The Montgomery County Council voted Tuesday to ban new data center development for the next year and a half. “What we did was personally merge them,” said Montgomery County Council President Natali Fani-Gonzalez. Prince George's County has already passed a two-year moratorium on data center development, and Frederick County, Maryland's county executive ordered a six-month pause. More and more residents in Maryland have become vocal opponents to data center development. Many have pointed to the massive data center development in Northern Virginia and environmental impacts as reasons to put the brakes on new development.