If signed by Governor Hochul, New York would become the first state in the country to enact a statewide data center moratorium, pausing new large-scale projects while the state studies their impact, requiring data centers to cover their own energy costs, holding them to clean energy standards, and directing investment into host communities.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Joyceline Kwarko, joyceline@agreeny.org, (315) 480 1515
Albany, NY – Today the New York State Legislature passed the Responsible Data Center Development Act, enacting a one-year moratorium on permits for new large-scale data centers alongside a set of protections for ratepayers, communities, and the climate as well as labor standards. If signed by Governor Hochul, New York would become the first state in the country to enact a statewide community-protecting pause of its kind.
The moratorium buys time for crucial studies, and the rest of the bill puts that time to use. During the moratorium, the state will study how data centers affect New York’s electricity supply, water resources, land, and pollution levels. It requires utilities to put large data centers in their own billing class, so the cost of serving them, from infrastructure upgrades to rising energy costs, falls on the facilities themselves and not on households and small businesses. It sets escalating renewable energy requirements for these facilities, reaching 90 percent renewable power by 2040. And it requires new data centers to fund community-supporting investments in places that host them, from heat pumps and rooftop solar to broadband and water infrastructure, along with prevailing wage and apprenticeship standards for construction.
“New York just made a smart and proactive choice. Data center demand has been growing faster than the state can plan for it, and this pause gives us the time to understand what it really means for our grid, our water, our health, and the bills landing in people’s mailboxes,” said Jessica Azulay, Executive Director of the Alliance for a Green Economy (AGREE). “Just as important, the bill makes sure these facilities pay for the costs they create instead of shifting them onto households and small businesses.”
“We’re grateful to the sponsors and to our coalition partners for getting this done, and we look forward to Governor Hochul signing it,” Jessica added. “Getting this right now will spare New Yorkers from paying for it later.”
About Alliance for a Green Economy
The Alliance for a Green Economy (AGREE) is a New York based nonprofit advancing a just transition to a clean, affordable, and democratically controlled energy system, with a focus on protecting ratepayers and accelerating the state’s climate goals.
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