In the coming months, Maryland leaders will implement policies that will either attract data centers to the state and grow our economy or risk sending the jobs to our neighbors. In particular, the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) is at the center of a debate about where and how data centers should get their electricity.

On behalf of the more than 25,000 workers we represent, we encourage Maryland’s leaders to create an environment where data centers can thrive.  This is the industry of the future for working families in Maryland.

On Sept. 24, the PSC convened a technical conference to assess whether a new data center in Maryland should only be built if it is connected to the electric grid — also known as grid-connected — or if they can draw power directly from an existing power plant — also known as co-located. This is a false choice. Both options must be available to attract data centers and create jobs in Maryland.

Data centers already employ thousands of workers year-round during construction, in addition to workers maintaining ongoing operations and equipment upgrades. Growth in the industry across the region has enabled our unions to recruit apprentices from underserved communities and to partner with small minority-owned businesses.

Thousands of our members already earn a living in the data center industry, its continued growth is critical to Maryland’s ability to create family-sustaining middle-class jobs.

Make no mistake, Maryland needs these jobs. In January, Comptroller Brooke Lierman reported that Maryland’s economy grew by only 1.6% between 2016 and 2023 and workers only saw their wages increase by 1.2% over the same period. For comparison, Virginia’s economy grew by 11.2% and workers saw their earnings increase by 6.4%.

Some states rethink data centers, as ‘electricity hogs’ strain the grid

Data centers have been a key driver of Virginia’s economic success. In 2023, the industry provided more than 26,000 direct operational and construction jobs and supported more than 78,000 indirect jobs across the commonwealth. Gov. Wes Moore was right to identify data centers as a growth opportunity for Maryland, and we applaud his clear-eyed leadership.

The employment opportunities and tax revenues generated by data centers cannot come soon enough. In January, budget analysts at the Maryland Department of Legislative Services warned that coming budget deficits are “the largest structural gap we’ve forecasted since back in the Great Recession.” The analysts project that the Maryland’s fiscal 2028 budget faces a $3 billion deficit.

Maryland is already feeling the budget crunch. In July, the governor requested and the Board of Public Works approved nearly $150 million in cuts to state’s current budget.

Attracting these projects to Maryland and getting them started as quickly as possible is in the best interest of all Marylanders. A recent economic analysis of the Quantum Loophole Frederick campus project found that the project will support over 3,000 jobs in construction annually for the next decade and half in Frederick County alone, in addition to generating nearly $250 million in state taxes annually during construction and nearly $200 million annually during operation.

That is just one project in one county. Repeated across Maryland, the economic impact would be immense.

If Maryland leaders are serious about growing our “lazy” economy, they should reject the false choice between co-location and grid-connection. The argument that Marylanders will bear the costs when data center companies choose to connect directly to an existing power plant fly in the face of facts.

Federal rules require a co-located data center to pay for all costs incurred to bring its project online, and there are processes in place to ensure that no new project harms reliability for Maryland ratepayers whether it is co-located or grid-connected. Co-locating data centers at a nuclear plant provides the added benefit of keeping those clean energy sources financially stable and operating for decades to come, including the thousands of local jobs they support.

This debate is not about grid-connection or co-location — the jobs are the same — it is about if and how Maryland leaders want to grow the economy so it can meet the needs of working families.

The question for Maryland’s leaders is stark. Will you create an environment that attracts data centers and the family-sustaining jobs they support to Maryland, or will you stunt a growing industry by imposing onerous taxes and erect barriers and red tape that send jobs and tax revenue to our neighbors, and leaves Maryland families further behind?