NY State Senator Kristen Gonzalez Announces the “NY Fights AI Data Centers” Statewide Tour to Advance Responsible Data Center Development Act

Kristen Gonzalez

August 11, 2026

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A recording of the press conference can be found here.

NEW YORK, N.Y. –  New York State Senator Kristen Gonzalez (SD-59), Chair of the Senate Committee on Internet and Technology and sponsor of the Responsible Data Center Development Act (S.10642), will be embarking on the New York Fights AI Data Centers statewide tour from August 22 to August 30. The Senator will be visiting 13 sites with active or proposed data centers across New York State to hear the concerns from impacted communities and advocate for Governor Hochul to sign the Responsible Data Center Development Act (S10642 GONZALEZ/A11560 BARRETT), which codifies requirements around public participation and transparency, renewable energy use, labor standards, and public benefits. The legislation also creates separate water and energy rate classes for data centers in an effort to protect ratepayers from increased costs.

Senator Gonzalez will be joined by Food & Water Watch on the tour and will meet with local residents, organizers, and elected officials in each location. Locations will include Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Alabama, Seneca Lake, Orangeburg, East Fishkill, Albany, Ithaca, and Syracuse. Each stop will feature local advocates in their fight to stop data centers in their community, including Clean Air Coalition of Western NY, the, Seneca Lake Guardian, National Coalition Against Cryptomining, Frack Action, PAUSE, Capitol Region DSA, Sustainable Finger Lakes, FLX Strong, Citizens of Lysander, Data Center Crisis Coalition of NY/NJ, Citizen Action, and impacted community members.

Today, there are 38 large data center projects proposed in the New York Independent System Operator's interconnection queue. If these data centers were to come online, they would need more than 11,900 megawatts of new electricity demand, nearly double the energy demand of all of New York households combined. Communities near existing data centers have experienced higher electricity bills, undrinkable water, and noise pollution causing health problems. Without strong safeguards, these facilities risk driving up utility bills for everyday New Yorkers, strain our electric grid, increase water use and pollution, and undermine our climate goals—all while providing relatively few permanent local jobs once construction is complete. 

Senator Gonzalez and advocates will make the following stops on the tour:

Press may RSVP or direct questions to Kat Veloso (veloso@nysenate.gov, 213-422-7036).

 

  • Saturday, August 22 - Buffalo/Niagara Falls 

     

  • Sunday, August 23 - Stop Data Center at STAMP

    • Meeting with Alabama, NY and Genesee County neighbors

      • Invite only, open press

      • Time TBC

    • Visit with Alabama, NY residents Cheryl and Mark Cordes

      • Invite only, open press

        • Time TBC

           

  • Monday, August 24 - Seneca Lake Stop Greenidge Cryptomining, AI Data Center, and Fracked Gas Power Plant

    • With Seneca Lake Guardian and the National Coalition Against Cryptomining (NCAC)

     

  • Tuesday, August 25 - Rockland County DataBank Data Center & Local Moratorium Vote

    • With Food & Water Watch, Data Center Crisis Coalition of NY/NJ 

     

  • Wednesday, August 26 - Hudson Valley East Fishkill Data Center

    • With Food & Water Watch    

      • East Fishkill: Community conversation about local moratorium

        • Location TBC

        • Time TBC

     

  • Thursday, August 27 - Albany Kenwood Data Center

  • Friday, August 28 - Ithaca/Lansing Stop Terawulf Data Center

  • Saturday, August 29 - Syracuse/Baldwinsville/Lysander

 

New York is the first state in the country to have a statewide data center moratorium following Governor Kathy Hochul’s Executive Order No. 62 signed July 14, 2026. This moratorium is a great step toward protecting New Yorkers from the impacts of large-scale data centers, but we must continue to advocate for long-term regulations on future data center developments. Senator Gonzalez’s legislation, The Responsible Data Center Development Act, which passed both chambers of the legislature with bipartisan support in June, codifies important regulations missing from the Executive Order and ensures public engagement, labor agreements, and energy efficiency standards. Governor Hochul must sign the Responsible Data Center Development Act to protect New Yorkers after the data center moratorium has expired.  

The Responsible Data Center Development Act (S.10642/A.11560,) passed both chambers of the New York State Legislature with bipartisan support in June 2026. The bill addresses the environmental, economic, labor, and community impacts of large-scale data center development by imposing a one-year moratorium on 20 MW+ hyperscale data centers and requiring 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. The legislation also requires detailed environmental and cost analysis of data centers impact on our water, energy grid, utility rates, and Indigenous communities. The bill would also create new ratepayer classes for both electricity and water to ensure data centers are not driving up utility costs for household consumers. 

The Responsible Data Centers Development Act brought together years of legislative work and advocacy on the issue of sustainability, corporate accountability, and tech regulation. Senator Gonzalez first introduced legislation related to Data Centers in 2024 and has since worked on several pieces of legislation that were incorporated in the omnibus bill, which became known as the Responsible Data Center Development Act. . The omnibus bill that passed,, and the 3-year moratorium bill that came before it, received overwhelming support from New Yorkers across the state as concern for unchecked development of data centers and their use of natural resources grows. It is sponsored by Assemblymember Didi Barrett, chair of the Energy Committee, in the State Assembly. 

