NYC Business Group Fights Back Against Data Center Ban

New York Governor Kathy Hochul's executive order imposing a one-year moratorium on new hyperscale data centers has drawn strong opposition from the business community. The state wants to develop new standards for handling the impacts of these facilities on energy infrastructure, ratepayer costs, and the environment.

The moratorium targets facilities with power demands exceeding 20 MW and halts the issuance of state environmental permits for up to one year. Organizations including Upstate United and the New York Building Congress have publicly opposed the policy, arguing it threatens jobs, undermines local governance, and sends a negative signal to companies deciding where to build next.

The industry had barely caught its breath after a two-year moratorium targeting fossil-fuel-powered crypto mining expired in late 2024. A May 2025 draft environmental impact statement projected emissions damages from existing New York crypto mining operations at approximately $10.6 billion from 2024 to 2050.

TeraWulf, a Bitcoin mining company pivoting toward data centers and AI/HPC applications, saw its stock drop approximately 7% after the announcement. The industry is warning that policies like this could hinder US infrastructure development compared to countries like China, which is aggressively building out its own computing capacity.