{"id":991,"date":"2026-07-15T21:10:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T21:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=991"},"modified":"2026-07-15T21:10:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T21:10:07","slug":"new-york-issues-uss-first-statewide-moratorium-on-new-hyperscale-data-centers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=991","title":{"rendered":"New York Issues US\u2019s First Statewide Moratorium on New Hyperscale Data Centers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n<\/p>\n
\n
\n

Support justice-driven, accurate and transparent news \u2014 make a <\/span><\/i>quick donation<\/span><\/i> to Truthout today!\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Read more Israeli Settlers Attack a Convoy of Journalists in the Occupied West Bank<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an Tuesday making the state the first in the nation to implement a moratorium on new hyperscale data centers.<\/p>\n

The Democratic governor said she would pause environmental permits while the state researches and develops a regulatory framework to protect ratepayers, the environment, the energy grid and communities. Four hyperscale data centers are already operating in the state, and applications are pending for 39 more. The facilities have sparked concerns over their potential energy and water consumption at a time when there is overwhelming scientific consensus about the need to conserve energy and stem the fossil fuel emissions warming the global climate and intensifying disasters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis pause will remain in place for up to one year while New York establishes the strongest possible framework to protect our communities, guardrails to reduce the risk to our energy grid, minimize land disruption, noise pollution and protect our natural resources, especially our water supply,\u201d Hochul said in remarks accompanying the executive order.<\/p>\n

The New York Legislature approved a broader moratorium in June, although there were doubts over whether Hochul, who is up for re-election this year, would sign the measure, as she had said the issue should be left to municipalities. <\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s order represents a good first step but does not go as far as the earlier legislation, said Eric Wood, senior environmental program coordinator at the New York Public Interest Research Group, a nonprofit organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe state Legislature\u2019s bill is much more protective of the New York state individual, while the governor\u2019s proposal seems to be a halfway between the billion-dollar tech industry and her constituents,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Kate Boicourt, the Environmental Defense Fund\u2019s New York state director, said the executive order is the first step to building a \u201cclear set of rules\u201d standardized across the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s things that need to be statewide standards,\u201d Boicourt said. \u201cOtherwise, if you\u2019re having specific municipality-by-municipality rules, you are potentially shifting what\u2019s allowed in one area and not being allowed in the other. There\u2019s a lot of the clean energy standards that add up to New York\u2019s climate goals that seem to be critical to cross those boundaries that are within the purview of the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some business and trade groups decried the moratorium as bad for business.<\/p>\n

\u201cA shortsighted moratorium only accomplishes one thing: It kills good-paying union jobs,\u201d said Mark McManus, general president of the United Association, a labor union for plumbers and pipefitters that has for data center construction.<\/p>\n

The state was one of about a dozen with legislative proposals this year to pause or ban data centers. In April, the Maine legislature became the first in the nation to approve a moratorium, but Gov. Janet Mills vetoed the measure. The effort in New York is important because it is a \u201ctrendsetter state,\u201d said Darrell West, a Brookings Institution senior fellow who researches AI and technology policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happens there often spreads to other areas. So the fact that New York has adopted a one-year moratorium suggests there may be others that follow, and that\u2019s a very big deal for the future of data centers and AI in general,\u201d he said. \u201cThe public opposition to data centers is widespread across the country. It\u2019s not limited to Democratic or Republican areas, urban or rural areas. The public worries are broad-based and across the political spectrum, so there could be lots of states that move in this direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Hegseth Announces Testosterone Testing as Part of Push for \u201cLethal\u201d Military<\/a><\/p>\n

Cushman & Wakefield, the commercial real estate services company, ranked the New York-New Jersey data center market near the bottom of the country\u2019s top dozen markets, with 657 megawatts of projects in operation at the end of 2025.<\/p>\n

For context, the largest market, Virginia, had 11,275 megawatts in operation. A moratorium in New York is significant, but much less so than if it had been in one of the bigger markets, which include Portland, Oregon; Columbus, Ohio; and Phoenix.<\/p>\n

