New York enacts nation's first statewide data-center moratorium
New York has become the first US state to enforce a data center moratorium, as governor Kathy Hochul signed an executive order today to pause construction for one year.
WIRED96The order specifically pauses state environmental reviews for facilities over 50 megawatts, instructing the Department of Public Service to assess the environmental and energy impact of data centers during this time, and to develop a new generic environmental impact statement.
My Two Bits31By that time hopefully, the AI bubble will bust and the broligarchy will declare bankruptcies.
Rose25A lot of people think NYC is all there is to New York State. It's an immense state with LOTS of rural areas that just can't support these data centers that are being thrown up by billionaire thieves and idiots, like so much vomit, without any real thought or planning. Time to stop this nonsense.
James Kinsale15This is a smart move. Even with only a one-year pause, over that time it will become increasingly clear that most of these datacenter proposals will never be built. We're moving rapidly to local LLM hosting, which does 99.9% of what we want AI to do.
ProAggresive12Zohran is in ful control and I'm loving every second. Another win for the big Z
Victor Y Pyrrhic9zit should be forever. AI datacenter are useless, wasteful and pointless.
Pirate Nana🔪🏴☠️☠️🦄🐙4531My city has banned data centers! Go Tacoma!
Resign, Carney. ⚜️14Look Canadians, politicians with brains.
Justin Zimmerman8GOOD. They have been trying to take over upstate.
Dr. Sandra Steingraber 🏳️🌈6Good reporting from Wired: bsky.app/profile/wire...
Dr. Prakash Kashwan4Well done, New York. Grateful to the activists who are fighting these wasteful fossil-fuel enabling monstrosities!
Semi-feral Post Monger3I am not a New Yorker but I appreciate a politician who understands their voters' market signals
brad3i remain shocked to say this but mamdani winning is turning out to be great for hochul. especially after that last campaign who knew she could do a politics or two
Dottie Doggo3Every Dem should promise to 1) ban data centers and 2) aggressively prosecute every politician and CEO who promoted them for their entire lives
Ralph2New York ist der erste US-Bundesstaat, der ein Moratorium für den Bau von Rechenzentren verhängt hat, nachdem Gouverneurin Kathy Hochul heute eine Durchführungsverordnung unterzeichnet hat, mit der der Bau für ein Jahr ausgesetzt wird. Wo sieht Friedrich Merz nochmal die Zukunft für Deutschland?🫣
🚨 BREAKING News: New York to impose the country’s first statewide moratorium on data centers. www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
NikNakOaktown14This is really interesting & a good 1st step-why are data centers necessary-how much energy do they consume-what benefit do they provide-aren’t there already enough of them-simple questions that should deserve answers…
Richard Zencker7Now do ICE concentration camps.
🌊🌊TsalagiWarrior🌊🌊7AI being crammed down our throats because TechBillionaires have invested billions in AI & Trump coup & scared to death AI will fail and will take them down financially. So boycott everything AI starting with Copilot, ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, Grok. And block and shut down all data centers
Cole5Yay ! One state with a brain
Andrew Mountcastle4Maine almost got there first, but our Governor, Janet Mills, vetoed the bill to protect a proposed data center in Jay, Maine. themainemonitor.org/jay-data-cen...
twstedtv.bsky.social4RAISE THE VOLUME: 🔊🔊🔊 Reports say the sound from this data center breaks the 100dbA sound meter level. .
Walker Bragman139Hochul earning her lack of a primary challenger.
Nifferama31Gavin Newsom vetoed legislation like this in December 2025.
AltStateGov29It's an up to year long moratorium in order for rules to be created to protect the environment and energy grid. This is the beginning, and residents of NY must push for actual, meaningful protections.
Afro Thunder21The fuck is a temporary ban? Is Climate change taking a vacation?
