New York regulators will pause the issuance of environmental permits for major data center projects over the next year, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Tuesday.
Hochul said she will sign an executive order establishing a temporary “moratorium” on new air permits for so-called “hyperscale” data centers seeking to connect to the state’s power grid, with the pause lasting up to one year.
“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,” she said in a statement.
“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 added.
Demand for these sprawling, computer-filled facilities has surged in recent years, driven by artificial intelligence and other power-intensive digital services, but they require enormous amounts of electricity to operate.
A Siena University poll released last month found that about half of New York voters viewed a one-year pause on large data centers as beneficial for the state, while 21% said it would be a bad idea and 17% placed themselves somewhere in between.
The temporary halt applies only to new applications and is expected to remain in place for “up to a year” as the state conducts a review and develops additional rules governing data center projects.
“Once the State finalizes these standards, the moratorium will be lifted, allowing new data center projects to proceed as long as they follow state, zoning code and other local approvals,” Hochul said.
The move falls short of a far more restrictive proposal passed by the state legislature earlier this year that would’ve included requirements that data center operations set a union-friendly prevailing wage standard and derive large amounts of their power from renewable sources.
Business groups fought the legislation.
