I just sent this to my local county council:
I am a business owner here in Frederick county. I also reside in Frederick county. I send this from my business address as I feel someone from the technology industry with a contrary opinion about data centers needs to speak up. We simply do not have enough resources for these data centers. We are running short on water, land, power, and electronic components. AI is not intelligent. It is artificial. All modern AI is a large database…that is all they are. Ask an AI when it’s last training date was then ask it something after that date. Most times it won’t know. It looks like intelligence…but it really isn’t.
Why is modern AI a problem? Right now, AI is causing shortages in power. Power rates have gone up drastically due to the data centers being given reduced rates and the enormous amount of power they consume. This passes the costs to the consumer and small businesses who may not even use these resources, I am one of those folks that does not make large use of AI. AI is causing massive electronics shortages. I was informed by my Dell and Lenovo representatives that prices are going up by a MINIMUM of 25% across the board Jan 4. Datacenters do not add to the job base, and they do not add much if anything to the tax base. Due to the tax breaks often given these campuses become parasitic and not beneficial. They are not job magnets as most of the systems are totally automated. A crew of 100-200 is all that is needed for a massive data center to operate. The costs to the community in terms of power, land usage, power cost increases, and tax revenue destruction do not make data centers a beneficial proposition. Once this bubble bursts, the county and the local municipalities will be stuck holding the bad on how to dispose of the gigantic wastelands.
It is in my estimation that data centers should NOT be allowed to go forward beyond anything already built. If they have not been built or approved, it’s time to stop this before even more families and businesses get forced out of the state further eroding the tax base and putting an increased burden on those left behind.
If you wish to have me talk personally contact me here or at 301-524-5271
Sincerely,
William Warren
CEO
Emmanuel Technology Consulting, INC.