New York lawmakers introduce bill that aims to halt data center development for three years

On Friday, New York State Senators Liz Krueger and Kristen Gonzales introduced a bill that might cease the issuance of permits for brand new knowledge facilities for at the very least three years and ninety days to offer time for impression assessments and to replace rules. The invoice would require the Division of Environmental Conservation and Public Service Commissions to difficulty impression statements and reviews in the course of the pause, together with any new orders or rules that they deem crucial to attenuate data centers’ impacts on the setting and shoppers in New York.

The invoice would require these departments to check knowledge facilities’ water, electrical energy and gasoline utilization, and their impression on the charges of those assets, amongst different issues. The invoice, citing a Bloomberg evaluation, notes that, “Nationally, family electrical energy charges elevated 13 % in 2025, largely pushed by the event of information facilities.” New York is the sixth state this yr to introduce a invoice aiming to place the brakes on knowledge facilities, following within the footsteps of Georgia, Maryland, Oklahoma, Vermont and Virginia, in keeping with Wired. It is nonetheless very a lot within the early phases, and is now with the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee for consideration.