No Data Center FLX petition gains momentum, continues calls to action against proposed TeraWulf data center

On June 17th, a coalition of activist groups, including FLX Strong, No Data Center FLX, CLEAN, Sustainable Fingerlakes, Ithaca DSA, and PSL Upstate, held a press conference before a Lansing Town Board meeting to emphasize their strong community opposition to TeraWulf's proposed Cayuga Data campus project in Lansing, NY. The groups expressed concerns about noise pollution, rising utility costs, and environmental degradation to Cayuga Lake and the surrounding wildlife.

The coalition presented a petition titled "Reject the Development of an AI Data Center on Cayuga Lake," which had garnered over 19,700 signatures, with more than 17,000 from New York State residents, to the Lansing Town Board. The petition specifically targets TeraWulf's plan for a 300 or 400 Megawatt AI data center on the shores of Cayuga Lake, arguing it will bring adverse environmental, quality of life, and economic impacts to the watershed.

Adding a legal dimension to the opposition, a Tompkins County Supreme Court Judge recently affirmed the right to challenge the Lansing Zoning Board of Appeals' (ZBA) classification of the proposed data center as a permissible land use near the lakeshore and adjacent wildlife preserve. This follows an Article 78 lawsuit filed in January by FLX Strong and Cayuga Lake Environmental Action Now (CLEAN) against the Lansing ZBA, TeraWulf, and its subsidiaries, which disputes the 'general processing' classification for the AI data center. Activists are also calling on Governor Kathy Hochul to support the Responsible Data Center Development Act, which is currently on her desk, to prevent veto or significant amendments, noting that data centers are widely unwanted by communities nationwide. Earlier, the Lansing Town Board unanimously voted to withdraw a proposed moratorium on development.