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ARTICLE · 24 JULY 2026

New York’s Data Center Moratorium: A Practical Roadmap Through The One-Year Pause

Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP
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New York has become the first U.S. state to implement a statewide moratorium on major data center development, halting discretionary environmental permits for facilities of 50-megawatts or more for one year. Governor Hochul's Executive Order #62 directs state agencies to study and establish new regulatory frameworks addressing environmental impacts, utility costs, and community benefits, while exempting projects with permits deemed complete before July 14, 2026.

United StatesEnvironment
Mark D. Jackson
Mark D. Jackson

Introduction:

Last week, New York became the first U.S. state to enact a statewide moratorium on major data center development. On July 14, 2026, Governor Kathy Hochul issued an Executive Order (EO #62), which, effective immediately, imposes a one-year moratorium on discretionary environmental permits for data centers of 50-megawatts or more, in addition to other directives to New York State agencies to study and provide future guidelines for such “hyperscale” data center projects.

The Executive Order follows a broader trend of state and local governments stepping in to dictate where and how data centers – the supercomputer backbones of the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution – are sited, constructed and integrated into their locations. In the absence of meaningful federal regulations over AI proliferation and their big tech developers, further state and local regulations and moratoria are expected.

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