Gov. Hochul holds Henrietta roundtable on NY data center construction moratorium

HENRIETTA, N.Y. — Gov. Kathy Hochul heard feedback on her data center moratorium at a roundtable discussion Wednesday morning.

Two weeks ago, Hochul signed an executive order pausing all construction of large-scale data centers for up to a year. News10NBC’s Erin Mahon went to the governor’s roundtable at Henrietta Town Court to hear how local leaders feel about it.

What it means for the state’s energy grid

Supporters of the moratorium took the chance to voice concerns about data centers that went beyond environmental impacts. The governor met with eight people to talk about what they’d like to see happen over the next year.

“We’re not against innovation. We’re not against change, but I want to make sure that this technology works for New Yorkers and it works for our communities as well,” Hochul said.

The order paused all hyperscale data center construction. Those centers pull more than 50 megawatts — about the same as 50,000 homes — worth of energy.

Energy was top of mind for several attendees. County Executive Adam Bello raised concerns about the strain on the electrical grid.

“Right now where data centers may be accounting for less than 6% of the load on the grid — by 2035 without a framework in place, there’s projections that can bring it up to more than 20% of the country’s electrical use,” Bello said.

Comments from Henrietta Town Supervisor and Genesee County Legislator

Henrietta Town Supervisor Stephen Shultz said the town is working on a local law to ensure data centers leave the grid with the same or more capacity. He said that needs state backing.

“One of the things that would be great, is if, you know, as you look at what you’re going to do from a law, make sure that there is something that helps municipalities do these types of local action so that it stands up to a challenge in court,” Shultz said.

The governor’s order paused one of the largest proposals in Western New York — the 2.2 million square foot Stream Data Center in Genesee County. County Legislator Christian Yunker added consideration for the area’s insufficient water supply.

“This is by far our biggest issue and how do we pay for that and not put it entirely on the backs of taxpayers?” Yunker said.

Regional and/or statewide solutions

The discussion lasted about an hour. The governor took three media questions afterwards.

Erin asked whether the governor was trying to find solutions specific to regions within the state or statewide solutions. Hochul said her job is to give a statewide template.

“My job is to give a state-wide template. There are areas where it’ll be universal like we’ll pass a law that says no tax breaks for data centers above this size. That’s going to be statewide. The community investment Framework is going to develop strategies that all communities can take advantage of. I’ts not mandatory. This is till about local control. This is if a community decides they want to host a data center, this will give them sort of a blueprint of what they should be asking for,” Hochul explained.

Where things stand now

Over the next year, the governor’s office and the DEC will review the environmental impacts of data centers. Then depending on those results, they may lift the ban.

Not all agree with the ban. The governor addressed concerns that it will slow the state’s economic and technological development.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman disagrees with the moratorium. “New York is last in economic development because our energy costs are 70% higher than the national average,” Blakeman said.