New York becomes the first state to impose a data center moratorium

New York became the first U.S. state to enact a moratorium on new data centers on Tuesday when Gov. Kathy Hochul issued an executive order mandating a one-year statewide pause on large facilities used to power artificial intelligence products. Hochul said in a statement that as data center development threatens to hike up utility bills, deplete natural resources and create uncertainty for New Yorkers, it is her responsibility to take action and lead. The order will pause the state permitting process for proposed hyperscale data centers, defined as having electrical capacity of more than 50 megawatts, and direct state regulators to create standards focused on environmental impacts, energy demand, water usage and other factors, the governor's office said. The appetite for data center moratoriums is growing nationally as anger grows over the facilities' effects on energy prices and local environments. Almost three-quarters of Americans oppose a data center project being built near their homes, according to a new Heatmap poll. More than a dozen states have considered moratoria in response to residents' fears about potential costs of living next to data centers. Maine is the only other state which approved a moratorium through its legislature, but its governor vetoed the measure in April. A small city in southern California became the first municipality to enact a moratorium on construction last month, followed soon after by Seattle. A June poll from the Siena Research Institute found that 46% of New Yorkers felt a one-year moratorium on new permits for large data centers in the state would be good for New York, and 21% felt it would be bad. New York's state legislature had already approved a one-year statewide moratorium bill that also included provisions for an environmental impact report and new labor, energy efficiency and transparency standards. Hochul has so far not greenlit that legislation, but state Sen. Kristen Gonzalez, who authored the bill, welcomed the executive order. Gonzalez said in a statement that with the executive order, Hochul is protecting everyday New Yorkers with a first-in-the-nation moratorium on new large data centers and that by giving the state time to plan, development and innovation will not come at the expense of all.