NY Renews Coalition Statement on Governor Hochul’s Executive Order Announcing a One-Year Data Center Moratorium
For Immediate Release: July 14, 2026
Contact: Marie Scarles, marie@nyrenews.org, (646) 389-8429
Web: www.nyrenews.org | Instagram | Twitter | Bluesky | Facebook
In response to Governor Hochul’s one-year moratorium on the development of hyperscale data centers in New York State, NY Renews Executive Director Stephan Edel issued the following statement on behalf of the coalition:
The announcement today of Governor Hochul’s Executive Order for a one-year moratorium on data center development is a testament to the power of communities in Western New York, the North Country, and across the state who are organizing to protect themselves from the many-headed hydra of tech billionaire greed, higher electricity costs, and the poisoning of our air, water, and land that data center development entails. We wouldn’t be here without the statewide movement for a data center moratorium and the push for meaningful regulatory standards that uphold environmental justice and rights of Indigenous Nations.
This shows that the Governor is listening to New Yorkers and Indigenous communities, and following the legislature’s lead on these concerns. And, by responding with a meaningful pause in their development, New York will be able to assess the harms and impacts of data center development and create a pathway for regulatory protections amid federal environmental deregulation.
Data centers threaten our jobs, raise our bills, waste our fresh water, and dump tons of carbon dioxide and pollutants into our atmosphere, supercharging the climate crisis. They provide limited benefits to working people while enriching the tech oligarchy that already holds our economic system hostage.
NY Renews and our member organizations look forward to engaging with the Governor’s office and in the coming regulatory proceedings to ensure every community has a say in whether or how data center development proceeds in their neighborhood.
The details matter in the implementation of these measures, and we intend to track the regulatory process around this issue and will engage at every stage to make sure New Yorkers are informed, prepared, and protected from environmental destruction and tech billionaire greed.
Member Quotes:
“This is a good first step from the Governor to take the time and take a hard look at this hard problem,” said Caroline Chen, Director of Environmental Justice at the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest. “The Legislature passed a comprehensive, common-sense bill to halt data center proposals until adequate regulations are in place, and we urge the Governor to work with the Legislature and advocates to advance the best protections for New Yorkers in the coming months.”
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