New York passes one-year moratorium on large data centers powering AI, awaits governor's signature

N.Y. Lawmakers Move to Pause Data Centers and Curb Surveillance Pricing

New York State lawmakers gaveled out on Friday, ending a session with its share of triumphs and disappointments. They passed two major pieces of legislation related to the use of data. One bill restricts the use of consumer data in price setting; another bill imposes a one-year moratorium on mammoth data centers used to power generative A.I. Democratic lawmakers also took the first step in a two-year process to allow the Legislature to aggressively gerrymander electoral maps, in response to Republican efforts in Texas and other states. If approved by voters, those changes would give New York Democrats broad latitude over when and how maps are redrawn -- in part by removing the statutory prohibition on drawing lines to harm a specific candidate or party. Even so, there seemed to be a gnawing sense that the Legislature could have done more, with some lawmakers frustrated that they would be returning to their home districts with a slightly shorter list of accomplishments than in years past. Negotiations over the state budget, the latest in almost two decades, took up nearly all of the legislative session. This left the Legislature with a single week to advance its own agenda -- a particularly cruel blow, given that this is an election year. The result was a session that achieved just about all of the goals of Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat seeking re-election this year. "The governor's power grows as her control of the legislative session grows," said Blair Horner, a senior policy adviser at the New York Public Interest Research Group, a nonpartisan consumer group, and a longtime observer of the dynamics of Albany. The truncated legislative session had another unusual effect, he noted: It empowered Republicans. "If the minority is willing to debate a bill, it's much more likely to get killed," Mr. Horner said. "Therefore, issues of consequence fall off the table." This year there were many consequential issues: The 450,000 people kicked off a subsidized state health plan as a result of the Trump administration's actions. An effort to expedite the process for connecting renewable energy to the grid. An ambitious push to address the proliferation of plastics spreading into the soil, water and people's bodies. The Senate majority leader, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, acknowledged the difficulty of the drawn-out budget process. Even so, she said, she believed her conference had delivered. "I'm leaving here feeling that we've accomplished the important things that we needed to accomplish," she told reporters on Thursday. "I always tell my members, we live to fight another day." One of the most meaningful initiatives for consumers is a bill backed by the attorney general, Letitia James, that ban companies from using consumer data to set personalized prices online based on what they believe the buyer will pay, also known as surveillance pricing. "Personal data is being shared on us, like our ZIP code, or when we're getting a paycheck, when we're more able to pay more or less for a good, if we're closer to a store," said Emérita Torres, a Democrat who sponsored the One Fair Price Act in the Assembly. The result, she said, was that "two people get different prices for the same products or services -- and that's inherently unfair." That legislation was vigorously opposed by companies like Uber and Instacart, which targeted users with messages opposing the bills. A companion measure that would have banned digital price tags passed the Senate but died in the Assembly. The measure to pause the construction of so-called "hyper-scale" data centers affects facilities over 20 megawatts, which power the largest data needs, including generative A.I. There are 28 of these centers currently in the pipeline, according to Senator Kristen Gonzalez. If constructed, she said they would expand the entire state's energy use by roughly a third. That could cause serious upheaval, given the state's existing energy needs, not to mention its goals of shifting to renewable and zero emission energy sources over the coming decades. The bill advanced by the Legislature requires companies to help cover the cost of connecting to the grid and any improvements necessary to ensure that costs are not passed along to New Yorkers. It also creates a requirement that even smaller data centers use increasing amounts of renewable energy to power their operations -- from roughly one third by 2035 to 90 percent by 2040. Lawmakers believe this could help spark investment in renewables more broadly. "I hope that this increases investment in building out renewable energy," said Ms. Gonzalez, a Democrat who represents parts of Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens. She added: "I hope it gives a lot of people and also a lot of states, hope that we can take on these tech Goliaths, and we can win the government." Republicans and some within the business community worry both measures -- the moratorium and pricing restrictions -- will harm New York's economy at a time when job growth is already slowing. Keith Brown, a Republican representing central Long Island, said during the Assembly debate that the moratorium would "send a message that this state is closed for business." "I fear we are going to turn New York into another Rust Belt state," he added. All of the legislation passed will require the signature of Ms. Hochul to become law. For years, the Legislature vied with the governor to set the agenda for the state. Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo was known to be a shrewd and at times abrasive negotiator. And although he was considered a more moderate Democrat, Mr. Cuomo nonetheless signed into law a spate of progressive priorities from bail reform and new tenant protections to the nation's most ambitious climate law. When Ms. Hochul inherited the office after Mr. Cuomo's resignation, she promised a new era of collaboration with the Legislature. Five years later, however, Ms. Hochul has settled into a negotiation style that is more coercive than collaborative. The governor has increasingly used her leverage over the state budget to force the Legislature to accept her policy priorities -- some of which run counter to theirs. She has repeatedly demanded the Legislature weaken or rollback signature reforms like changes to the criminal justice system. The coup de grâce came this year, when Ms. Hochul was facing pushback from the Trump administration over renewable energy development and convinced the Legislature to water down the 2019 climate law. A mandate to convert school buses to electric was also delayed. Many lawmakers hoped that they could use that loss as leverage to pass the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act, which would have required the companies producing goods to reduce single-use plastic in packaging by 10 percent over three years and 30 percent over 12 years. The bill has been a key priority for many environmentalists, who cite the proliferation of micro and nano-plastics in the soil, water and human body and mounting evidence of their links to cancer and infertility. But aggressive lobbying from an army of chemical and food companies, who warned it could drive up consumer prices, helped to kill the bill in the final days of session.