While the bill awaits Governor Hochul’s signature, Senator Gonzalez joined the Governor this July to announce an Executive Order making New York the first state in the nation to enact a statewide moratorium on center development. 

The executive order ties the pause on new data center permits to the development of Generic Environment Impact Statement by the Department of Public Service, to hold data center developments to consistent standards. The moratorium is applicable to hyperscale data centers that use 50 megawatts of power or more to operate. 

The Governor’s Executive Order is a positive step in New York’s effort to address environmental sustainability, energy demand, utility affordability, and community concerns, but there’s still significant gaps in policy compared to Senator Gonzalez’s Responsible Data Center Development Act. The Senator is making stops across the state to speak directly with local advocates and community members with data center proposals in their communities- to continue the momentum of the resistance to data centers, and call for Governor Hochul’s signing of Senator Gonzalez’s omnibus legislation. 

Senator Kristen Gonzalez said, “Communities across the state are facing hyperscale data center proposals that threaten their neighborhoods. Each community has a unique story about what data centers mean for their utility costs, environment, and families. The New York Fights AI Data Centers Tour is an opportunity to hear directly from local leaders standing up to these hyperscalers and living with the consequences of unregulated data center development. Across county and partisan lines, from rural to urban regions of New York, we can learn from each other and build responsible, lasting regulations that put people first. I’m so excited to embark on this tour and hope to see the Responsible Data Center Development Act signed so that New York’s future is shaped with communities, not at their expense.”

Laura Shindell, New York State Director with Food & Water Watch said, “New Yorkers deserve a thorough, meticulous evaluation of the harms inflicted by the data center industry before any new hyper-scale data centers are built.  That’s why communities from Buffalo to Long Island are calling on Governor Hochul to sign the Responsible Data Center Act that the legislature passed in June. Communities deserve a robust public participation process, and no communities should be left behind by an increase on the threshold of what qualifies as a hyper-scale data center. Governor Hochul's recent executive order was a necessary first step, but the road to keep New Yorkers safe from data centers will require many more steps and even leaps to stay vigilant against the Big Tech corporations that seek to steamroll communities.”  

Assemblymember Didi Barrett, Chair of the Energy Committee said, “When the NY State Legislature passed the Responsible Data Center Development Act at the end of session this year,  we made it clear that Legislators are committed to protecting our constituents and our communities from the costs associated with large scale data centers. That includes the costs to ratepayers and the environment, the strain on our grid and our natural resources, and impact on our workforce and our localities. While Governor Hochul’s Executive Order is a good first step, our omnibus legislation provides a clear roadmap. I stand with my colleagues and advocates across the state in urging Governor Hochul to sign this timely bill and ensure that New York remains a national leader.”

Senator Liz Krueger said, “The moratorium that Governor Hochul implemented through an Executive Order is a good first step, but there is critical work left to be done to protect New Yorkers from the negative impacts of unchecked data center development. That’s why it is absolutely necessary that she sign the Responsible Data Center Development Act, which the Legislature passed with bipartisan support, to ensure that real and rigorous protections are put in place to safeguard energy affordability and the health of our air, water, land, and people.”

Assemblymember Yudelka Tapia said, “New York cannot allow the growth of AI and data centers to come at the expense of the communities being asked to host them. With 38 large data center projects already proposed in New York’s interconnection queue representing nearly 12,000 megawatts of potential new electricity demand, we need a statewide framework in place before this industry expands any further. I am especially proud that the Responsible Data Center Development Act includes a host community benefit program to ensure these projects contribute directly to the communities and infrastructure supporting their development. If a data center is going to place new demands on our electric grid, water systems, and other public infrastructure, the people living in that community should not be left paying the bill. Governor Hochul’s Executive Order was an important first step, but we need the long-term protections in this legislation. I urge the Governor to sign the Responsible Data Center Development Act."

Bridge Rauch, Environmental Justice Organizer, The Clean Air Coalition of Western New York said, "Residents in the Niagara region have been plagued by crypto and AI data centers for a decade - this new industrial sector has added additional burdens onto fenceline communities which already grapple with industrial pollution and contamination. While we welcome and thank Governor Hochul for her Executive Order, we need further immediate action, and urge her to sign the Responsible Data Centers Act.”

Mark Dunlea, coordinator of PAUSE (People of Albany United for Safe Energy) / 350Albany said, “The influx of data centers, driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and the crypto boom, presents one of the biggest environmental and social threats of our generation, worsening the existential threat to human society posed by the climate emergency. The rapid expansion of data centers, with their enormous appetite for electricity and water, takes ecological degradation to a new level. We urge the Governor to sign the statewide moratorium bill. We also urge the Albany Common Council to protect residents by passing its own moratorium and opposing the proposed data center in the South End, an environmental justice community which already has more than its share of pollution.”

