Data center developer Atmosphere Data Centers is challenging a six-month moratorium on data center permits in Montgomery, Maryland.

Atmosphere was planning to build a 360MW data center campus consisting of five 226,850 sq ft (21,075 sqm) data center buildings at the former Dickerson Power Plant. Owner Terra Energy first submitted plans to build a data center at the site in 2023.

But opposition to data centers in Montgomery led the County Executive Marc Elrich to enact the moratorium on June 12, which prevents the Department of Permitting Services from “accepting, considering, and processing any permit application related to a data center.”

This moratorium will last until mid-December, and it could be extended for another six months by further Executive Order.

Atmosphere claims that Montgomery County “impermissibly [changed] its mind” on the interpretation of a zoning designation historically applied to data centers, and that the Permitting Department misinterpreted the moratorium by stopping the project’s review, according to a local outlet that has seen Atmosphere’s appeal.

As it stands, Atmosphere’s proposal cannot go ahead because the Permitting Department has yet to process the project’s stormwater management concept plan and its fire access plan.

“I think everyone on the council and a whole bunch of people in the community have never had to deal with these mega data centers, and so nothing in our [zoning] code deals with the kind of issues that the senators are raising,” said Elrich when asked about Atmosphere’s appeal at a media briefing on July 16.

“And they, apparently, would be perfectly happy to go forward under rules that had not contemplated this kind of building, and we don’t think that it’s wise to do that. It is not an effort to block a data center, but it’s an effort to make sure that if we’re going to do these, that we do these right.”

Atmosphere Data Centers is a US-based data center operator. The company’s LinkedIn profile says that it was founded in 2020, but it only began posting in 2024.

The company says that it has 1.9GW worth of data centers in development, and its website says it also has data center locations in South Carolina (500MW), Missouri (600MW), and Tennessee (120MW). Timelines for delivery for any of these projects were not shared.

Atmosphere was tapped by a local businessman in St. Joseph, Missouri, to develop a 130-acre campus, but the businessman withdrew its application in late June.