Good afternoon — It’s Tuesday and Mac and Cheese Day.
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Hey, it’s Dan. It’s only Tuesday but it’s already shaping up to be a significant week for New York policymakers.
After lawmakers approved an omnibus bill aimed at pausing development of new data centers, Hochul issued an executive order Tuesday that included several of the same elements of that legislation.
Despite that, the larger piece of legislation is likely still on the table, Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie told reporters in the Albany area. More on what he said below and what’s next in those negotiations below.
And while Hochul’s order was well-received by her supporters, opponents of the action aren’t happy about it.
We’ll then get into a situation in western New York, where private residents found heightened radiation levels in their backyards. Hochul is now asking a familiar face — U.S. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin — to get involved.
And later, a new bill seeks to help people with disabilities, particularly children, from drowning through new Medicaid coverage. It comes after a nonverbal autistic child drowned in the Albany area last month.
Names in today’s CapCon: Carl E. Heastie, Lee Zeldin, Kristen Gonzalez, Liz Moran, Julie Tighe, Julie Samuels, Justin Wilcox, Pat Fahy
(Will Waldron/Times Union)
🤖 Lawmakers still want data centers bill signed despite Hochul’s executive order
When Democrats in the state Legislature approved a bill to set a moratorium and restrictions around data centers in June, they didn’t expect Gov. Kathy Hochul to consider it until later this year.
It was among the most controversial and complex measures passed by state lawmakers in the final weeks of this year’s legislative session. Despite strong opposition from the tech industry, Democrats united behind the omnibus measure.
But in the last few weeks, Democrats caught wind of a plan from Hochul to address the issue of data centers much sooner than expected.
That plan was announced Tuesday, when Hochul signed an executive order to place a pause of up to one year on state approval of environmental permits for new “hyperscale” data centers.
Those are defined as data centers that can consume 50 megawatts of energy or more. The Times Union’s Ezra Bitterman had this great story with a map of proposed data centers that you should check out to see what’s under consideration.
While that pause is in effect, the state will study the impact that new data centers will have on the power grid, local water supplies, air quality and noise pollution.
In the meantime, the state’s economic development agency, Empire State Development, will have the next two months to finalize a framework, already drafted, that would require data center developers to pay into public services and local infrastructure.
Hochul on Tuesday (New York Governor’s Office)
The state Department of Public Service will also consider the development of a new fund, financed by data center developers, to improve the state’s energy grid as a way to better prepare for the onboarding of those large load projects.
That fund would also help support new renewable energy projects and could require data centers to fund zero-emission electricity sources and battery storage to support their operations.
The full executive order is here and this story today from the Times Union’s Alexander MacDougall has more context. (Free link)
Hochul’s order checks a lot of the boxes of what was included in the bill approved by Democrats this year but not all of them.
Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie with a dog on Tuesday (Dan Clark/Times Union)
Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie told reporters in the Albany area Tuesday that Hochul’s executive order doesn’t mean the bill they approved is dead — far from it.
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