Last Friday, New York State Senators Liz Krueger and Kristen Gonzales introduces a bill which will stop issuing permits for new data centers for at least three years and ninety days to allow time for impact assessments and to update regulations. The bill will require the Department of Environmental Conservation and Public Service Commissions to issue impact statements and reports during the shutdown, along with any new orders or regulations they deem necessary to mitigate. impacts on data centers environment and consumers in New York.

The bill will require these departments to study the use of water, electricity and gas in data centers, and their impact on the bills of these resources, among other things. The bill, which deals with a Bloomberg analysis, says that, “Nationally, electricity rates will increase 13 percent in 2025, largely driven by the development of data centers.” New York is the sixth state this year to introduce a bill aimed at putting the brakes on data centers, following the steps of Georgia, Maryland, Oklahoma, Vermont and Virginia, according to Wired. It is still in the early stages, and is now with the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee for consideration.