Calvert County Was Not Consulted on Constellation-Amazon Power Deal
Calvert County officials said they were not consulted before Constellation Energy and Amazon announced a 20-year, 690-megawatt power deal tied to the Calvert Cliffs plant. Residents urged the county to begin environmental studies related to data center development, while plant employees defended existing industrial zoning and the deal's benefits.
Calvert County officials said the county received no advance notice of Constellation Energy's agreement to sell Amazon 690 megawatts of electricity from the Calvert Cliffs plant for 20 years. The county said the commercial deal does not require its approval and confirmed that it does not involve building an Amazon data center at the plant or expanding the facility's existing footprint. Constellation says the guaranteed revenue will support more than $3 billion in upgrades and help extend the reactors' operating licenses.
At an Oct. 20 Board of County Commissioners meeting, residents pressed officials to begin environmental studies connected to data center development and questioned whether a planned extension of the county's moratorium would serve the same purpose. Calvert Cliffs employees urged commissioners to preserve the site's industrial zoning, arguing that the agreement supports future investment, jobs and tax revenue. The county's six-month moratorium on new data center applications expires in February, while longer-term data center zoning amendments and a possible extension were pending before county boards.