ALBANY — Democrats in the New York Legislature have introduced a bill that would institute a three-year moratorium on the citing and permitting of new data centers statewide.
“Let’s take a pause. We don’t even understand all the implications this can have for the climate, environment, energy costs and water for the state of New York,” said State Sen. Liz Krueger. Proposed data centers in the NYISO interconnection queue, she added, already represent 9.5 GW of load.
The legislators argue the pace of data center development has outstripped the existing planning, regulatory and environmental review frameworks. They say data centers are driving up the cost of electricity, creating more demand for fossil fuels and delaying New York state’s climate goals.
“The fact is that we should not allow individual companies to skyrocket ahead with their plans that will cost us huge amounts of money, cost us huge amounts of environmental impact and cost us lost opportunities to make other decisions with our future energy planning,” Kruger said.
Data centers are a hot topic across the country and make up the bulk of system impact studies discussed and approved by the NYISO transmission planning committee.
The new bill echoes New York’s cryptocurrency mine moratorium. (See NY Slaps Moratorium on Certain Crypto Mining Permits.) Gov. Kathy Hochul signed that moratorium into law in 2022. The Hochul administration, however, recently reached an air rights settlement with Greenidge Generation Holdings, allowing the cryptocurrency mine to operate a gas generator in Dresden, N.Y.
The chances of passing a data center moratorium are unclear. Krueger and Assemblymember Anna Kelles introduced the bill, which is co-sponsored by Sens. Kristen Gonzalez, Rachel May and Lea Webb. The Democratic legislators are backed by a coalition of environmental and consumer advocacy groups, including Food and Water Watch, the Alliance for a Green Economy and the New York Public Interest Research Group.
“The proliferation of data centers and their insatiable appetite for ratepayer subsidies, excessive water use, noise pollution and regulatory secrecy must stop,” said Blair Horner, senior policy advisor for NYPIRG. “New York state can show the nation how to regulate data centers in a way that protects consumers’ wallets, the public’s hearing and the environment’s most precious resource, water.”
The legislators and advocacy groups represent areas from New York City to rural Upstate. The New York City Democratic Socialists of America, fresh from their recent victory in the NYC mayoral election, also support the legislation.
The bill calls for the Department of Environmental Conservation to complete a comprehensive environmental impact statement on data centers, including the current and forecasted effects on energy use, electricity rates, water resources, air quality and greenhouse gases. The Department of Public Services would be required to report the cost impacts of data centers on all other ratepayers and issue any new orders necessary to ensure those costs are paid by data center companies and developers.
“I want to emphasize the fact that this is simply a pragmatic decision to put a pause … and create common sense regulations,” said Kelles. “This industry has exploded very quickly, and we have not had the opportunity to create infrastructure in the government, both in law and regulations to ensure that … the industry does not have a significant negative impact on workers and our environment.”
The bill would not block projects retroactively. It would pause new permitting by any government body, agency or public benefit corporation for construction, siting or the start of operations. Projects that already have permits would be allowed to continue.
The bill is awaiting discussion at the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee.
