New York State recently became the first state in the United States to halt the construction of data centers. Governor Kathy Hochul signed an executive order on Monday that temporarily prohibits the state from approving construction permits for any large data center projects.
According to the executive order, the ban applies to data center projects with a scale of 50 megawatts and above. This move is expected to affect more than a dozen ongoing plans across the United States. The New York State Department of Environmental Protection has made it clear that it will no longer accept any applications for such projects that have not yet been approved.
Governor Hochul said at a news conference in Brooklyn that progress should not come at the expense of utility costs, disruption to water systems or noise pollution. She emphasized that the construction of data centers must respect local planning and approval processes.
The executive order is currently intended to buy time for the environmental review process being developed by New York State. It is expected that it will take about a year to complete the relevant procedures before the ban can be lifted. In addition, the governor's office is considering other restrictive measures, including requiring data center operators to contribute capital to a special fund to support the statewide power grid and eliminating tax incentives for large hyperscale data centers.
In recent years, with the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, the computing demand of data centers has increased significantly, and the scale of related projects has also expanded. According to BloombergNEF's forecast, by 2030, nearly a quarter of the world's new data centers will exceed 500 megawatts.
The background of this executive order is the increasing pressure of public opinion in New York State and across the United States. A recent Pew Research Center report showed that only 10% of Americans are excited about the application of artificial intelligence in daily life. As the scale of data center projects continues to expand, the pressure on power infrastructure and the occupation of regional water resources and agricultural land have triggered widespread public concern. Polls show that two-thirds of respondents are worried that data centers will cause electricity prices to rise. Some surveys show that the public is more inclined to build Amazon warehouses near communities than data centers.
The move by New York state could create policy friction with the Trump administration. Previously, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), appointed by Trump, had explicitly supported data center development and required grid operators to open a "fast lane" for data center access.
Although the moratorium on data center construction is still controversial at the state and federal levels, New York has become the first state to implement this idea. Previously, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders also proposed a nationwide moratorium on such construction, but it did not receive widespread response. Earlier, although the Maine General Assembly passed a bill to postpone it to November 2027, it was vetoed by Governor Janet Mills (Janet Mills). This action by New York State has undoubtedly added new variables to this controversial issue.