Cadence “Known Sewage Gremlin” Andrysiak16Y’know what? Probably a good idea if groups like xAI are gonna run to the feds for some sort of pass for on-site generation emissions. I have a bit of leeway for standby generation, but…
JaneLane15Well done, Hochul! Her Republican opponent, Bruce Blakeman, opposes a moratorium. I don’t see that being a popular position anywhere in the state (I could be wrong)
Otter Poppa's Poppaler Nature Facts12Reminder: It would have been Maine, but Janet Mills just kinda decided "nah"
Milwaukee DSA11Remember: @francescahongwi.bsky.social is the only candidate who supports a data center moratorium. We have a ton of ways to get involved both online and in-person - check our calendar for the right event for you!
Normipäivä7Kuulostaa hyvältä. Onko meillä tutkittu mitään muita vaikutuksia, kuin "verotulot ja työpaikat"? Jotka nekin vedetty hatusta ilmeisesti.
Mel🏳️🌈 she/they universal healthcare now7Thank you @governor.ny.gov more of this please!
New hyperscale data centers can’t set up shop in New York for up to a year now that Governor Kathy Hochul (D) has signed the nation’s first statewide moratorium. But a bill passed by the state legislature that could restrict even more developments still awaits her signature.
nojustdan.bsky.social2The thought of upstate New York being uglyfied by data centers nauseates me.
elfheart7.bsky.social2Amazon is planning to build a Data Center here in SE WA. In order to supply the needed MASSIVE amount of electricity, it is building a nuclear power reactor. Millions of gallons of water are used DAILY for cooling purposes. Once used, the water is contaminated. Where do they plan to dispose of it?
Barry Semple2i really really like this and have been opining that we need at least a long pause on data-centers. we, *the people*, need to be as fully informed as to all aspects of their erection- especially the adjoining communities. these are not a shopping centers, after all, and offer no community benefits…
alfred bestington1new york! this is how you do it!
raventerp1.bsky.social1So what is her plan for a massive Russian cyberattack on NY water facilities? CISA tells water utilities and transportation networks to prepare for a ‘geopolitical crisis’ involving coordinated cyberattacks www.msn.com/en-us/news/u...
New York has become the first state to enact a data center moratorium. Permits for hyperscale data centers will be paused for a year while the state develops a regulatory framework around AI. The state is also considering legislation that would strip data centers of tax subsidies.
Robert Reich52Over the past year, both red AND blue states have passed strict guidelines on data center development and regulations on AI. Meanwhile, after lobbying and election spending by Big Tech, Trump has signed his own executive orders to fast-track data center construction and weaken state AI regulation.
Baird6Missoula County, MT just passed a year long moratorium too!
Government actually carrying out the will of the people?! As rare as hen's teeth.
Veronica Phillips2If you ask any of the AI agents what is the most efficient, less wasteful of resources, least invasive and harmful to humans place to build and maintain data centers. They all suggest building them well offshore in the sea, powered by wind turbines and solar panels.
Bret Plate 🍁💙📎2And why should data centers get tax breaks at all? They suck up energy, pollute water, and provide....what?....12 or 13 jobs? I have only one message for tech CEOs.
JTKirk2They claim is it will create jobs. That's almost laughable if it wasn't so serious. AI will wipe out virtually every white collar job in existence. And our tax dollars are paying them to do it. bridgemi.com/business-wat...
Emma Rogan 🇵🇸5New York has Gov. Kathy Hochul & Zohran Mamdani, leaders who put people first & are at least pausing the proliferation of data centres. JFC. What damage is the Irish Govt. doing for now & decades to come? We are so behind 🤦🏾♀️😤 #spéirghorm #IrishPol #DataCentres
I'mjustagirljm 🩷🧡🤎3Good... ....With all these Data Centers being built & Flock cameras being installed, plus digital pricing & all the new '27 vehicles having on board cameras & surveillance that reads facial recognition that are installed, what makes you think why so many Data Centers are being rapidly built? Hmmmm?
NY Gov. Kathy Hochul is enacting the nation’s first state-level moratorium on large-scale data center construction amid concerns over the impact of the facilities meant to support AI.
Joana de Sena4Moratorium is a must! These centers are going up so fast communities can't respond in time. Perhaps that's the strategy, get the licenses and agreements before a community realizes what grows under their feet, offered by greedy businesses to ambitious city councils! No!
