To the Editor:

Every time you send an email, stream a video, or read this piece online, you’re accessing a data center somewhere. They’re part of the infrastructure of modern life, and New York is going to have them whether we like it or not. The question we are facing as much as whether data centers are needed or not is whether we’re going to let them set up shop on their terms or ours.

Right now, it’s theirs.

A JPMorgan Chase data center in Rockland County recently received $77 million in tax breaks from the local industrial development agency. It is projected to create one permanent job. Meanwhile, electricity bills in New York have risen roughly 43% since 2020, and data centers are a growing part of why. When a facility connects to the grid, it drives infrastructure upgrades that ratepayers — not the company — currently fund. Many facilities have not updated to the best available water technology, wasting water when better options are attainable. They generate almost no local employment. And local agencies keep handing out tax exemptions anyway, with little scrutiny and no strings attached.

Some of my colleagues have proposed a three-year moratorium on new data center permits. I’ve signed on. When policy hasn’t kept up with a fast-moving industry, slowing down is reasonable. But a pause isn’t a policy. When it expires, we need something in place.

Here’s what I think that looks like.

End the giveaways. My legislation would bar industrial development agencies from subsidizing data center projects capable of consuming more than 20 megawatts of power during normal operations and cap any remaining assistance at $25,000 per full-time job. It would also require companies to return public assistance when promised jobs are not created or maintained within five years. If a corporation worth billions cannot justify public support under those terms, it should not get any.

Make them pay their actual costs. My grid modernization bill would require large data centers to pay a surcharge based on their energy use, with revenue going into a dedicated fund for grid reliability and clean energy. Other customers would be explicitly protected from absorbing those costs.

Require real environmental review. Right now, large facilities can end up with cursory local review. My legislation would put the state Department of Environmental Conservation in charge of environmental review for facilities consuming more than 50 megawatts and require review for any large facility near a recognized tribal nation’s territory.

None of this is anti-technology. Data centers serve real purposes — including the state’s own Empire AI initiative in Buffalo. New York has every reason to want a technology economy. But there’s no reason it has to be built on ratepayer-funded grid upgrades, unnecessary tax giveaways and minimal environmental accountability.

Good neighbors pay their own way. Good employers actually create jobs. Good investments return something to the communities that host them. New York has the tools to require all three. We should use them.