Don’t make data centers Maryland’s development goal | READER COMMENTARY

Maryland should be 'open for business' but power-hungry data centers a poor fit for the state.

While I agree with Michael Gill that Maryland needs to do more to make Maryland business friendly, pointing to Virginia and its data centers is not the way to make the point (“Let’s make Maryland ‘open for business’ again,” May 17).

First, Virginia is struggling with its data centers. They may have to bring back some coal-fired power plants to provide enough electricity to run them. Their neighbors complain about the noise of their constantly running cooling systems. Maryland doesn’t have enough power to cover its current peak demand, so it really can’t build anything like a power-hungry data center until it builds out enough wind and solar power.

Second, data centers are clustered around Manassas because that is where an internet node is. The location shortens access to the internet by a few milliseconds, which is worth millions to companies. Maryland doesn’t have an internet node.

If Maryland wants to be business friendly it needs to use the assets that it has. That includes the Chesapeake Bay, Atlantic Ocean and mountains as natural resources. It is close to Washington, D.C., and lots of government agencies that provide a steady baseline of work. It has a highly educated workforce as well as world-class research facilities in medical, biotech and military. And it has an inland port with deep connections to the rest of the country. These are what it should build on.

— William Hettchen, Ellicott City

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