Worcester County Commissioners Hold Public Hearing to Discuss Potential AWS Cable Landing Station

SNOW HILL, Md. – The Worcester County Commissioners held a public hearing on Tuesday, Oct. 6th, to discuss a potential AWS cable landing station. The cable would run from the Ocean City Airport, across the Atlantic, and connect to Ireland.

County Commissioner Eric Fiori has been holding discussions with community members who oppose the plan, and shared their stance on why they believe the station, has no place in the county.

“The main concern is that nationally, these large data companies have come in, promise a very small footprint, non-invasive.” Said Fiori. “And before you know it, it’s blown up into data centers and water usage and all these other pieces of the puzzle, obviously, our residents of Worcester County are concerned about that as well.”

Maryland Broadband Cooperative President Drew Van Dopp also spoke at the hearing, and assured the public that the proposed facility, would not become a data center or deplete local resources. He stated it would instead, increase connectivity and internet speed for the Eastern Shore.

“It is a small 1200 square foot building that uses less than 350kW of power, absolutely no water or sewer, and cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, ever be developed into a data center.” Said Dopp.

Recently, the County Commissioners tabled the zoning amendment regarding the project for 60 days. However, discussions regarding the project plan to continue.