For Immediate Release: Friday, March 13, 2026
From the Office of Councilmember Will Jawando
Montgomery County At-Large Councilmember Will Jawando made the following remarks today at a rally organized by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network Action Fund at Veterans Plaza in downtown Silver Spring.
The complete text of Councilmember Jawando’s remarks:
“Thank you to the Chesapeake Climate Action Network Action Fund for organizing today and to everyone who showed up. Showing up is how we win.
“Let me be clear about something. We aren’t against innovation. We aren’t against technology. But we are for clean energy. We are for clean water. We are for working families who are already stretched to the limit. And I don’t think we should let Big Tech oligarchs come into Montgomery County and do whatever they want while the rest of us pay for it. We shouldn’t be subsidizing that.
“Right now, 40 percent of Virginia’s electricity is going to data centers. And that is not just Virginia’s problem. We share a regional power grid. When their demand explodes, our bills go up. I hear from families across this county every day about what is happening to their energy costs. I have four kids, my wife, my wife’s parents, and our cousin all living under one roof. I feel it too.
“And only two percent of the venture funding going into building these data centers and AI is directed toward solving real problems: health care, education, the environment. The rest is going to business processes and making people richer. Meanwhile, good-paying jobs are being eliminated across every sector families in this county depend on.
“So here is where I stand. If you want to build a data center in Montgomery County, it should run on 100 percent clean energy. Not offsets. Not credits. Not a promise made in a back room. I want to see how. I want the infrastructure to be available. If the grid can’t handle it, we shouldn’t go down that path. If it means heating our waterways or degrading our air, we shouldn’t allow it. No tax breaks, no cuts, no incentives. And it should be built with union labor. These are among the wealthiest corporations in human history. They can afford to meet every one of those standards.
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“We don’t need to rush. We need to do this on our terms. That is why I will be introducing legislation for a two-year moratorium on new data center development in Montgomery County. We should use that time to work with CCAN Action Fund and other groups, dig into the details, and demand accountability.
“In two years, there will still be demand to build data centers. The Dickerson site isn’t going anywhere. But what we can’t get back is clean water once it’s gone. We can’t get back affordable electricity once we’ve locked families into higher bills. We can’t undo climate damage once we’ve plugged massive new demand into a dirty grid.
“Montgomery County doesn’t need to be first. We need to get this right.”
Read the original article at mccouncil