Surging electricity prices, environmental impacts and tax breaks are just a few of the reasons that New York’s data center boom has sparked pushback across the state.
And USA TODAY Network journalists are on the front lines of this high-tech battlefield that will help determine how artificial intelligence shapes the future.
From Rockland County to Western New York, reporters Chris McKenna and Steve Howe are covering developments with some of the largest data center projects in the state.
What to know about big data centers in NY
In Orangeburg, proposals to expand data center projects owned by DataBank, JP Morgan Chase and 1547 Critical Systems Realty underscored the pace of growth within the industry.
Put differently, as McKenna reports, New York had 48 projects with huge power demands lined up to request service earlier this year — seeking a total of 11 gigawatts. That’s more power than all of New York City uses on a summer day with air conditioners blasting.
One of the biggest projects between Rochester and Buffalo in Genesee County — a proposed campus that would take up 2.2 million square feet in three buildings and reportedly would draw 500 megawatts of power.
Why data center tax breaks are raising concerns
But a proposal for $1.4 billion in tax breaks for that upstate project was greeted by “a chorus of opposition,” Howe reports.
“I don’t see how any PILOT payment, any job creation, any gifts that are given to the school districts and communities can possibly measure up to that incentive,” said Terry Abrams, a member of the Bear Clan of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation.
Addressing local officials weighing approvals and tax breaks for the data center, Abrams added: “I know that this is all you really care about, is the dollars and cents. But the true costs are the social costs, the environmental costs, the spiritual costs.”
Questions have also mounted about $77 million in tax breaks granted to the JPMorgan Chase project in Orangeburg in exchange for one permanent job, New York Focus reported, with local officials defending the deal’s impact on related jobs and the region’s economy overall.
At the same time, advocates and developers alike are monitoring a range of state measures aimed at potentially restricting data center projects statewide, with a goal of better protecting ratepayers and local communities.
USA TODAY Network will continue to cover this crucial topic with a focus on the short-term and generational impacts for millions of New Yorkers.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Data centers are growing fast in New York. How we reported it
Reporting by David Robinson, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