'We're really drawing a line in the sand': New York could be the first state to put a temporary ban on large data centers

* New York is close to a one-year data center moratorium * The governor still needs to sign the bill into law * Backers of the ban want to see more details on environmental impact Public sentiment seems to have taken a turn against large data center developments, and the trend shows no signs of stopping. Now we might have the first state-wide ban of its kind in New York, after lawmakers passed a one-year moratorium (a temporary prohibition) on large data centers with a peak demand of 20 megawatts or more. As The Guardian reports, while the New York State legislature has passed the moratorium, it's not law yet: it still needs the signature of Governor Kathy Hochul, who hasn't said one way or the other if she will approve the bill, and has until December to decide. So, there are caveats here. It's more of a temporary pause than a ban, it's not written into law yet, and it only applies to large data centers. Even so, it's potentially the biggest legal move yet against the construction of these data processing structures. "This is one of the first times that we're really drawing a line in the sand and saying that as a state legislature, we have the responsibility to make sure that New Yorkers are in the driver's seat," said New York State senator Kristen Gonzalez. "Big tech has been used to writing their own rules, or not having rules that they have to play by." Keeping the AI lights on The purpose of the moratorium is to allow more time for New York authorities to assess the impact of data centers in terms of their energy use and environmental impact, and the state's environmental agency will be tasked with putting together a report that lays out the demand on electricity, water, and land that comes from these buildings. One recent survey suggested that 71 percent of Americans don't want data centers constructed in their local area, with concerns over water and electricity use the main reasons why -- so these structures are now less popular than nuclear power plants. The main reason that so much compute capacity is needed is of course AI. Despite promises by AI companies that data centers will become much more eco-friendly in the near future, this isn't the case for many projects currently at the planning stage. As The Register reports, the moratorium has its opponents too. Some politicians and industry figures are arguing that data center development is essential for economic growth and technological advancement, while also acknowledging that concerns over energy usage and environmental impact need to be addressed. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.

New York legislators look to pass a one-year ban on new data centers

In New York, legislators have passed a one-year moratorium on new data center construction, reports The Verge, marking the first statewide ban on a critical component of the infrastructure needed for artificial intelligence. Governor Kathy Hochul has yet to sign the bill into law, however, so at this stage it is better understood as a proposed framework than actual policy, but the lawmakers behind the bill say it is designed less as an outright ban than as a means of buying time to assess the many impacts of new data center construction -- on the environment, on energy prices, and on local jobs. If passed into law, the bill would require any company planning to build a "large" data center, defined as having at least 20 megawatts of capacity, to also fund a public hearing into the desirability of the project among local residents. Public opinion on data centers has rapidly soured, even since last fall, with 7 in 10 Americans now opposed to the construction of new data centers in their area, and lawmakers are starting to take note. A similar moratorium was attempted in Maine earlier this year, but the proposal was ultimately rejected by Democratic Governor Janet Mills on the grounds that it failed to exempt a previously planned project. Unsurprisingly, representatives from companies backing new data center construction oppose the moratoriums, favoring a case-by-case assessment of new builds. Politico spoke with Stacy Sikes, the current president and CEO of the Long Island Association business group, who warned about the economic ramifications of a blanket ban: "We think it would overall be damaging to the state's economy, because having a blanket moratorium instead of looking at it at a case by case basis would not allow the state to move forward on a data center project that would actually be helpful to our economy." When asked about the likelihood of the bill becoming law, Hochul's spokesperson Kristin Devoe was predictably terse: "The Governor will review the bill."

