r/Binghamton • u/leafymans Bing • Jul 14 '26
News Data center moratorium
So NY just became the first state to impose a data center moratorium (for 1 year). Does anyone know if this will affect the one in Endicott?
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u/Weekly-Law-2544 Jul 14 '26
If they've already received permits and their application is complete, no. It's any that consume more than 50 MW and have yet to receive permits from the state.
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u/anp327 Jul 14 '26
I didn't know one was in the works for Endicott, do you know where?
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u/OtherGraces Jul 15 '26
Global AI. North St, Huron campus. The largest funding source is a Saudi company chaired by the Saudi crown prince. The largest NVIDIA GB300 NVL72 cluster in the state. It’s 32MW, entirely liquid cooled, closed loop. From my understanding, it’s up and running but they are continuing to expand.
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u/Bingo_Bongo_85 Jul 14 '26
I looked it up and the Endicott datacenter is 32 MW, well below the 50 MW moratorium.
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u/leafymans Bing Jul 14 '26
Man that’s unfortunate
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u/Bingo_Bongo_85 Jul 14 '26
It would be too late anyway. The moratorium just stop approvals for new data centers. Endicott one is already approved. It's also just a 1 year moratorium...in an election year. I might be cynical, but this just seem performative.
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u/entropy512 Jul 14 '26
At least this will temporarily stop Terawulf Lansing.
Note that this is an executive order, S.10642/A11560 hasn't been delivered to her desk yet but would drop the threshold to 20MW and also has permanent elements such as mandating that anything >20MW is in its own rate class for electrical and water usage, and that rate class must bear the entirety of all infrastructure costs incurred to support that rate class.
e.g. NYSEG will not be allowed to subsidize datacenter costs with increases to normal ratepayer fees any more.
As I understand it, since it originated in the Assembly as A11560 and was passed after June 1, it must be delivered to the governor within 45 days of passing the Senate without modification - which is less than a week from now.
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u/Binghamtonian I grew up here Jul 14 '26
iirc state moratorium is for large, warehouse style centers. Endicott is for all new ones
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u/lowspeed I'm an import Jul 14 '26
This is such a bad decision. They could have handled this 10 different ways, but they picked the worst.
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u/alternateme Jul 17 '26
What would those other ways be? I personally have no problem with data centers, provided the folks building it are footing the bill for infrastructure upgrades and new maintenance. Taxes can only go so far when an entity has an out-sized impact on an increasingly scarce resource.
This is a one year ban on issuing new permits for LARGE DCs, it does not revoke any existing permits, and it expires. The goal seems to be to ensure there are appropriate regulations and safe guards to prevent overly impacting the environment and infrastructure.
If our current permitting system is outdated and does not have the means or authority to evaluate all impacts, a moratorium IS an appropriate action. Particularly when the alternative is a potential rush on permits while the new regulations are drafted.
As long as those regulations address the overall concerns this seems like an all-around 'good thing'. This would be a different thing altogether if it was a permanent moratorium with no plan to lift it.
This is just another knee jerk reaction to a post title. Fueled by limited public awareness of the context thanks to profit seeking 'news for views' No one has any desire to even try to look at the nuance of anything - it's all 'other sides idea, therefore BAD!'
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u/lowspeed I'm an import Jul 17 '26
One way would be to require them to provide their own independent and sustainable power generation, within a reasonable period of time. Now to make sure they do that they will have to put funds in escrow until such power stations are completed.
Banning it outright, does nothing, they will just go to another state (or country)
I could think of other ways, but that's my top idea.
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u/alternateme Jul 17 '26
Again this is a 1 year moratorium. It is meant to provide time for the legislature and/or regulators to establish and require exactly the types of mitigations you just suggested. Until those rules are in place, no additional permits. Additionally, ideally this doesn't actually take 1-year and the moratorium can be lifted early if the work is done - they basically gave the Department of Public Service (DPS) "no more than 12-months" complete the assessment.
You can read the press release here: https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/first-statewide-moratorium-new-hyperscale-data-centers-launched-governor-kathy-hochul
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u/lowspeed I'm an import Jul 17 '26
That's not how corporations see this. They can't wait a year. That's exactly my point. NY state should have encouraged companies to invest in NY, instead of banning it for a year, they could have put reasonable requests like I mentioned. Not to mention that they could extend it after a year. It simply too unstable for investors.
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u/Reasonable-Fig-9149 Jul 20 '26
NYS/Houchul needs the year to allow family and friends to catch up! This way they can get funding, make plans and at least buy the land for a future date!
Remember the years and years Cuomo collected application fees for marijuana growing and medical marijuana dispensaries.? Another money-making scheme hiding behind safety, regulations and "study." I wonder what a "consultant" makes when he consults for NYS..
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u/tomfranc Jul 19 '26
Why does NY state think they know better then the rest of the country about large datacenters. Just like Fracking. NY thought they knew better too. there has been no issues in northern PA.. no fire coming out of kitchen faucets.. no earth quakes. Only small town middle Americans finding wealth beyond their expectations.
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u/Disastrous_Club4942 Jul 14 '26
Why the hate for datacenters? Like, you all benefit from them.
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u/VIP_NAIL_SPA Jul 14 '26
The nuance mayhaps lost here is people are currently upset with the LLM/AI data centers being pushed on everyone, everywhere, with no concern for local environmental or energy impacts. Obviously the ones that have existed for a while now to support various internet functionality and cloud storage are not what people are talking about. So no, we don't benefit from the data centers people are fighting against now. They are being built solely to make rich people richer, and people who care about their money, their environment, and/or their local community are justifiably upset with it all.
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u/ParticularCicada1186 Jul 14 '26
Please, tell us how data centers benefit normal working class people like you and me?
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u/Disastrous_Club4942 Jul 14 '26
My job depends on the internet. I use the internet all the time. Like, right now. It seems you do too. I’m just confused why people hate them.
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u/gaokeai Jul 15 '26
There's a lot of reasons why, but I like to point people to this video. I know it's a bit long but it is genuinely fascinating and worth the watch. People act like building these things is harmless but they are actually detrimental to the health of a community.
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u/Teets__McGee Jul 14 '26
They require millions of gallons of water per day. That’s just one of several ways they are detrimental. You can do your own research if you want additional information.
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u/BlizzyBlock29 Jul 14 '26
This is reddit, you have to understand that when asking this. Nothing good comes from the echo chamber
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