Yvonne Taylor, Vice President of Seneca Lake Guardian and President of the National Coalition Against Cryptomining (NCAC) said, "The Finger Lakes has too much at stake to accept unchecked hyperscale AI data center development. Our economy depends on our farms, wineries, small businesses and the natural resources that make this region a destination. Greenidge Generation on the shores of Seneca Lake is a stark warning: a fossil-fueled cryptomining operation can simply pivot toward hyperscale AI data centers to prolong its environmental harm. After New York denied Greenidge’s air permit, the Hochul administration should have upheld that decision, not handed the company a back-door deal that allows it to keep operating. I commend Senator Gonzalez for bringing this tour to the Finger Lakes and demanding real accountability from this rapidly expanding industry."

Ryan Madden, Indigenous Solidarity Director at NY Renews said, “Across New York, data centers are raising our electricity bills, polluting our air and water, undermining Indigenous sovereignty, and dumping greenhouse gases into our atmosphere, supercharging the catastrophic warming of our planet. The Responsible Data Center Development Act will create powerful safeguards to shield communities from some of these harms. Through this tour, New Yorkers across the state are calling on the Governor to sign the Responsible Data Center Development Act, this year, to reign in the worst impacts of the industry and protect our communities, land, and water for generations to come.”

Gay Nicholson, President of Sustainable Finger Lakes said,  "We need the full protection of the omnibus data center bill to protect our communities from hyperscalers like TeraWulf who bring harmful noise pollution to their neighbors while refusing to pay sales tax and even suing host towns to reduce their property taxes to a piddling amount. They even claim their 300-400 MW project will have zero impact on regional utility bills, expecting us to believe they have magically escaped the law of supply and demand."

Harry Moran, Founding Member & Data Center Co-Lead, Third Act Upstate NY said, “Gov. Hochul’s Executive Order was an important first step, but passing the Responsible Data Center Development Act is still critical. We need to ensure that data centers can no longer be used to justify the expansion of fossil fuels and nuclear power. We need to make sure all projects over 20MW are included, not just the immense ones that are 50MW and up. We need a thorough and detailed analysis of the impact on disadvantaged communities with strong public participation. New Yorkers across the state are feeling the affordability crunch and are having their health threatened by the serious environmental impacts. We thank Sen. Gonzalez for her ongoing leadership at this critical time and look forward to being a part of the effort to push this across the finish line.”

Cheryl Cordes, Alabama, NY Resident said, “I have been a resident of Alabama, NY for 43years. We bought a house and made it our home, raised our (3) daughters and looked forward to a productive life and five years ago forged forward to a stress free retirement. Stamp Project; GCEDC, Stream US, our local town board & planning board has brought all that to a screeching halt with the 2.2 million square foot, 500 megawatt power sucker of a data center proposal. I have been actively engaged in opposition to the data center since January; attending every town board meeting, every planning board meeting, local rally’s, press interviews, speaking at events & other town meetings. My husband Mark & I were featured in Barron’s regarding Data Centers. Spoke on the grand staircase at the rally on the moratorium at the capital in May. I have been instrumental in organizing members of our communities to voice their concerns and also participate in rally/protests. Have provided yard signs to display opposition locally. I hold a steadfast opposition to the demand for data centers based on one word “Infrasound” which is biologically detrimental to the human body.”

Kaitlin Corona, VP for Citizens for Lysander said, "Thank you, Senator Gonzalez, for taking the time to visit our community and listen to residents who are working to better understand the proposed data center in Lysander and what it could mean for our town. Citizens for Lysander is a group of local residents who care deeply about protecting the place we call home. Our mission is to raise awareness, encourage transparency, make sure the community voice is heard, and help protect the future of our hometown. Our group is actively involved in researching the potential environmental and quality-of-life impacts of data center development. Our volunteers are constantly reviewing information, gathering data, asking questions, and sharing what we learn with the community. Protecting our environment is a major part of our work. We are paying close attention to questions involving water use, air quality, noise, energy consumption, traffic, natural resources, and the potential cumulative impacts that large-scale development could have on our community. Clean water, clean air, a healthy environment, reasonable noise levels, and a safe and livable community are things every resident should be able to count on. We believe protecting the health and well-being of our residents needs to be an important part of any conversation about development in Lysander. Citizens for Lysander is proud to be connecting and partnering with other community groups and organizations that are also working to understand the impacts of data center development. By sharing information and experiences, we can help one another and make sure communities across New York have a stronger voice. We are asking for responsible development, meaningful environmental review, transparency, and a genuine opportunity for residents to participate in decisions that could affect their lives for years to come. We appreciate Senator Gonzalez for listening to residents and for creating an opportunity for communities to come together. We hope this visit helps raise awareness of what people here are experiencing and the work residents are doing to protect their community. We believe that protecting our community and welcoming thoughtful conversation can go hand in hand, and we hope to continue working together toward a future where residents are informed, involved, and heard."

 

Media Contact: Kat Deus Veloso | veloso@nysenate.gov | (213) 422-7036

Seth Gladstone | sgladstone@fww.org | (917) 363-6615

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