Water
Quantum Loophole data center site discharges into Tuscarora Creek and Monocacy tributary in Frederick County
Confirmed
- Date
- 2023-06-27
- Location
- Adamstown, Frederick County, Maryland, United States
- Category
- Water
- FLOODPOLLUTION
- Distance from data center
- Not stated in sources
Evidence
- Did the harm happen?
- Officially confirmed
- Did the data center cause it?
- Confirmed
- AI connection
- No verified AI connection
- What was affected
- Surface water
- Why
- MDE sampling and inspector report document discharges from the site.
- Denials and outcomes
- MDE proposed a settlement; final terms not confirmed here.
Maryland Department of the Environment testing at the Quantum Loophole data center campus was prompted by public reports of water being discharged to Tuscarora Creek in violation of permit conditions and the site's environmental covenant, according to an MDE memo to the Frederick County Council. A later MDE inspector report documented drilling "frac-outs" discharging bentonite sediment into an unnamed tributary of the Monocacy River, and MDE proposed a settlement over the pollution.