New York Governor Kathy Hochul imposed the nation's first statewide data center moratorium, halting new builds pending environmental and energy review.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul issued Executive Order No. 62 on July 14, 2026, establishing a moratorium on certain data center permitting activities while state agencies develop new standards governing data center development and a framework for securing benefits for host communities. With this issuance, New York became the first state in the nation to impose a statewide moratorium on new data center development.
The executive order arrives after months of escalating public and regulatory attention to large electrical loads. On June 4, 2026, both houses of the New York State Legislature passed the Responsible Data Center Development Act (S10642/A11560), which would impose a one-year moratorium on certain New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) approvals for large data centers, though the governor has not yet signed that bill. Concurrently, the New York State Public Service Commission (NYSPSC) instituted Case 26-E-0045 on February 12, 2026, to advance "Energize NY Development" and reform how large loads interconnect to the grid. The New York Independent System Operator, Inc. (NYISO) has been weighing revisions to its large load interconnection study process, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued show cause orders to all six Regional Transmission Organizations, including NYISO, directing each to justify tariff provisions governing large load interconnections as just and reasonable, or to propose reforms. These developments follow unprecedented growth in data center interconnection requests, which had reached nearly 12 gigawatts of proposed load in the NYISO interconnection queue as of May 2026.
The executive order took effect immediately upon issuance on July 14, 2026 but does not establish a fixed expiration date. Instead, the permitting moratorium remains in effect until the New York State Department of Public Service (DPS) submits a Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) and associated findings statement, making the moratorium's duration contingent on completion of that review process. While the executive order text imposes no deadline for the GEIS completion, the accompanying press release characterizes the moratorium as a "one-year pause" and states that preparation of the GEIS "will take up to a year," suggesting the state expects the review to conclude within one year, though the executive order does not mandate or otherwise limit that timeframe.
The executive order defines "data center" as a facility or group of facilities on the same or contiguous sites used to house computer servers, associated components, or computing or telecommunications equipment for the storage, processing, distribution, or management of data, provided the equipment meets three specified characteristics and reaches a 50 MW threshold. This threshold represents a significant departure from the Legislature's approach, which would reach data centers at 1 MW and "large data centers" at 20 MW.
The executive order carves out facilities primarily used for manufacturing, research (including quantum computing and biomedical research), education (including accredited New York colleges and universities engaged in academic research, and the Empire AI consortium), or the provision of medical care.
The executive order directs the DPS to examine the impacts associated with interconnecting data centers to the electric distribution network through Case 26-E-0045 and, in connection with that proceeding, to initiate a formal public process—including public comment and a public hearing—to create a GEIS under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). The GEIS will assess potential environmental impacts of constructing and operating data centers in New York, including energy demand, water use and quality, air quality, disproportionate impacts on disadvantaged communities, and noise levels. The DPS will consult with the NYSDEC and other relevant agencies and authorities and will submit a report including the Final GEIS and findings statement.
Until that report is submitted, the NYSDEC must hold in abeyance all applications for any discretionary permit, approval, license, or similar permission for the construction or expansion of a data center that are, or may become, pending before the agency and that were not determined complete before July 14, 2026. Applications already deemed complete are not subject to the moratorium. Applicants for permits, approvals, licenses, or similar authorizations for projects that are not data centers may be required to provide information demonstrating their projects do not relate to data center construction or operation and are therefore exempt from the executive order.
The moratorium reaches state permitting only and does not apply to permits, approvals, licenses, or similar permissions issued by local governments.
The executive order also directs Empire State Development (ESD), within 60 days, to consider public feedback on and create and post on its website a Community Investment Framework (CIF) to help localities analyze and attain local economic benefits and mitigate negative effects of hosting a data center. ESD has already published a policy outline for the CIF.
The CIF's premise is that data centers place substantial demand on local resources—including electricity, water, and public infrastructure—while generating relatively few permanent jobs compared to other large-scale capital investment projects. The CIF is intended to ensure that data center development benefits accrue to host communities and to establish a consistent framework for large-scale data center projects, providing local governments and developers with a common basis for negotiating community benefits.
The CIF template is expected to be organized around four core components: (1) "good neighbor commitments," addressing site design and mitigation of local impacts; (2) labor commitments, focused on prevailing wages, project labor agreements, local hiring, and workforce development; (3) a Community Investment Fund, through which developers would support locally identified priorities and community benefits such as public infrastructure improvements or housing initiatives; and (4) transparency, requiring reporting on economic, environmental, and operational metrics associated with the project.
As a baseline for negotiations, ESD is directed to establish guidance on contribution levels that would create a minimum investment threshold. The policy outline identifies, as an example, a contribution of $1 million per megawatt of anticipated utility demand, while emphasizing this threshold is intended as a starting point, with final contribution levels and eligible investments tailored to the circumstances and priorities of each host community.
The executive order further directs the DPS, through Case 26-E-0045, to consider developing a mechanism to protect utility customers from significant costs and the risk of stranded assets associated with large-load interconnections, including the potential establishment of a New York Grid Acceleration Fund (the Fund). Under the executive order, the Fund could require data centers to contribute through various mechanisms. The DPS will evaluate how such contributions should be structured, including appropriate contribution levels and the allocation of collected funds, and will consider a process for working with utilities and other stakeholders to identify necessary grid infrastructure investments. The Fund could also include measures designed to protect ratepayers from project delays, scope changes, or cancellations that result in stranded assets. Additionally, the DPS may evaluate approaches requiring data centers to fund clean generation and/or battery storage dedicated to serving their operations, including customer-sited distributed energy resources (DERs), to the greatest extent feasible. The executive order further notes that the Fund could support energy affordability initiatives.
Separately, the executive order directs the DPS to establish a Data Center Interconnection Working Group within 60 days to address interconnection issues associated with data centers and other large loads and to support implementation of "beneficiary-pays" principles. The DPS must also convene the state's transmission owners to review methodologies for assessment of large load impacts on grid infrastructure.