Kathy Hochul stopped the diggers on Tuesday. New York became the first US state to halt construction of large new data centres, imposing a one-year moratorium on anything drawing 50 megawatts or more, on the grounds that the buildings powering the AI boom are pushing up household bills, draining water, and landing hardest on the towns that host them.
“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,” the governor said.
She added that she will also pursue legislation to repeal the sales tax exemptions that large data centres currently enjoy in the state.
The mechanics are narrower than the headline suggests, and worth reading carefully. For the duration of the freeze, the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation will not issue discretionary permits that have not already been deemed complete. Applications already over that line survive. Everything behind them waits.
Meanwhile, state officials have been told to produce a Generic Environmental Impact Statement, a document intended to hold incoming data centres to consistent standards and to examine what their construction and operation actually do to the state.