Hughes Lab2😀 She was talking up AI few years ago though, no? Mamdani REALLY did this, lets be honest.
Flanders2If you stupid idiots had had the sense to go heavy on the solar and other renewables like the rest of the world did, you’d be well along having energy to run out of centers. But you let big oil and gas blatantly by your politicians. The US is rapidly becoming a second rate world power
blkhornet.bsky.social2This should be a nationwide thing. Data centers are polluters and take needed resources like water and electricity away from citizens. That is not acceptable.
William K. Cody1I asked Google how many smart phones (equiv to a 1989 supercomputer) you could fit in 1 acre stacked 3 ft high, & the answer was 25 MILLION. The question now is, Are we in for The Matrix, or Terminator?! Machine super-intelligence is a rrreally bad idea. Especially when it intrinsically kills life.
dabxdee.bsky.social1Data centers will only expedite the depletion of your water supply. The water wars are coming...
John Kostyack6The governor was "previously skeptical" of a statewide moratorium. Political leaders everywhere are suddenly realizing that Big Tech's "race to power" agenda is about short-circuiting public input and careful deliberation.
Michelle2@governor.ca.gov California leads the nation in Data Centers. What are you doing about the issues data centers cause including environmental and health issues ?
New York becomes the first state to impose a data center moratorium reut.rs/4pk3q0F
Stephen Jacob Smith39Nobody wants to build a data center here anyway. We have very expensive land, Andrew Cuomo shut off 2 GW of carbon-free electricity and then spent a decade not approving new transmission for clean Canadian hydro, and our unions are insane.
Emily K30ngl it's kinda sick to live in the place that is Good Sometimes
Not the Guy 29lemme get a bodega chomped cheese!!!!!!!!
__________14Good on you, Big Apple. Moar please elsewhere.
Geoff Hutchison9More of this. Yes, I use supercomputing facilities and cloud storage. Yes, I think there should be rules about power and water use. Data center build-out is happening incredibly fast and cities and towns and states need time to set rules Widespread support for this
FICKFUFA6Rest of the world: "maybe we should just pause these while we work out the true costs..." Ireland: "Over here lads - go mad! Sure we weren't using them rivers or that electricity anyhow!'
Vince Underwood4I wish Newsom wasn't Silicon Valley's little fuck boy and we'd do something like this. I get that CA is going to have a much more difficult and complicated relationship with tech, but let them leave. Hell, let them die.
BlindManBaldwin3kathy hochul (broadly speaking) locking in over the last two years is inspiring to every glup shitto
WORKER’S PARTY NOW!2this rules, and makes me think that the AI bubble popping is going to be tied to this kind of legislation passing all over the country, coupled with passing increasing costs on to users, who will certainly balk unless they're rich or hopelessly addicted already
Cycling fan 💛🚴♀️💖🚴♀️❤️🚴♀️2Let’s do this in Australia
So, so proud of you, NEW YORK. This is monumental and significant for our country to be cautious in tackling the data centers and not prioritize the industry's cutting-edge stuff ahead of our citizens. There has to be a better way, and your step is the first step.
Horrible 'Antigonish' Horse 🍉3This needs to happen in every state, and the length needs to be far over one year. It needs to be indefinite. Permanent.
全肯定botたん2This post has an unmistakable "amazing vibe"!
Ray Alexander2Excellent. We're trying for similar over in Scotland.
sammydoodle1this must happen throughout america or at least in every blue city,county,state in america
Christina A Knight1I live in Virginia and our electricity costs have spiked significantly because of all of the data centers in our state. I would loike to see a moratorium on any further data center construction.
Glad to see @governor.ny.gov’s strong move to rein in data centers, until we can put guardrails in place. I'll support a similar moratorium at the federal level. We need smart protections to address the risks AI poses to the environment, jobs, privacy, attention, and humanity. (1/2)
Brad Lander50And we need stronger public sector capacity to deploy AI for the public good. There’s no time to waste. (2/2)
web_rant3We need a ban more than a moratorium. bsky.app/profile/brad...
