Send a Letter to the Public Service Commission – Make Industrial Data Centers Pay Their Fair Share!

You may recall that in Governor Hochul’s 2025 State of the State, she introduced the idea of a policy that would require private sector “hyperscale” industrial data centers “bring their own generation” to help rein in rising electrical rates.

This would be a wise policy – as the Public Service Commission itself notes, “As of February 2026, 11.9 gigawatts (GW) of load within the New York Independent System Operator, Inc. (NYISO) interconnection queue are attributed to future large load projects. In 2025 alone, more than 8.3 GW of new load entered the NYISO queue, exemplifying the emerging challenge presented by large load interconnections. These interconnection requests may introduce planning uncertainty through speculative or duplicative interconnection requests, and the projects themselves often require significant electric supply and may drive the need for major grid upgrades. ”

However, the PSC needs to hear from us by May 13 to develop these guidelines – specifically, we are urging that the PSC require that this generation be restricted to renewable power.

We have already seen numerous examples right here in Erie and Niagara County of data center developers purchasing obsolete fossil fuel based power stations, such as DigiPowerX’s purchase of the former Fortistar gas-fired peaker power plant in North Tonawanda – without clear guidelines banning non-renewable power, these data center developers will simply scale up this practice under this proposed guideline.

Send a letter today – you can either use our one click ActionNetwork toolkit by clicking here, or you can use the PSC’s “Matter Master” portal by clicking here.

If using the latter method, you’ll need to find the “Post Comments” button on the top right. You can also look at other posted comments by clicking “Public Comments.” Please note, your comment will also be public if you use this method.

Next, you’ll need to fill in the required information – First and Last Name, your address, and your email address.

In the “Comments” box, you can either fill in a custom comment, or you can copy and paste the text below. Please be aware that you’re limited to 3950 characters. Then, click the “I am not a robot” and the checkbox for the disclaimer about the PSC’s rules for comment submission. Finally, click “Post Comment” at the bottom

Our suggested text to copy/paste and personalize –
I write concerning PSC Case Number 26-E-0045, the Proceeding on Motion of the Commission to Address Interconnection Reforms for Large Loads.
I am troubled by the scale & speed of the buildout of private sector industrial “hyperscale” data centers, as well as the complete lack of regulations of this new industrial sector. There are numerous acute affects from these operations, but of note today is how data centers affect electrical rates, which usually increase for all existing ratepayers when a new data center comes online– this includes not only residents, but also industries, especially older industrial facilities with steeper challenges to upgrading equipment to reduce energy demand, & which often have unionized workforces. In contrast, this industry creates very few permanent jobs & actively threatens thousands of both blue collar & white collar positions.
NYS should prioritize the renewable energy transition first & foremost in our macroeconomic policies to build a robust manufacturing economy for the 21st century, starting by fully implementing the CLCPA with the benchmark metrics as the law was originally written, & by refusing the energy allocations that are requested in the interconnection queue for any private sector data centers until the renewable capacity & transmission upgrades are first built out at their expense.
Governor Hochul’s proposal that data centers “cover the costs of their expansion as it relates to utilities” is a welcome move in this direction, but I am concerned about how this might be implemented. Data center developers should be restricted to renewable power generation & transmission upgrades – nuclear, gas, oil or coal must be BANNED from potential sources for their power.
We urge examining the examples of DigiPowerX in North Tonawanda, Blockfusion in Niagara Falls, Greenidge Generation in Dresden NY, & TeraWulf in both Baker NY & Lansing NY as examples of how the data center sector will approach this regulation without clear guidelines banning nuclear or fossil fuels as acceptable power generation options to meet their power demands.
In every one of these examples, data center developments are sited at obsolete power stations which these data center developers have or are attempting to purchase to use to power their operations. These plants are a mix of former coal-fired power plants or gas peaker plants, all of which are being converted to or operating with gas or nuclear, & are simply perpetuating environmental injustices in these DAC communities for another generation.
Even worse would be the example of Twitter/xAI in Memphis TN/Jackson MI- in that instance, the xAI corporation is using inefficient gas generators to power the supercomputer used for the “Grok” chatbot. Tesla in Buffalo is pursing a similar supercomputer, “Dojo” & may attempt similar harmful practices without guidelines.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/06/elon-musk-xai-memphis-gas-turbines-air-pollution-permits-00317582https://www.mississippifreepress.org/mississippi-permit-board-grants-xais-request-for-41-southaven-gas-turbines-to-power-memphis-data-center/
https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-highlights-budget-investments-western-new-york
We urge requiring renewable energy generation on site for all data centers to meet the energy demand of private sector data center operations, as well as capture & reuse of waste heat through thermal energy networks & other practices to reduce the energy footprint of these campuses & require unionized labor for the construction & operation of this energy infrastructure. We also urge prioritizing reuse of existing industrial lands, especially brownfield sites.
The PSC & NYISO should deny all interconnection requests of data center operators until renewable power generation & transmission can first meet the demand of existing ratepayers in NY plus their requested additional large loads.
Make tech billionaires pay a fair share

Let us be clear – the modern “hyperscale” data center is an unregulated industrial operation. We need regulations, and we need them now.

But this industrial sector is moving faster than our regulatory bodies can keep up – please take action today to submit a letter as part of this comment period, and also send a letter to our representatives in Albany urging them to prioritize a 3-year moratorium on data centers in the 2026 legislative session so our regulators can catch up.