Large data center projects in New York will be put on hold for one year under a new moratorium approved by state lawmakers.
If signed by the governor, it would be the first of its kind in the country.
The bill also requires the state to conduct an environmental impact study on current and potential data center developments.
“We don't think data centers are going to go away," said Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, "but we do think that we can have a say in how they are in our lives, and that's what we're planning to do.”
But opponents say the moratorium will take away local control and hurt the state’s economy.
“(Data centers) are going to be the infrastructure in which the modern economy runs," said Assembly member Josh Jensen, a Monroe County Republican. "And when we place a moratorium on that infrastructure, even if for 12 months we are sending a message to the rest of the country and the rest of the world, build that future someplace else.”
The legislation also would require data centers to eventually rely mostly on renewable energy sources and that owners also fund projects that benefit the communities in which they locate.
