Albany, NY – Today state Senator Kristen Gonzalez and Assemblymember Didi Barrett introduced legislation to enact a one-year moratorium on new hyperscale data center construction in New York. 

In response, Food & Water Watch’s senior New York organizer Eric Weltman issued the following statement:

“Every day we are learning more and more about how AI data centers drastically increase demand for dirty energy, strain water resources, and raise electricity rates for families and small businesses. A one-year pause on new hyperscale data center construction is a prudent path to ensuring that local community and state leaders have all the time and information they need to adequately protect New Yorkers from the many harms and hazards these facilities bring. It is frankly a question of if – not how – this industry can ever operate in a responsible, sustainable and just manner.”

Recently more than 150 community, consumer, environmental and faith organizations from throughout New York called for quick passage of the moratorium bill. Additionally, in a letter sent to Governor Hochul and the legislature late last month, nearly 500 small business owners from across the state called for the passage and signing of the bill.

Last October, Food & Water Watch became the first national organization in the country to call for a full nationwide moratorium on the approval and construction of new data centers. In a letter to Congress in December, more than 230 national, state and local organizations from across the country echoed this call. Meanwhile, Food & Water Watch has been active in fighting numerous proposals in many states, including California, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

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