New York Governor Kathy Hochul has signed an executive order temporarily pausing state environmental permitting for large-scale data centre projects for one year.
The order applies to covered projects generally understood to involve facilities requiring 50 megawatts or more of power, marking a significant escalation in regulatory oversight.
New York becomes the first state to impose a statewide moratorium on certain large-scale data centre developments, shifting opposition from local and county levels to state government.
The executive order cites unprecedented growth in data centre demand driven by artificial intelligence, cloud computing, streaming services, and other computing operations as core justifications.
Concerns cited include electric load pressures, water use, water quality, air quality, utility costs, and the risk that infrastructure investments could be shifted to ordinary ratepayers.
Governor Hochul also directed Empire State Development to issue a Community Investment Framework within 60 days, establishing guidance for negotiating community benefits as part of large-scale data centre deals.
The Governor additionally announced an intention to pursue legislation repealing certain tax exemptions for massive data centres, signalling that state-level scrutiny may broadly affect project economics.
Public opposition to data centre development has now spread well beyond New York, appearing across multiple states and at every level of government in strikingly varied forms.
Maine’s Legislature passed legislation that would have imposed a temporary moratorium on certain large data centres, but Governor Janet Mills vetoed the bill while stating that she intended to establish a council to study data centre impacts.
In Texas, Hays and Hood Counties considered moratoria or related pauses over concerns about water, energy, and local impacts, while Somervell County passed a resolution opposing data centre construction until the Texas Legislature addresses the issue.
Voters in Festus, Missouri ousted four city council incumbents following approval activity relating to a proposed $6 billion data centre, demonstrating that such decisions can become election-defining local issues.
Seattle unanimously adopted an emergency one-year moratorium responding to public concern over grid capacity, water use, ratepayer impacts, land use, and public-health considerations.
Denver approved a one-year moratorium on accepting or processing certain permit and site-development applications for data centres, while Oklahoma City adopted a temporary moratorium through December 31, 2026.
The Virginia Court of Appeals invalidated Prince William County’s Digital Gateway rezonings after concluding that public notice and advertising requirements were not strictly followed, blocking a major data centre development corridor.
In New Brunswick, New Jersey, a proposed 27,000-square-foot data centre was abandoned and plans for public park space were restored following public outcry and organised protest.
North Carolina lawmakers and Governor Josh Stein scrutinised data centre tax exemptions and ratepayer impacts, with the state budget reportedly eliminating an electricity sales-tax exemption for data centres.
New York’s moratorium also creates a potential opening for nuclear generation projects, as the New York Public Service Commission issued an Order Establishing a Nuclear Reliability Backbone Process in June 2026.
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the Department of Public Service supported that order with an Advanced Nuclear Policy Options Paper representing a comprehensive effort to expand gigawatt-scale nuclear generation capacity.
Legal experts at K&L Gates warn that diligence for data centre projects must now include jurisdiction-specific assessment of political sentiment, utility capacity, water availability, environmental-justice issues, and tax incentive durability alongside conventional permitting review.
The firm cautions that boilerplate force majeure, change-in-law, material adverse change, and outside-date provisions may be ill-suited to a market facing such dynamic and fast-changing regulatory risks.