East Fishkill, NY – On August 26th at 2pm, local activists and community leaders gathered at Lime Kiln Recreation Park to highlight overwhelming local resistance to unfettered data center development and call on Gov. Hochul to sign a strong data center moratorium bill, the Responsible Data Center Development Act. The event is part of the statewide ‘Stop Data Centers’ tour being led by bill sponsor State Senator Kristen Gonzalez and the environmental group Food & Water Watch.

Food & Water Watch, For The Many, Mid-Hudson Valley DSA, and Dutchess County Environmental Committee Chair Lisa Kaul along with Senator Gonzalez held a press conference and a community discussion to highlight the moratorium win and continue building strong protections against data center development in the town. The event is one of 14 sites with hyperscale data centers or pending proposals being highlighted on the ‘Stop Data Centers’ tour happening throughout the month.

Residents of East Fishkill and nearby areas fought back against a proposal for a whopping 800,000 square foot data center with a capacity of 1000MW to be built off of I-84 and Lime Kiln Road. Before an application was submitted to the town, residents mobilized by starting a petition, sending letters, rallying, and giving public comments at town board meetings to stop the data center before any application even comes to the town. Pressure from local residents resulted in the town passing a 3 year moratorium on new data center applications and setting up a task force to study data center impacts in the town. Residents are hoping that no data center development happens at all in East Fishkill.  

On July 14, Gov. Hochul signed Executive Order No. 62, establishing a temporary moratorium on large-scale data centers over 50 megawatts. While the governor’s executive order is a positive step in New York’s effort to address energy demand and community concerns, there are still significant gaps in policy compared to Senator Gonzalez’s Responsible Data Center Development Act. The Responsible Data Center Development Act, which passed both chambers of the legislature with bipartisan support in June, addresses the environmental, economic, labor, and community impacts of large-scale data center development by imposing a one-year moratorium on hyperscale data centers over 20 megawatts. The Responsible Data Center Development Act also requires any future data center developments to meet energy efficiency standards, include a host communities public benefit program, have project labor agreements, and hold public hearings prior to permit approvals.

Governor Hochul must sign the Responsible Data Center Development Act to protect New Yorkers after the data center moratorium has expired. 

“I’m deeply concerned about the enormous amount of water these facilities can consume, as well as their likely use of toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” — chemicals that have already contaminated drinking water in communities across the Hudson Valley. That’s why I want to thank the East Fishkill Town Board for listening to residents and showing real leadership by adopting a three-year moratorium on data centers. Governor Hochul now has an opportunity to build on her leadership and make New York a national leader on responsible development. We’re calling on her to sign the Responsible Data Center Development Act and put our communities, our water, and New York ratepayers first,” said Mike Schade, a resident of Fishkill

“East Fishkill families, and families across the Hudson Valley, are already having to choose between keeping the lights on or putting food on the table thanks to Central Hudson’s obscene rate increases. Now Big Tech companies, driven by the same profit motive, expect us to pay higher utility bills for their 1000-megawatt data center, which is fueling layoffs and firings. Residents across the state fought back and won a moratorium because we’re not willing to find out how much worse our utility bills—or the climate crisis—can get. We call on Governor Hochul to sign the Responsible Data Center Development Act to keep our water, our farmers, and our communities safe from an energy-sucking, climate-destroying industry that isn’t even based in New York.” said Brooklyn Darling, Political Coordinator at For the Many.

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