Author | Lightnews

Reposted by Angie McCarthy

gonatureforward.bsky.social @gonatureforward.bsky.social · 8d

A new article from the Baltimore Banner, mentioning our Director of Conservation, Lydia Lawrence, and our Maryland Conservation Advocate, @angie22mccarthy.bsky.social, discusses the impacts of data center developments in Maryland and Virginia: www.thebanner.com/economy/data...

Massive data centers invaded Virginia — and Maryland wants to be next

Virginia’s rapid accumulation of nearly 600 data centers now feels like a warning for some Marylanders, as businesses and local governments look to attract the giant facilities.

www.thebanner.com

1 2

Reposted by Angie McCarthy

gonatureforward.bsky.social @gonatureforward.bsky.social · 15d

@angie22mccarthy.bsky.social, our Maryland Conservation Advocate, had a great conversation about data centers with Citizens for Accountability in Governance.

Watch the video below to hear from Angie as well as environmental experts, Julie Bolthouse and David Arndt: youtu.be/44DcfArtF7M?...

DATA CENTER CONVO PT. 2 -- 08 October 2025

YouTube video by CAG Chat

youtu.be

1 1

Reposted by Angie McCarthy

gonatureforward.bsky.social @gonatureforward.bsky.social · 16d

Prince George's County deserves professionals, not public servants who have been fired from their roles due to gross negligence. Let your councilmembers know to vote no to Dr. Moki for PG County's head of Department of the Environment: natureforward.org/prince-georg...

Prince George's County Deserves Professionals, Not Negligence - Nature Forward

Nature Forward inspires residents of the greater Washington, DC, region to appreciate, understand, and protect their natural environment through outdoor experiences, education, and advocacy.

natureforward.org

1 1

Angie McCarthy @angie22mccarthy.bsky.social · 19d

If I played in the NFL, I would hire a PI to compile a dossier on all my opponents. I would be talking shit about their guilty pleasures, the time they didn’t quite make it to the bathroom, when their college roommate sexiled them. All of it. It’s the only good use for that much money.

Angie McCarthy @angie22mccarthy.bsky.social · 19d

Unfortunately, I have not stopped loving him

Mike Reiss @mikereiss.bsky.social · 19d

WR Stefon Diggs is back in Orchard Park, NY for the first time since the Bills traded him, and upon his arrival at Highmark Stadium he says, “Happy Sunday.”

Angie McCarthy @angie22mccarthy.bsky.social · 19d

Go Bills Natali!!

Angie McCarthy @angie22mccarthy.bsky.social · 24d

Last point on the tour: ~90 properties on Pageland in Prince William County banded together to sell their land to data center developers. Digital Gateway will result in 22 mill sq feet of data center — larger than Data Center Alley currently is. It’s ALL ag, forest, and homes now.

1 1

Angie McCarthy @angie22mccarthy.bsky.social · 24d

The data center demand is through the roof: DCs generally have a low vacancy rate so companies feel like they can continuing building since companies want their servers before the buildings are even built.

1

Angie McCarthy @angie22mccarthy.bsky.social · 24d

This is a crisis by contract, the grid isn’t overloaded by residential energy usage. Residents are lowering their usage even though our populations are increasing! Without the data center load growth, we wouldn’t be talking about this energy crisis, we would just be transitioning to renewables.

1 1

Angie McCarthy @angie22mccarthy.bsky.social · 24d

More spookiness: Julie said that whatever energy we start with, we are stuck with the next 25 years.

So if a data center says that they will temporarily use gas, that plant will not hit ROI (for ratepayers) for nearly 3 decades.

1

Angie McCarthy @angie22mccarthy.bsky.social · 24d

Another EJ issue: the areas where gas peaker plants are staying online are NOT the areas where they are getting the financial benefits of data center development. They have no say in the matter!

1 1

Angie McCarthy @angie22mccarthy.bsky.social · 24d

Someone asked a great question about the demographics of Loudoun. The EJ issue here is not necessarily about building in the backyards of poor residents, but of “who is able to leave when things get bad?”

1

Angie McCarthy @angie22mccarthy.bsky.social · 24d

Several billion $ was spent to bring 3 metro stops in Loudon. 1/2 a billion was paid for the Loudoun metro — and it has the lowest ridership in all of @wmata.com. This is what happens when we allow by right development!

www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...

Welcome to the loneliest Metro stop

Loudoun Gateway, the second-to-last station on the Silver Line, was envisioned as a thriving mixed-use stop. Instead, it’s anything but.

www.washingtonpost.com

1

Angie McCarthy @angie22mccarthy.bsky.social · 24d

At $400 mill/an acre, only our richest multinational corporations can afford this land, and they only want to build data centers. They don’t need to build light industrial or mixed use areas!

1

Angie McCarthy @angie22mccarthy.bsky.social · 24d

👻👻 Julie has said, somewhat ominously, “this is just the beginning. Look at all those cranes.”

Angie McCarthy @angie22mccarthy.bsky.social · 24d

Data Center Alley will need about 15 GW of electricity when it is fully built out…that’s 15 nuclear reactors.

3

Angie McCarthy @angie22mccarthy.bsky.social · 24d

We are now pulling into the old AOL HQ — it used to be a thriving place to work with daycares, walking trails, and community benefits. It employed 1000s.

Now, the AOL campus has turned into 3 data centers, with about 100 employees between the 3 of them.

1

Angie McCarthy @angie22mccarthy.bsky.social · 24d

Don’t bring a speaker or else you’ll drown out the sound of our diesel generators!

Don’t smoke because it’s harmful to our air quality…wait a second??

Angie McCarthy @angie22mccarthy.bsky.social · 24d

Julie note: we need to regulate impacts not the technology. We need to ask questions about “how much water will you be using?” Versus asking about closed loop or direct to chip technology because those can be misleading.

2

Angie McCarthy @angie22mccarthy.bsky.social · 24d

This site has 106 diesel generators (each 2.5 MW) for these 4 data centers. You can see a dozen of these generators with stacks — the stacks are actually great because they push the pollutants higher so they are not going straight into this baseball field.

1

Angie McCarthy @angie22mccarthy.bsky.social · 24d

There has been a loosening of standards for running generators: tier 2 diesel generators (what is allowed) that doesn’t have particulate filters.

We also happen to be next to Route 28 & the airport, so this community is already being hammered by air pollutants.

1

Angie McCarthy @angie22mccarthy.bsky.social · 24d

Note how close these buildings (and back up diesel generators) are to playing fields where developing lungs play! The company, with CSR principles, could have built battery back up storage rather than using the cheaper, polluting diesel generators but they chose not to.

1

Angie McCarthy @angie22mccarthy.bsky.social · 24d

First stop: data centers right next to playing fields!

This neighborhood had housing, a community center, playing fields, and other neighborhood benefits built before these data centers came. They were built within the last year or two due to by right permissions.

1

Angie McCarthy @angie22mccarthy.bsky.social · 24d

These larger data centers are a completely different animal to those early data centers. We are NOT opposed to data centers, but we are opposed to the unfettered data center development coming from the speculative Generative AI industry.

1

Angie McCarthy @angie22mccarthy.bsky.social · 24d

The illustrious Julie Bolthouse from Piedmont Environmental Council is kicking us off talking about how AOL started the fiber optic and data center development in NoVa. Data centers used to be 5 MW…now they are 60-90 MW of power.

Building Community Power for Data Center Reform - Nature Forward

Nature Forward seeks to create a larger and more diverse community of people who treasure the natural world and work to preserve it.

natureforward.org

1