On Tuesday, New York state Sen. Kristen Gonzalez announced that from Aug. 22 – Aug. 30, she’s embarking on a statewide tour to advance the Responsible Data Center Development Act. It’s the measure she sponsored and that was passed by the state legislature at the end of this year’s legislative session.
It calls for a one-year moratorium to do environmental impact studies, includes labor standards for when data centers are built, and includes renewable energy standards since Gonzalez says a big focus has been on the climate conversation.
The “NY Fights AI Data Centers” statewide tour is scheduled to visit 13 sites with data centers or proposed data centers across New York.
Stops include in Buffalo, Alabama, Seneca Lake and the Hudson Valley. Gonzalez says more details will be shared closer in the coming days.
It will come just over a month after Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the nation’s first one-year data center moratorium.
Since then, the governor has made stops around the state, including in Long Island and in Albany, to hold roundtables to meet with leaders about it.
While the two measures call for a one-year moratorium, Gonzalez and advocates say her measure covers a broader range of large facilities starting at 20 megawatts or more.
The governor’s moratorium is more of a “pause” on hyperscale centers that use 50 megawatts or more.
“We’ve worked with the governor’s office,” said Gonzalez on Tuesday. We’re really proud to stand with her on announcing an executive order on the first-in-the-nation moratorium on these large data centers. However, while the executive order was an important first step in allowing us the time and space with a pause on the building and DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) permitting of these large data centers, it did not give us all of the necessary frameworks that we have in the Responsible Data Center Development Act.”
Critics aren’t supportive of this legislative push against data centers.
They say the argument surrounding data centers in New York doesn’t line up with what’s happening in other states and point to the state’s climate law when it comes to grid support issues.
“We’ve heard the reasoning behind it is it’s driving up the utility rates when that’s simply not the case,” said Justin Wilcox executive director of Upstate United. “We don’t have enough data centers in New York to drive up rates. What we have effectively since 2019, we’ve lost more generating capacity than we’ve gained.”
When asked if the governor was considering signing the legislation, the governor’s office referenced remarks she made in July.
“Certainly, we’re still looking at the legislation, but as all of you know who ask me when I’m going to sign a bill, we go through a very arduous process of reading every word, examining the implications, and what is doable,” said Hochul. “And as that process unfolds with that and other bills, I want to make sure that we get ahead of this right now, which is why we took the steps we did.”