New York Gov. Kathy Hochul told stakeholders at a roundtable in Albany Thursday that in addition to a up to one-year moratorium on the construction of new large-scale data centers, her recent executive order intending to give the state time to regulate the facilities also provides local governments with resources to ensure they will benefit from any such development that moves forward.
“I want to work with our communities and make sure they have what it takes to get as much as they can,” she said in welcoming the group to the Red Room, the governor’s ceremonial office at the state Capitol.
The roundtable included perspectives from local government leaders, those in the agricultural industry, and utility advocates who stressed the need to plan ahead as concerns mount over how data centers use natural resources, their impact on other economic development projects that use such resources, including Micron’s semiconductor plant in Onondaga County, and questions over long-term job creation.
Capital Tonight broke down their perspective along with the pushback the executive order faces from some industry leaders concerned about the impact a one year delay could have on New York’s role in the development of artificial intelligence, along with pushback from Hochul’s political opponents, including Republican opponent Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman.