Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) signed a one-year moratorium on data center construction in New York on Tuesday, making the Empire State the first state in the country to press pause on building the artificial intelligence infrastructure hubs.
“As data center development threatens to hike up utility bills, deplete our natural resources, and create uncertainty for New Yorkers, it’s my responsibility to take action and lead,” Hochul said on Tuesday.
The moratorium will immediately halt the state’s permitting approval processes for data centers using 50 or more megawatts of power for one year. These centers are typically large-scale artificial intelligence or cloud computing buildings that require lots of electricity to power and water to cool. They have been the backbone of the expanding domestic AI industry, often employing local workers and stimulating smaller communities in more rural regions of the United States.
‘SEA CHANGE’ IN LOCAL REACTION TO DATA CENTERS POSES TEST FOR DEVELOPERS: ‘POWER SHIFT’
The anti-data center movement has picked up steam across the country, with more and more state officials across party lines looking to crack down on AI’s rapid infrastructure advancement. Just a few years ago. state legislators, including in New York, were looking to offer tax incentives for companies seeking to build these centers.
Hochul’s ban on data center development comes after years of her championing AI development and education across the Empire State, with her framing her decision to sign the executive order as a regulatory action instead of a move to stifle development.
“New York will lead the way in creating the strongest standards in the nation for data center development, ensuring that when companies succeed because of New York, New Yorkers succeed too,” Hochul said.
The state legislature passed another, more strict data center moratorium in early June, clearing the Senate by a 44-16 vote and the state Assembly by a 102-39 vote. With the overwhelming support for the bill from Democrats in the state legislature, Hochul flipped her anti-moratorium stance and supported a separate executive order, rather than the bill itself. She is still considering the bill, according to the New York Times.
“This is a local decision for municipalities,” Hochul had told reporters several weeks ago when asked about the legislative action. “It’s land use, which is the purview of local governments; it’s not a statewide approach necessarily, but it’s something I’m looking at intensely.”
HERE ARE THE STATES AND CITIES PUSHING BACK AGAINST DATA CENTERS
New York becomes the first state in the union to place a temporary moratorium on data center development, though it has been a topic of conversation across the country.
In Maine, the state legislature passed a moratorium, but Gov. Janet Mills (D-ME) vetoed the bill.