BALTIMORE, MD — On May 11, 2026, the Baltimore City Council passed Bill 26-0158, establishing a citywide moratorium on new data centers. For the families living in Baltimore’s most overburdened communities who are the most vulnerable to rapid data center expansion, this is one step closer to shifting the status quo of prioritizing profit over people. As a proud endorser of Bill 26-0158, Young, Gifted & Green celebrates this moment as a landmark victory for environmental justice, for children’s health, for maternal health, and for the democratic right of every community to have a say in what gets built in their neighborhood.

Baltimore joins a growing national movement. From Camden County, Georgia, to Seattle, Washington, communities across the country are demanding a pause on data center development until the public health, environmental, and economic consequences are properly understood and regulated. Baltimore’s residents, advocates, and elected officials refused to repeat a story that has played out in Memphis, in Prince George’s County, Southaven, MS and in communities of color across this country, where data centers have moved in fast, promised much, and left behind compromised air, strained water systems, and families bearing the cost in their bodies and their bills.

“What happens in one city can happen in cities across the country,” said LaTricea D. Adams, CEO and President of Young, Gifted & Green. “Baltimore’s leadership shows that when communities organize and elected officials listen, we can put the old lie of Black communities being the ‘least path of resistance’ to rest. This moratorium is a first step toward making sure that the people of Baltimore, especially our children and our mothers, are protected while the full picture of these facilities’ impacts is brought to light. We will be watching, and we will be present every step of the way.”

What Does this Really Mean for the Future of Data Centers in Baltimore?

This is a win for Baltimore’s children. The science is clear…children, developing fetuses, and pregnant people are among those most vulnerable to the air pollution generated by data centers that still rely heavily (and most instances exclusively) on fossil fuels and other natural gas sources. Baltimore’s maternal and infant health outcomes, particularly for Black families, are already a crisis. We cannot afford to layer new industrial pollution onto communities already carrying that weight.

This is a demand for rigor. A moratorium is not a permanent no. It is a structured, responsible pause. The same approach the Center for Engagement Environmental Justice & Health (CEEJH) and the NAACP called for in Prince George’s County in their report The People’s Report: A Gap Analysis of Data Center Infrastructure in Prince George’s County, Maryland which is a research-based call to action advocating for cumulative health impact analyses, environmental risks assessments, and meaningful community engagement before any data center approval. Baltimore residents deserve decisions grounded in data, not in developer timelines.

This is a message to the State of Maryland and the Mid-Atlantic Region. Just as the data center industry eyes the Mid-Atlantic corridor, Baltimore’s action signals that communities will not simply absorb the costs of technological growth without safeguards or consent. That is a message every jurisdiction in Maryland and beyond should hear.

Baltimore took a page out of the NAACP’s Playbook for Frontline Communities to Stop Dirty Data Centers, and they did not disappoint. The assignment was completely understood. The work ahead is still VERY real. Young, Gifted & Green will hold this Council accountable to using the moratorium as intended: to build the standards, conduct the science, and center the communities that have always been asked to bear the most while receiving the least.

Baltimore made a bold and courageous decision. Now let’s make sure this decision doesn’t backslide. Forever forward, backwards never.