New York Governor Hochul’s Data Center Moratorium Omits Stronger Climate Provisions of Legislature’s Version
WASHINGTON — New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Tuesday signed a one-year moratorium on hyperscale data centers, the first statewide moratorium in the country. Now state agencies are tasked with putting together the regulatory guidelines to “protect ratepayers, the environment, the energy grid and communities across the state.”
In issuing an executive order, Hochul sidestepped a more stringent moratorium bill passed by the New York State Legislature in June, which would have required that hyperscalers be powered by 90% renewable energy by 2040.
In response, Clara Vondrich, senior policy counsel for Public Citizen’s Climate Program, issued the following statement:
“For the first time, a state Governor is hitting pause on the AI data center bonanza that is abusing communities and the democratic process, spewing fossil fuel emissions and worsening the already dire climate crisis, and making energy bills difficult to pay for families across the country. This issue is animating Republicans, Democrats, rural and urban communities alike: They don’t want data centers near their homes and schools, especially without the necessary guardrails to protect the environment and the people.
“However, Hochul should not have bypassed the one-year moratorium bill passed by the New York Assembly in June. The Responsible Data Center Development Act was more stringent, including a mandate that all data centers be powered by 90% renewable energy by 2040. The Act would further encompass a larger universe of data centers impacting communities, blocking for one year any data center with peak demand of 20MW, whereas the Governor’s plan only limits data centers 50MW and above.
“By abandoning the renewable energy target, Governor Hochul misses another opportunity to drill down on the climate impacts and expose the Big Tech companies who claim to be green leaders: The electricity powering data centers is not clean, much less renewable. New ‘un-sustainability’ reports by Microsoft reveal its electricity consumption has grown nearly 250% since 2020 due to its extreme AI data center business. And Big Tech companies, including Microsoft, Google, and Amazon are actively enabling further fossil fuel expansion by selling AI to Big Oil in a craven display of profit-mongering at our expense.
“The Governor clearly needed a win after her hugely unpopular roll backs to New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act during the recent state budget, but that’s no excuse to water down another key piece of climate legislation. Huchul should demonstrate genuine leadership and put the brakes on AI data centers by signing the Responsible Data Center Development Act into law.
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