and lots of jobs. But Borick said the desire for economic success meant both governors turned “a little bit of a blind eye” to data centers’ downsides.

One report by the pro-data center Maryland Tech Council estimated that the industry could deliver $16 million annually in state revenues for every million square feet of new development, while counties stand to gain even more from property taxes and benefits packages.

“They were primed to buy into the sales pitch,” Borick said.

A ‘bright future’ for data centers

In the span of a few years, Moore has gone from pitching Maryland as prime territory for data centers to assailing the boom he invited.

When state utility regulators in 2023 denied fast-track reviews for massive, diesel-powered backup generators at Maryland’s first hyperscale data center development — a 2,000-acre campus in Frederick County — Moore promised to rewrite policy to “ensure the industry has a bright future” in Maryland.

He pushed a bill the next year to roll back reviews of those controversial generators, legislation that the General Assembly approved unanimously.

Moore’s office also lent a hand to a wealthy entrepreneur and campaign donor hoping to build a massive data center at an old coal-fired power plant on the Potomac River. After repeated requests from the developer, the state’s top environmental official sent a letter offering expedited approvals for the project.

And while Moore’s order last week instituted a new vetting process for data centers, in 2025 he vetoed legislation to study the industry’s energy and environmental consequences. Lawmakers overrode him months later.

As the data center debate heated up, Moore said he wanted to prioritize projects that could check certain boxes: employing local union workers, prioritizing clean power and paying for their own electricity needs. Maryland could court economic opportunity without becoming the next “Data Center Alley,” he maintained.

In legislative testimony this year, Moore’s Department of Commerce defended the state’s data center tax exemption and opposed a bill to establish new reporting requirements for data center developers, arguing that the measures would “send a message” to data center companies that the “cost of doing business in Maryland is too high and burdensome.”

But in recent weeks, Moore’s rhetoric has shifted. On a podcast last month, he said he would sign a statewide pause or ban on data centers should lawmakers put one on his desk next year.

At his executive order signing the following week, the governor said Maryland should repeal its data center tax credit, which lawmakers adopted before his term. Asked in an interview about his administration’s reversal, Moore said the state must constantly “pressure test” its laws and that his administration had found this one to be “outdated.”

The governor has attributed his pivot to the Trump administration’s recent rollbacks on data center regulations and to the industry’s expanding scale.

The impact of today’s data centers “is different,” he said last week. “As a state, we’ve got to have a different type of posture, because we are seeing how the landscape has changed.”

Some don’t see it that way.

Mike Tidwell, a longtime Maryland climate advocate and founder of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, said it looked to him like the industry’s lobbyists got to Moore in the early going. Tidwell was glad to hear the governor’s openness to a statewide pause but said he didn’t think the governor “kicked the tires very much and asked the tough questions” early on.

“He seems as caught off-guard as anybody,” Tidwell said. “Now he’s talking a different way.”

Debating a pause

Whether Moore will ever face a bill to stop data centers across Maryland isn’t clear.

The proposal could come from Del. C.T. Wilson, who plans to introduce a multiyear development pause this session. Wilson has had his own change of heart on data centers: Two years ago, as chair of the House Economic Matters Committee, he backed Moore’s bill to ease reviews of diesel backup generators.

The Charles County Democrat commended the governor for responding to the concerns of his constituents and said that, until recently, many state leaders struggled to find unbiased information on data center impacts.

“So we relied on the experts,” he said, “only to realize that maybe we were being hoodwinked. Now I know that we were hoodwinked.”

In an interview this week, Moore said he still thinks Maryland can strike a balance between protecting communities and reaping the economic benefits of new industry. But he said the fears Marylanders have raised about data centers are legitimate.

“That has been an important learn for me in this process,” he said. “What we did was, we listened to the people.”

Others, like Harford County Executive Bob Cassilly, have eyed data centers warily for some time.

A Republican, Cassilly thinks it’s irresponsible to court a power-hungry industry as the state’s energy output dwindles. In the spring of 2025, he sent staff to Northern Virginia to assess data center impacts and now oversees the only county in Maryland with an outright ban on the industry.

Local leaders like him need the state to step in and block development, Cassilly said. Whether that comes from the governor or the legislature doesn’t matter.

“I’m hoping that they can put their heads together and recognize that we really are operating on borrowed time,” he said.