Orangeburg, NY – On Tuesday, the Orangetown Town Board passed a six-month moratorium on new data center applications after community members rallied outside Orangeburg Town Hall to show overwhelming local resistance to unfettered data center development. However, the board’s action does  not apply to the current DataBank expansion proposal in Orangeburg.

Orangetown is home to multiple data centers and is now confronting a proposed expansion of the DataBankdata center campus. The proposed Phase 2 expansion has drawn community opposition over concerns including impacts to Lake Tappan, electricity demand, noise, air quality, and more. In July, the Orangetown Planning Board unanimously determined that the DataBank expansion requires a full Environmental Impact Statement, a major step that will subject the project to more rigorous environmental review. 

The Orangetown Board, despite dozens of public comments and hundreds of letters asking to put a pause on the data center application currently on the Planning Board’s desk, voted to pass a six-month moratorium on new data center applications – explicitly carving out DataBank’s Phase 2. This decision will only light a fire in Rockland County residents to keep the pressure up to stop this data center by demanding Gov Hochul sign the bill and for the Orangetown Planning Board to reject Databank’s application due to the significant environmental and quality of life impacts it would create if built.

The vote offers a concrete example of communities taking action to address the rapid growth of data centers while State Senator Kristen Gonzalez advocates codifying statewide protections via her Responsible Data Center Development Act. The event was part of the statewide ‘Stop Data Centers’ tour being led by bill sponsor Sen. Gonzalez and the environmental group Food & Water Watch.

“While I applaud Governor Hochul for pausing data centers consuming 50 megawatts or more, her executive order would not stop the proposed Databank expansion in Orangetown, a project that will certainly impact our drinking water and quality of life. The Legislature’s bill would give communities like ours the protections we need as data centers rapidly expand across New York. I urge Governor Hochul to sign it and give Rockland County a meaningful voice in determining whether, where and how these facilities are built.,” said Beth Davidson, chair of the Rockland County environmental committee.

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