New York governor's data center moratorium criticized as insufficient
New York Governor Kathy Hochul issued an executive order for a data center moratorium to study environmental impacts, but critics argue the order is too narrow and weakens environmental review by sidelining the DEC. The plan makes crucial safeguards optional and encourages communities to seek financial benefits before environmental costs are fully understood. The author, a Tompkins County legislator, warns that inadequate state standards could allow the industry to evade control.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul's executive order calling for a data center moratorium is facing criticism for its perceived weaknesses, despite the state's growing concern over the energy consumption and community impact of these facilities. The order, intended to allow the state to study environmental impacts, is narrower than its rhetoric suggests, only pausing state environmental permits while allowing local approvals to continue. Critics, like Tompkins County legislator Irene Weiser, argue that the order makes crucial safeguards optional and improperly reassigns environmental review authority.
Specifically, the executive order places the Public Service Commission (PSC), an agency focused on utility regulation, in charge of the environmental review, sidelining the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), which possesses the relevant environmental expertise. Weiser points to the PSC's draft environmental scoping plan as problematic, describing it as a "laundry list of topics" lacking specific data collection methods, standards for impact determination, or concrete mitigation milestones. Key issues like drinking water impacts, multi-phased development, and fire risks are frequently left to optional considerations.
Furthermore, the governor's encouragement for communities to seek substantial financial benefits—up to $1 million per megawatt—before environmental costs are known, is likened to a "bribe" rather than sound public policy. This approach raises particular concerns for disadvantaged communities, who might be pressured to accept potentially harmful projects in exchange for needed investment. Critics emphasize that community benefits should only follow a finding of environmental acceptability.
The current approach, according to Weiser, falls short of "nation-leading oversight" by undermining the state's environmental watchdog, making protections optional, weakening environmental review, and monetizing community acceptance prematurely. She warns that without truly robust statewide standards, the data center industry in New York risks evading control, mirroring broader societal fears about unmanaged AI development.