![\"Advocates](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1780446678_316_.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nState lawmakers plan to pass a one-year moratorium on new data centers projects in New York before the end of the legislative session this week.<\/p>\n
If approved, it would be the first statewide moratorium of its kind in the country.<\/p>\n
The moratorium would place a hold on large data center projects and require an environmental impact study on data center development in the state.<\/p>\n
It would also require data centers to eventually rely mostly on renewable energy sources and owners to also fund projects that benefit the communities in which they locate.<\/p>\n
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said the last-minute bill is a compromise after advocates sought a three-year ban.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a combination of a number of bills, I say it was more of an omnibus bill,\u201d Heastie said. \u201cBut between the two houses, we talked to many other stakeholders, so I think we’re comfortable in passing that bill.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Samuel King<\/p>\n
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New York Public News Network<\/p>\n
Advocates of a statewide moratorium on new data center projects rally on May 13, 2026, at the New York State Capitol.<\/p>\n
Advocates of a moratorium had rallied at the Capitol in recent weeks, and the effort gained momentum as more lawmakers joined to sponsor the legislation.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs legislators, individually, we have the responsibility to step up and have a plan, and that is simply what we\u2019re trying to do,\u201d said Sen. Kristen Gonazalez, D-Queens. \u201cAll we’re trying to say is that it is reasonable to have a pause, a moratorium on the building of new data centers, so that we can plan for our energy future. S, so that we can protect our environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
But those opposed to the moratorium are making a lobbying push of their own, saying the proposal would cost jobs and destabilize the regulatory environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere’s already protections, and you already have to go through a lot of permitting review processes to build any infrastructure of this size,\u201d said Smythe Anderso, executive director of the Digital Power Network, a coalition of bitcoin miners and digital infrastructure leaders. \u201cSo a moratorium is just a signal to folks saying, you know, we’re not open for business here in New York.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gov. Kathy Hochul would have to sign off on the moratorium. While not commenting on this specific legislation, she said last week she plans to look intensely at the issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said that if they come to New York, they need to be more self-sustaining,\u201d Hochul said. \u201cThey need to be able to manage their own energy costs without making local ratepayers pay more, and again, this is a local decision for municipalities, it’s land use, which is the purview of local governments.\u201d<\/p>\n
The regular session had been set to conclude on Thursday, but Heastie confirmed that the session will likely extend into Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"State lawmakers plan to pass a one-year moratorium on new data centers projects in New York before the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253002,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[5334,3220,1984,67058,9,11,10,61712],"class_list":["post-253001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-alabama","tag-data-center","tag-hochul","tag-moratorium","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-stamp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}