Fact vs. Fiction:
A Community Forum
What's being proposed for Frederick County? What's fact versus fiction, and what does it actually mean for our community?
Experienced Professionals.
Independent Voices.
With over 20 years of experience managing health, safety, and compliance programs across multiple industries, Tammy Clark brings expertise from both regulatory and litigation settings. Her work has informed employers, manufacturers, healthcare systems, and government agencies on occupational safety, regulatory compliance, and risk analysis.
Her background spans a breadth of industrial contexts, giving her a grounded, evidence-based perspective on how large-scale industrial development affects surrounding communities, workers, and the environment.
Kristen Meghan Kelly holds a Master of Science in Occupational Safety and Health and brings 20+ years of experience as a senior industrial hygienist and environmental specialist. She is a consultant and nationally recognized expert, featured in media and documentary work for her advocacy and professional insight.
Her expertise spans the human health and environmental impacts of industrial operations, an essential lens for evaluating what large-scale data center infrastructure means for Frederick County residents, water, and land.
Martha Saddlick holds a geology degree from James Madison University and brings 45+ years of experience as an oil and gas geophysicist. Her deep expertise in subsurface analysis, including karst geology, aquifer systems, and land use, is directly relevant to the infrastructure and water risks posed by large-scale industrial development in the Valley.
As a generational farmer in the Shenandoah Valley, Saddlick also brings the perspective of someone with roots in the land, someone who understands what is at stake beyond the spreadsheets and economic projections.
Elena Schlossberg-Kunkel holds a BA in Psychology and an MA in School Counseling from Marymount University. After moving to the Rural Crescent in Prince William County in 2002, she witnessed firsthand how land use decisions can shape and permanently alter the quality of life for entire communities.
She established The Coalition to Protect Prince William County and has since become a leading voice on smart growth policy and conservation. Her work offers Frederick County residents a direct window into how similar fights have unfolded in neighboring jurisdictions—and what strategies have been most effective.
His work focuses on public choice, public finance, and the practical application of economic ideas, particularly as they relate to policy and real-world decision-making.
Prior to his academic career, he worked with organizations including the Charles G. Koch Foundation, the Regulatory Economics Group, and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, where his work included economic education methodology, corporate cost and profitability analysis, and assessment of state economic and educational policy.
An Evening of Informed Discussion
- Tammy Clark — Occupational health, air quality, regulatory compliance and what it means for surrounding residents (15 min)
- Kristen Meghan Kelly — Environmental health impacts, what industrial hygiene data from similar developments shows (15 min)
- Martha Saddlick — Frederick County's karst geology and aquifer vulnerability, what subsurface development risk looks like here specifically (15 min)
- Elena Schlossberg-Kunkel — The Prince William County coalition model, how they organized, what worked, and what Frederick County can replicate
- Nathan Russell — Economic analysis, what counties are actually promised versus what they receive, and the public finance reality behind the data centers or higher taxes argument
Get the Full Picture
The county's own forums have featured presentations by organizations with a direct financial stake in data center expansion. This event is different: the panelists have no financial interest in the outcome. Their job is to give you the information you need to evaluate what is actually being proposed and what it would actually mean for the county's air, water, land, and future.
Reserve Your Spot
The forum is free and open to all Frederick County community members. Submit an RSVP so we know to expect you, and submit a question for the panel in advance if you have one.