Maryland delegate Fisher is pushing a bill to bar Calvert County from using NDAs with private entities, triggered in part by Amazon Web Services exploring a local data center site.
He argues that data centers drive countywide impacts in power demand and infrastructure, so secrecy erodes public trust and blocks residents from shaping outcomes.
County commissioners defend NDAs as routine tools to engage hyperscale vendors and say they are simultaneously drafting strict data center siting and safety parameters.
Planning staff note Calvert is competing against 500+ U.S. data center projects and already has more guardrails than most Maryland counties, highlighting the balancing act between economic development and community risk.
Local sentiment in the likely host district is currently “a hard no,” which matters for power, land use, and any large AWS footprint in the region.
The board will hold a work session on NDAs and expects public hearings for any data center approval, so operators should plan for high transparency expectations and political scrutiny.
The piece is worth a read to track how local NDA fights shape where and how AI-scale data centers can actually get built.
