(RNS) — Less than a week after Prince George’s County, Maryland, passed a two-year moratorium on hyperscale data center development, many residents received an anonymous mass text message promoting the economic benefits of data centers. Though the text wasn’t signed, it linked to a pro-data center website with the URL interfaithaction.net.

The mysterious text, sent July 10, prompted annoyance, anger and confusion from some residents of the suburban county bordering Washington, D.C., who expressed wariness about data center propaganda.

But when RNS identified the faith leader behind the text, the Rev. Derrick Green, he said, “We’re really trying to get information out to people in real ways, in credible ways, so that people can make their own decisions on how they want to move forward with data centers.”

After she received the text, Elizabeth McNamara, a resident of Prince George’s County, was immediately suspicious. McNamara posted the message to a local Facebook page, warning others, “without any identifiable names or organization, seems more likely to be a cover for data center lobbyists. Be careful!”

Though she sees “pros and cons” to data centers, McNamara told RNS, “it seemed like they were trying to falsely promote the economic benefits to a community without the cost. And seemingly pressuring people of faith to blindly support their position.”

Anti-data center activists in Prince George’s County were also concerned by the text. As the county confronts budget woes largely driven by massive federal job cuts by the Trump administration, potential tax revenue from data centers — and potential negative environmental and community impacts — have been hotly debated throughout the year.

Dan Smith, a member of Cheverly United Methodist Church and volunteer with the Prince George’s County Civic and Environmental Alliance, said he felt “outrage” when he saw the text. He said it looked “like a well-funded effort to come in and misrepresent the community views and try to create an impression that there’s support — to give cover to those elected officials, especially at our county level, who are proponents of data centers.”

Though the website page linked in the text message does not identify the group behind it, pages under the URL identify the group as Interfaith Action Movement, “a coalition of faith leaders serving the spiritual, social, and economic needs of underserved and marginalized communities,” according to the site.  

The website’s privacy policy specifies that IAM is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit coalition of faith leaders based in New Jersey, and lists an email associated with an organization led by Green, an ordained elder in the Seventh-day Adventist Church and a political consultant.

Reached by phone by RNS, Green said that though he left to work as a senior adviser to New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, he’s been a longtime Prince George’s County resident. The IRS has record of his organization registered in Vincentown, New Jersey, for tax years that began in 2020 and ended in 2024.

Green said that IAM is a “policy think tank and advocacy organization” and that his policy team is working on a variety of issues, including affordable housing, mental health and child safety online.

He declined to name other faith leaders in his coalition, citing their privacy, though he said he works with Protestants, Muslims and Jews. He also declined to name his current congregation.

The political consultant and Seventh-day Adventist said he has led a daily prayer call since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, with faith leaders throughout the U.S.

“Faith leaders are some of the most impactful leaders in our nation,” Green said. “They absolutely have reached out to me, wanting to be educated on a number of issues that we are doing, including data centers.”

But the website that Prince George’s County residents learned about in the text focuses solely on data centers. Green shared another older website that focuses on child safety online and advocates for age verification and parental approval through the federal App Store Accountability Act.

Green cited high levels of phone use in his support for data centers. “We depend on data centers,” he said. “Our hope is to create a culture around these data centers of transparency, openness, wealth creation, community benefits agreements (and) strong environmental standards.”

He added, “The AI world takes us to a whole different frontier. How are Black and brown communities going to keep up?”

In 2022, Prince George’s County lost its decades-long title as the wealthiest majority Black county in the U.S. to neighboring Charles County.

Though he said he had conversations with data center developers about his efforts, Green said he had not yet spoken with local politicians about his support for the economic benefits of data centers.

Green declined to answer questions about how his organization was funded, including whether it received money from data center developers.

Green has been linked to scandal in the past. Over a decade ago, he was involved in a campaign finance scandal in Bermuda that led to the resignation of the country’s premier in 2014. According to reporting by NorthJersey.com, Green set up a secret bank account holding $350,000 that U.S. businessmen had donated to the premier’s election efforts. Green and a business associate did not initially disclose these funds to party leaders. After the election, the new premier flew on one of the businessmen’s private jets to meet that businessman in Washington.

Two years ago, a judge dismissed Green’s attempt to sue New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Steve Fulop for $92,139 in alleged unpaid wages, as the campaign maintained he was a volunteer.

But Green has remained a force in New Jersey politics and was named to Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s interdisciplinary task force before she took office.

Green is currently a registered lobbyist for the city of Cambridge, Maryland, part of Dorchester County. But earlier this year, he was also a registered lobbyist for Prince George’s County, which is led by County Executive Aisha Braveboy.

In a questionnaire she submitted to the Baltimore Banner before winning her re-election primary, Braveboy wrote, “Data centers can play a role in Prince George’s County economic development, but only if they are planned responsibly and in partnership with our communities and not in residential areas.”

In the last year, Green has donated to various political campaigns inside and outside Prince George’s County, but his biggest donations by far are to Braveboy, totaling over $4,000. For those contributions, his home state is officially recorded as New Jersey.

Several online biographies from Green’s workplaces tout Green’s role in electing Democratic Maryland Gov. Wes Moore.

Moore’s and Braveboy’s offices did not respond when asked for comment about Green’s advocacy for data centers.

Despite the recent county moratorium on hyperscale data center development, Robin Lewis, director for climate equity at Interfaith Power & Light’s Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia branch, said it was written with “loopholes” that may allow data center development to move forward.

County council member Wanika Fisher submitted a zoning change that would allow for more data center construction in rural areas and will be reviewed by the planning board later this month — a development that worries Smith and other activists.

Lewis told RNS that a few people reached out to confirm her organization, which seeks to rally religious communities to address climate change, wasn’t behind the text. Interfaith Power & Light has submitted written and verbal testimony to the county council and participated in anti-data center rallies.

“We never do anything anonymously. We never would do anything like that,” the longtime Prince George’s County resident said. The group’s presence at rallies and testimony “demonstrates that we’re about the community, and what the community wants. And if the community is supporting moratoriums, we are supporting the community,” Lewis said.

Next month, her group will hold a webinar to organize against data centers, and it already has over 70 registrants across the larger region, she said. Interfaith Power & Light has also organized a “photo petition” where faith-based congregation members hold signs calling for community decision making around data centers.

“The faith community has always stepped in the gap, when it came to social justice issues, when it came to environmental justice issues, they’ve always stood up for the least of these,” Lewis said. She said she’s heard from faith leaders concerned about rising energy bills associated with data centers and increased pollution in places that already have high environmental burdens, often called “sacrifice zones.” 

Lewis said her own pastors at Beloved Community Church, a United Church of Christ congregation, have expressed concern about data centers. Beyond that, she said, “I’m very connected in the Black church, and I know everybody is concerned with data centers.” 

The text message compared Prince George’s County to neighboring Virginia’s Loudoun County, touting economic benefits from data centers in the latter. Lewis called the comparison “very ridiculous,” citing different demographics between the two counties and a higher density and level of preexisting pollutants in Prince George’s County.

In Prince George’s County, over 60% of residents are Black, compared to less than 9% in Loudoun County, and it has a median household income of slightly over $100,000, compared to slightly over $180,000 in Loudoun County.

“Faith leaders are residents. They live here. And the majority of residents in the county don’t support data centers,” Lewis said of Prince George’s County.