Along W. Hochul Moratorium, 15 State Data Center Bans (None Signed), 300 Regulatory Bills Introduced

[hatrack]

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Energy costs, water scarcity and general unease with AI are all contributing to a surge of frustrated constituents. But governors and state lawmakers in both parties have struggled to stake out a lane on data centers.

Lawmakers in 15 states have introduced legislation that would impose a moratorium on data centers, according to information from the National Conference of State Legislatures. Only two states — Maine and New York — had bills reach the governor’s desk, and neither was signed. State lawmakers have introduced more than 300 bills related to data center regulation overall this year.

Maine lawmakers voted in April to impose their own data center moratorium. It was vetoed by Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, who wanted to preserve one $550 million project already under development in Franklin County, where she said a mill closure created dire need for new economic investment. (The data center developer put the project on ice anyway.) Both Republican and Democratic candidates to succeed the term-limited Mills say they would have signed that moratorium, citing environmental and economic concerns. Even Mills would have signed it had it exempted the Franklin County project, her spokesperson Anna Parker said.

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In Arizona, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs and lawmakers in both parties enacted a three-year suspension of tax incentives on data centers, but failed to move other legislative restrictions. A spokesperson for Hobbs declined to comment on New York’s construction moratorium. And Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who has wooed billions of dollars in investments by tech giants to his state, is facing pushback from his Republican challenger, who supports a data center “pause.” Shapiro signed a state budget on Monday that includes some reporting requirements for data centers but stopped short of imposing more sweeping regulations.

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https://www.eenews.net/articles/i-wouldnt-call-it-panic-industry-quails-at-hochuls-data-center-pause/

[mitch96]

1. I would like the data centers to use renewable energy and desalinate the seawater they need..

And give the excess to the communitys... They have the cash I recon...
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