Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!

DEP briefs council on energy trends; data-center bills and renewable policy flagged

Montgomery County Council (work session) · February 23, 2026

AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

The Department of Environmental Protection warned the council that rising utility costs are driven by transmission constraints, data-center demand and delayed PJM approvals; staff flagged multiple state bills on transmission planning, utility ownership of power plants, renewable portfolio compliance, and data centers and said they will return with recommendations where local action or comment would be useful.

Garrett Fitzgerald of the Department of Environmental Protection and Brian Howard, the department's new state energy and climate policy manager, briefed the council on state energy legislation and local implications. Fitzgerald said multiple forces'transmission costs, new data centers, PJM delays and utility infrastructure spending'are increasing utility…

Already have an account? Log in

Subscribe to keep reading

Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.

Unlimited articles
AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
Follow topics and more locations
1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat

See memberships

30-day money-back on paid plans