In a letter sent to Congress Friday, organizations from across the country, including 50 from New York state, called for a full national moratorium on the approval and construction of new data centers.
The letter cites the unsustainable consumption of energy and water resources, and skyrocketing utility costs.
The letter corresponds with legislation carried by two Democratic state lawmakers in Albany that would place a three-year moratorium on data centers in the state to give the state Public Service Commission (PSC) and the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) time to undertake due diligence.
According to state Sen. Liz Krueger, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, this temporary pause on new data center development would allow the DEC to complete a comprehensive environmental impact statement on energy use, electricity rates, water resources, air quality, greenhouse gas emissions and electronic waste.
At the same time, the Public Service Commission would be asked to report on the cost impacts of data centers on all other ratepayers.
“We need to know why industry, specific kinds of industries, are asking us to approve nine-and-half gigawatts of additional electric load right now,” Krueger told Capital Tonight.
According to the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO), there is indeed plenty of load in the so-called “queue” to be considered, but the process is a long one.
Kevin Lanahan, senior vice president of external affairs and corporate communications for the NYISO, compared it to waiting in line for lunch.
“[The developers] are in the deli line, but they haven’t ordered anything yet,” he explained. “We haven’t even started the process of exchanging information.”
That exchange of information is called the interconnection process which is a complex process of legal, technical and administrative procedures required to connect new electricity generation to the grid. The process includes three parties: the developer, the utility and the NYISO.
The NYISO runs planning studies to create forecasts to meet reliability. Currently, there are 3,229 megawatts of load modeled into the baseline forecasts of reliability reports; 2,000 megawatts of that load can be attributed to data centers.
But the number of projects in the interconnection queue is growing at a remarkable pace. The line of hungry customers is now winding down the sidewalk.
In September 2025, the interconnection queue contained approximately 6,800 megawatts of large load projects. In January 2026, the interconnection queue contained approximately 12,000 megawatts of large load projects.
Most of that new demand includes requests from data centers.