Cascadia(PNW)3@governorferguson.bsky.social watching you not do this and many others things is enlightening.
Jeff O'Handley2Please make sure that these are actual guardrails, thank you.
This is going to be very interesting. With a one year data center moratorium in New York State, expect to see expanded pushes in Delaware and Virginia, and renewed pressure even as far south as North Carolina. Gonna shake some things up for sure in terms of both infrastructure and politics
Dr. Damien P. Williams has to go the way his blood beats50Good to see high-profile Democrats getting their heads in the game, tho.
Kevin Tripp4The moratoriums are underappreciated and underreported: Reno just passed one. Box Elder County (Utah) is scrambling to update their code to prevent *another* data center from sliding in. It's the most bipartisan issue in America today.
C.V. Danes1Hochul has been almost...not bad as of late. Is she learning?
New York became the first U.S. state on Tuesday to halt construction of large new data centers, imposing a one-year moratorium as concerns grow that the facilities driving the artificial-intelligence boom are raising power costs, straining water supplies and burdening local communities.
Alon (they/them)16This is substantially more degrowthy than any existing anti-air conditioning NIMBYism in Europe. Contra what Europeans who worship American inequality think, the US doesn't beat us in AI because we're overregulated, but because AI is an evolution of Silicon Valley going back to the 1950s-60s.
David William10Let's hear it for New York. #abpoli #cdnpoli
Meechy Dorko10everybody thank kathy hochul please
Lauri Donahue4GOOD! Other states should do the same. What's the rush?
VICTORY (sort of)* in NEW YORK The good news: we have the nation’s 1st statewide data center moratorium Relentless citicism activism backed by science did this! *The caveat: the moratorium is an executive order rather than a much stronger legislative bill. 1/6 www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
Crip Dyke36I love Steingraber's work. You should read this. That said, as Steingraber mentions in their thread, they are not an expert in law, politics, or policy. They're coming at this as an expert in biology with (I think?) particularized knowledge of emissions. So let's talk statute v ExOrder.
Iron Curtain (Leah Abram) 🏳️⚧️ [🇺🇸 out of 🇻🇪🇮🇷🇬🇱!]6Fuck yes! Proud of my state! (I still believe in #landback because there ain’t no way in hell a data center would go on tribal land without incurring the wrath of its national inhabitants)
Good. Glad to see Hochul step up and do this. They also mention here why Mainers aren't a fan of Mills - Mills could have passed such a bill and she didn't. Grr. I can't wait until Governor HInojosa in Texas does this. (Notice what I did there 😉) #SheShed
CoCo ✌🏼💛🕊️8My Governor, Pritzker took this executive action after lawmakers failed to pass comprehensive data center regulations (such as the POWER Act) during the spring legislative session. #SheShed #ViVaHerAlliance
Wendy the Woke5That’s awesome! These data centres, many being built with government subsidies, add little to communities and consume vast resources. And one the goal is to replace human beings in the work force. A lose lose unless you are a billionaire tech dude.
James Who Lives in Queens2Hochul, who used to be dismal, reenergized with the election of Mamdani. Whether it is a calculation or a release isn’t important, it’s that she is hearing what voters are saying, and it shows. She’s got my vote. Why can’t our national leaders take a hint?
Orcaholic 🐳🐬🌿🐈⬛🇵🇸🇺🇦💙🇬🇱🇩🇰⚾️1Yo! @governor.ca.gov Can we be next please?
UPDATE: Governor Kathy Hochul still has not signed the data-center moratorium bill. Instead she's issued an executive order that's a watered-down version. TO DO: Keep up the pressure. Call Hochul at (518) 474-8390. Say: "The executive order is weak—sign the Responsible Data Center Development Act."
Bright D Limm 임대중6To read about the ways in which Hochul's executive order falls short of the legislature's bill, check out this Times Union piece. (Archived version available here: archive.ph/xgmhY) bsky.app/profile/thir...
Uptown Sinclair1Done. Thanks for the info.
Jenny753 ⁂1I called and left a VM!