'We should not have to sacrifice': New York could become first state to temporarily ban large datacenters

Kristen Gonzalez, a state senator who authored the bill, said moratorium would target 'hyperscale' datacenters over 20MW New York moved closer toward becoming the first US state to enact a moratorium on large datacenters this week. On Thursday, the state legislature approved a one-year ban on the facilities powering the AI boom. The measure now heads to Kathy Hochul, the governor, who will decide whether to sign it into law. The Guardian spoke to a state senator in the wake of the historic vote about authoring the bill and the wider US backlash against datacenters. Thursday's vote comes as anger toward datacenters, and AI, sweeps the nation. Almost three-quarters of Americans oppose a datacenter project being built near their homes, according to a new Heatmap poll. Many local communities across the country, including in New York, have already enacted a patchwork of moratoriums on datacenters. But some residents are feeling overwhelmed by the pace and secrecy of development - and they're calling on state governments for help. Kristen Gonzalez, a New York state senator, Kristen Gonzalez wanted to buy her state some time. She co-authored a bill that would temporarily ban "hyperscale" datacenters over 20MW. "Big tech has been used to writing their own rules, or not having rules that they have to play by, when it comes to new technology," Gonzalez says. "This is one of the first times that we're really drawing a line in the sand and saying that as a state legislature, we have the responsibility to make sure that New Yorkers are in the driver's seat." How would New York's temporary ban on datacenters work? The moratorium largely targets datacenters built by "tech goliaths" and will not apply to facilities already possessing the necessary state permits, Gonzalez says. She notes that currently, there are at least 28 large data centers being evaluated by the state for their impact on the grid and that they would "add an additional 9,682MW of energy onto the state's already constrained and aging grid". "We should not have to sacrifice our water, our energy, our green space and local communities for big tech and specifically for generative AI, which is oftentimes used for things like AI slop," Gonzalez says. Gonzalez says she introduced the bill after hearing from concerned New Yorkers and a coalition of environmental justice advocates. In addition to imposing a one-year moratorium, the bill would also require an environmental impact report, which would document water and electricity usage, as well as new labor, energy efficiency and transparency standards, and ratepayer protections aimed at keeping New Yorkers' energy bills low. The original proposal included a three-year pause on datacenter development but was reduced to one year as a compromise. A part of a nationwide pushback More than a dozen US states have considered moratoria in response to residents' fears about the potential costs of living next to datacenters, especially higher utility bills and negative environmental impacts. Only Maine got as close as New York in hitting pause, with the legislature passing a temporary ban - but in April, its governor vetoed the measure. New York's moratorium bill is still awaiting the governor's signature. Her office has said she will review the legislation. While Hochul has previously dismissed a statewide approach to regulating datacenters, she has advocated for protecting New Yorkers from taking on additional energy costs driven by datacenters. The Data Center Coalition, a trade association that has championed the expansion of these facilities, worries that a statewide moratorium would "discourage further investment, undermine New York's economy, and send a signal that the state is closed for business". Datacenters are the backbone of New Yorkers' digital economy, powering everything from remote work and telemedicine to e-commerce and education, the group says. The scene in Albany In Thursday's debate on the legislative floor in the state capital of Albany, lawmakers against the ban echoed industry worries that it was a one-size-fits-all measure that would stifle economic growth and supersede local control. "We shouldn't be imposing blanket moratoriums that punish every community in the state for a problem that may not be universal," said Paul Bologna, a New York state assemblymember. "We should be letting markets and local governments drive this policy, not fear and environmental overreach in Albany." Gonzalez disagrees with that approach. "It's an abdication of our responsibility to ask a local government to engage and take on the wealthiest companies in the world. That is what state government is for," she says. "This notion that we can let these local governments take on tech goliaths and assume that everything will beOK is, for me, very misguided." Cheryl Cordes, a resident of rural Genesee county, is watching Albany closely. For months, Cordes - a retired nurse who has lived in the town of Alabama, New York, for more than four decades - has been trying to pressure her local government to stop developers from building a massive datacenter campus just over half a mile away from her home. "They're trying to shove this datacenter down our throats," she says. Cordes is worried about potentially harmful health effects from the noise, as well as disruptions to the nearby habitat of all sorts of birds: bald eagles, trumpeter swans, Canadian geese and snowy owls. She has knocked on dozens of doors in her town to survey residents and recalls one neighbor telling her: "If my electric bill goes up another $50 I can't live here." Cordes hopes Hochul approves the moratorium. "These regulations have to come from above," she says. "I'm not a person who's about big government - but come on: please help us here in these small rural towns."