Governor of Up-to-date York Kathy Hochul signed an executive order Tuesday establishing a one-year pause on hyperscale data center development, resulting in the nation’s first statewide moratorium on data centers. The executive order was issued in response to nationwide opposition to data center construction, which has put elected officials under intense pressure to take action.
The order pauses state environmental assessments for facilities over 50 megawatts for a year. It directs the state Department of Public Utilities to assess the environmental and energy impacts of data centers during this time and develop a up-to-date general environmental impact statement, an overall permitting process for convoluted environmental issues that may arise for data centers seeking to build in the state. Hochul also proposes abolishing all tax incentives for data centers.
“We have no choice but to address the challenges posed by these massive facilities,” Hochul said at a news conference in Up-to-date York on Tuesday. A pause, she added, would give Up-to-date York a chance to create “the strongest possible framework to protect our communities.”
Hochul has been struggling for months with mounting pressure to operate in data centers. In early June, the Up-to-date York Legislature passed the bill Act on the responsible development of data centers. The omnibus bill, which would implement several different reforms related to data center development and has bipartisan support, has been on Hochul’s desk since passage as lawmakers and environmental, faith and labor groups in the state pressed governor to sign. (A representative from Hochul’s office tells WIRED that the governor is still reviewing the bill.)
The executive order signed today is less stringent than legislation passed in May: The moratorium only covers data centers with capacity above 50 megawatts, compared to the 20-megawatt limit set in the bill on the governor’s desk. However, supporters of the Data Center Development Act praised Hochul’s move.
“Technology should make our lives better, not pollute our water, burden our power grid, or raise our utility bills,” Democratic state Sen. Kristin Gonzalez, the bill’s author, said in a statement. “By giving our state time to plan, we can ensure that growth and innovation do not come at the expense of all of us.”
Alex Beauchamp, Northeast regional director for Food and Water Watch, an environmental group that helped draft Up-to-date York’s original moratorium bill, says it’s clear the legislation passed in May had an impact in getting the governor to sign the executive order. (At Tuesday’s press conference, Hochul personally thanked the bill’s sponsors, including Gonzalez.)
“Any real moratorium is just a giant step forward,” he says.
In his State of the Union address earlier this year, Hochul he said would ask data centers being built in Up-to-date York to “pay their fair share” for energy. This isn’t the first time the governor has pushed limits on Large Tech in the state. In 2022, she signed a one-year moratorium on cryptocurrency mining, despite intense industry lobbying against the bill.
At least 13 other statesincluding Georgia, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Maryland, Vermont and South Dakota, enacted data center moratoriums in their state legislatures this year, with both Democrats and Republicans supporting the bill. In April, Maine became the first state to pass a data center moratorium through the legislature. Gov. Janet Mills vetoed the decision, defending a specific data center project built on the site of a former paper mill that she said he said“bring jobs and investment back.” There was a project suspend indefinitely in June.