Amazon Pulls Plug on Contentious Lusby Data Center
Amazon Web Services has withdrawn its application for the Calvert Technology Center data center campus in Lusby, Calvert County, Maryland. The decision follows months of intense local debate, public opposition, and efforts by county commissioners to explore a moratorium and tighten zoning regulations. The proposed project would have been the county's first large-scale data center.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) formally withdrew its application for the Calvert Technology Center, a large-scale data center campus near the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Lusby, Maryland. The announcement from Calvert County Government concludes several months of heated public discourse and local opposition to the proposed development. The project, which would have been Calvert County's first major data center, intended to span 2,000 acres of Constellation Energy land and feature eight buildings totaling 2.46 million square feet, with power needs of approximately 500 megawatts from Constellation and the PJM grid, and water from the Calvert Cliffs' existing cooling water system.
The proposal faced significant public outcry starting in March when Amazon job postings surfaced before formal notice was given to residents, leading to confusion and anger over perceived secrecy, including a non-disclosure agreement signed by Commissioner Earl "Buddy" Hance with Rowan Green Data LLC. Following this, commissioners explored a 24-month moratorium on data center approvals and later voted to implement updated zoning amendments for future data center projects, requiring stricter environmental and infrastructure standards.
Despite a community open house held by Amazon, which drew protesters, the company maintained no agreements were finalized. The withdrawal means the Calvert Technology Center proposal is no longer under review, though the county has not ruled out future data center projects on the site by Amazon or other entities.