Mitch Jones, managing director of policy and litigation for the national advocacy group Food & Water Watch, welcomed the moratorium, saying data centers threaten electricity bills, water supply and air quality. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just glad that New Yorkers are going to have a pause to the building of hyperscale data centers in the state, so that communities can better educate themselves about the dangers posed by the data center buildout, and continue to then educate their elected officials about why permanent protections need to be put in place,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n

Jones described data centers as a \u201ccross-cutting issue\u201d that unites Democratic and Republican opposition, and said he hopes Hochul\u2019s actions can set a national precedent. A Gallup poll published in May showed that nearly three-fourths of Americans oppose construction of data centers in their localities, including over 60 percent of Republicans.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to put further pressure on legislators to actually pass moratorium bills that are being introduced in their state, and it\u2019s going to put pressure on governors to act on their own and to issue executive orders similar to \u2014 but maybe a little more aggressive than \u2014 the one signed by Governor Hochul today,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n

Cole Jermyn, an energy transition attorney with the Environmental Defense Fund, said the next step for New York is for regulatory agencies to debate the details of long-term data center policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is something where details really matter, and executive orders aren\u2019t usually the place where you\u2019re trying to do detailed utility regulatory policy,\u201d Jermyn said. \u201cThe impact of this executive order will depend on that work,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Jones said he hopes Hochul\u2019s executive order will prompt New York to extend its pause on data centers by close to the three years Food & Water Watch originally proposed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we need to do is take this pause, take the studies included in this pause, but we need to go further and we need to go deeper, and that\u2019s probably going to require taking even a longer moratorium,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n

Read more Omar Files Resolution Opposing Rubio\u2019s ICC Threat as He\u2019s Sued for ICC Sanctions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Environmental advocates say the order represents a good first step but does not go far enough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nNew York Issues US\u2019s First Statewide Moratorium on New Hyperscale Data Centers - Smart Moving Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=991\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New York Issues US\u2019s First Statewide Moratorium on New Hyperscale Data Centers - Smart Moving Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Environmental advocates say the order represents a good first step but does not go far enough.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=991\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Smart Moving Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-15T21:10:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=991#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=991\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa\"},\"headline\":\"New York Issues US\u2019s First Statewide Moratorium on New Hyperscale Data Centers\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-15T21:10:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=991\"},\"wordCount\":1069,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=991#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/6712c79b213a4e67f928157f32997585.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=991#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=991\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=991\",\"name\":\"New York Issues US\u2019s First Statewide Moratorium on New Hyperscale Data Centers - Smart Moving Home\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=991#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=991#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/6712c79b213a4e67f928157f32997585.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-15T21:10:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=991#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=991\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=991#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/6712c79b213a4e67f928157f32997585.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/6712c79b213a4e67f928157f32997585.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1801},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=991#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New York Issues US\u2019s First Statewide Moratorium on New Hyperscale Data Centers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Smart Moving Home\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New York Issues US\u2019s First Statewide Moratorium on New Hyperscale Data Centers - Smart Moving Home","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=991","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New York Issues US\u2019s First Statewide Moratorium on New Hyperscale Data Centers - Smart Moving Home","og_description":"Environmental advocates say the order represents a good first step but does not go far enough.","og_url":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=991","og_site_name":"Smart Moving Home","article_published_time":"2026-07-15T21:10:07+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=991#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=991"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa"},"headline":"New York Issues US\u2019s First Statewide Moratorium on New Hyperscale Data Centers","datePublished":"2026-07-15T21:10:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=991"},"wordCount":1069,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=991#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/6712c79b213a4e67f928157f32997585.jpg","articleSection":["Interesting"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=991#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=991","url":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=991","name":"New York Issues US\u2019s First Statewide Moratorium on New Hyperscale Data Centers - Smart Moving Home","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=991#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=991#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/6712c79b213a4e67f928157f32997585.jpg","datePublished":"2026-07-15T21:10:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=991#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=991"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=991#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/6712c79b213a4e67f928157f32997585.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/6712c79b213a4e67f928157f32997585.jpg","width":2560,"height":1801},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=991#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New York Issues US\u2019s First Statewide Moratorium on New Hyperscale Data Centers"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/","name":"Smart Moving Home","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/smartmovinghome.com"],"url":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}