There’s a reason Northern Virginia became the data center capital of the world.
It wasn’t an accident. It wasn’t purely market forces. It was a series of decisions — made by legislators, regulators, and local officials over decades — that prioritized industry growth over community input.
Loudoun County said yes. Then the next county said yes. Then the next.
By the time residents started asking questions about noise, water consumption, electricity bills, and diesel generator exhaust, 49 million square feet of data center real estate had already been built.
Now the industry is eyeing the other side of the Potomac. And two communities in Maryland’s 6th District are already living with the consequences.
What’s Happening in Our District
In Adamstown, a 2,100-acre hyperscale data center campus called Quantum Frederick is under active construction on the former Alcoa Eastalco aluminum smelting site. Neighbors are dealing with dust clouds from earthmoving operations, mud tracked onto residential roads by heavy construction vehicles, and the prospect of 15 more years of construction. Residents have raised health concerns, demanded third-party environmental studies, and watched a bill to require exactly that get vetoed by the governor (WYPR). The Frederick County Council held a seven-and-a-half-hour public meeting that couldn’t produce a consensus. A divided council ultimately passed a zoning map on a 5-2 vote, with residents crossing party lines to oppose the expansion (WYPR).
In Dickerson, a former coal-fired power plant on the Potomac River — right on the edge of Montgomery County’s beloved Agricultural Reserve — is being permitted for a data center campus of up to 300 megawatts. Montgomery County didn’t even have data centers defined as a recognized use in its zoning code (WTOP). There was no regulatory framework waiting. No community approval process. Just a developer with a permit application and a county scrambling to figure out the rules in real time.
This is not a Frederick County problem. This is not a Montgomery County problem. This is a Congress problem — and Congress has abdicated.
Why Washington Hasn’t Acted
I spent 15 years as a federal consultant, working across some of the most complex technology transformation projects in the federal government — Medicare and CMS, the FDA, the Health Insurance Marketplace, the VA. I know how Washington works. And I know exactly why it hasn’t worked here.
The data center industry is new enough that most members of Congress don’t fully understand it. The business model is opaque. The energy implications are underappreciated. And the industry has spent heavily to keep it that way.
Here’s what I know from the inside: local jurisdictions are being forced to make these decisions in a vacuum, because states and the federal government aren’t acting. Developers are shopping jurisdiction to jurisdiction, looking for wherever the rules are loosest (Bay Journal).
That’s not how a functional regulatory environment works.
That’s a race to the bottom — and our communities are the prize.
The result is exactly what you’d expect. Communities face similar technical questions and policy dilemmas with no access to factual, unbiased information. Every jurisdiction is reinventing the wheel (Government Technology).
And the industry — which absolutely knows the answers to those questions — uses the information asymmetry to its advantage.
What a Federal Moratorium Would Actually Do
Last week, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced the AI Data Center Moratorium Act. The bill would pause construction and upgrades of AI data centers until Congress enacts federal laws to regulate AI’s energy costs, environmental effects, and labor impacts (Roll Call).
I support this bill.
I want to be clear about what it does and doesn’t do, because the industry’s allies are already distorting it.
It does not ban data centers. It does not say AI is inherently bad. It does not pretend that these facilities don’t generate tax revenue or construction jobs.
What it says is simple: before we reshape the energy grid, the water supply, the character of rural communities, and the electricity bills of working families across this country, Congress should actually have a plan.
That’s not radical. That’s basic governance.
The bill would require federal pre-release review of AI products; ensure that the economic gains from AI benefit workers and not just Big Tech owners; and guarantee that data centers don’t increase electricity prices or harm the environment (Senator Bernie Sanders).
These are not fringe demands. They are the minimum conditions for responsible development.
What “Government Insider” Actually Means
My opponents will try to make this campaign about who’s more progressive, or who has the right endorsements, or who’s been in the right rooms.
I want to make it about something different: who actually understands how these decisions get made — and is willing to do the work to change them.
I’ve spent my career at the intersection of technology and government. I’ve watched large-scale tech projects get deployed and without accountability when things went wrong. I’ve also seen what good governance looks like — when you actually build the regulatory framework before you greenlight the infrastructure.
The data center fight is a perfect example of what happens when you get that order backwards.
The Sanders-AOC moratorium gives Congress the chance to get it right — to actually understand what we’re building, who it benefits, who it burdens, and what the rules should be before the concrete is poured and the transmission lines are strung across our farmland.
Neither of my opponents would support this bill.
I will.
What You Can Do Right Now
The Adamstown and Dickerson situations are not resolved. Frederick County residents are fighting for a referendum to undo the data center overlay zone. Montgomery County is in the middle of a regulatory scramble. The Maryland General Assembly is considering statewide rules. And Congress is, for now, doing nothing.
If you live in MD-06, this is your fight too — whether you’re in Clarksburg or Hagerstown, in Garrett County or along the Potomac.
Here’s how you can get involved:
Share this post. Most people in our district don’t know what’s coming.
Contact your local county council members. Both Frederick and Montgomery counties are still making key decisions.
Support this campaign. I’m running precisely because decisions like these need a representative who understands them — and isn’t afraid to push back.
This article was originally published on Ethan Wechtaluk’s Substack. Republished on TANTV News with permission.
