New York Urges Data Centers to Fund Communities $1 Million per Megawatt

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul recommended local governments seek at least $1 million per megawatt of electricity demand in community investments from data center developers. The voluntary framework, released in a September 15 document, comes about two months after she signed an executive order last July halting environmental permits for up to one year for data centers of 50 MW or more. Hope Knight said, "The growing demand for data centers driven by the innovation economy must align with shared standards that benefit local communities." She also said, "Data centers are not major job creators locally, so their economic development profile differs from traditional manufacturing." Texas data center projects seeking grid interconnection total 474 gigawatts. Gov. Greg Abbott ordered a comprehensive review and audit of those projects on September 3. Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives plan to introduce a bill addressing electricity rate hikes linked to data center expansion. A Reuters/Ipsos poll found only about one-third of Americans support the current pace of data center construction and most would oppose a data center being built in their own community. Amazon, Meta and Google representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment; Microsoft declined to comment. What is contested: No contested facts found in the record.