THE ISSUE 

Thanks to Governor Wes Moore and his executive order signed on September 23, 2026, and Montgomery County Council’s 18-month pause on giving out permits for developing large data centers, leaders are now in the learning stage of figuring out the effects of large data centers on our communities.  
 
The issue is that this pause is only temporary, and 18 months is not long enough to gather the information we need to make a decision on whether to allow data centers to exist within our county. We need a long-term study of large AI data centers before allowing their development here in Montgomery County. 
 
Everyone knows the concerns around data centers: 

• Data centers cut down trees and destroy animal habitats. It harms not only animals, but us as well. Trees provide oxygen and take away the CO2 to make our air cleaner. The animals and insects benefit us by pollinating, sanitizing, and replanting forests around our environment. How could we cut the true source of our physical, environmental, and economic health? 
• Wasting water to cool the data centers is a problem because it drains millions of gallons of water from local water resources such as the Potomac River. The Potomac River is important for providing water to Montgomery County families and animals in our community. Large data centers will eventually dry our water sources because they require 1 to 5 million gallons per day!  
• We are already using a lot of energy, but expanding data centers will strain the power grid. This means the future of our energy sources may become weaker and eventually break. What does that do for future generations like ours? 
• The loud noise from data centers affects both humans and animals. It affects humans by increasing blood pressure and anxiety levels. The noise disrupts sleep and causes insomnia, headaches, and fatigue.  It affects animals by giving stress and anxiety. It also weakens animals’ immune systems and gradual hearing loss. Animals will move homes because of the incessant noise that the data center emits.  
• Large data centers release a lot of pollution into the air. It harms human health and destroys the environment. People breathe in pollution and risk suffering from respiratory illnesses and other health issues. The animals breathe in the same pollution and suffer similar consequences. 

The concerns around large data centers are well-known, but 18 months to determine the effects of data centers is not long enough. 

OUR CALL TO ACTION 
We, the future generation, are asking leaders to prolong the pause and take the time to dive deeper into researching the long-term effects of data centers on human health, environmental impacts, and animal behaviors. We would like our current leaders to take the time, even if it takes years, to study long-term effects of data centers on people, animals, and the environment. This is going to take more than 18 months.  

We may be young, but we believe that our voices have power, so here we are advocating for our health and the health of our environment so that we can have a healthy and bright future. 
 
HOW YOU CAN HELP 
You can sign this petition to help promote positive and informed change for children like us and future generations. We’re not asking that the idea of large data centers be extinguished. We are asking that leaders take more time to conduct a long-term study to make sure future decisions around large data centers benefit us and our environment. Please consider extending the 18-month pause so that enough time can be given to study the effects with actual data and evidence.