Greenfield’s City Council will vote this evening on a one-year moratorium on large data centers, based on a zoning ordinance approved on a 4-1 vote by the Planning Board. The city of Lowell adopted a data center moratorium seven months ago. Mansfield banned data centers larger than two megawatts last May, only by special permit in industrial or planned business districts. In June, Holyoke passed a total ban on data centers. In July, the City Council in Westfield enacted a one-year moratorium. Southbridge is reviewing a one-year moratorium. Agawam is processing a 270-day moratorium. Leominster is combining a one-year moratorium on battery energy storage systems and data centers.
But the real game is being played out at the state and national level. New York state on July 14 adopted a one-year pause on data centers. Governor Kathy Hochul’s Executive Order 62 responds to the “unprecedented growth in demand” for data storage and processing capacities. “The State’s existing regulatory frameworks are not yet prepared to address the large-scale water use and treatment from data centers,” Hochul’s Executive Order says. “The cost of electric utility service to large loads should not be paid for by ‘every-day New Yorkers.’”
Three weeks before Hochul’s Executive Order, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Jim McGovern, cosponsored an AI Data Center Moratorium Act (S.2414 and H.R. 9442) in Congress to create a “temporary prohibition on the construction of new data centers… until Congress passes comprehensive legislation to address the economic, environmental, and safety impacts of artificial intelligence.”
On Sept. 8, Gov. Maura Healey signed Executive Order 658 which stated in a press release: “If a data center doesn’t have local approval, state permitting agencies will not advance the project.” Healey was quoted as saying: “Unless a community says yes to a data center, we are saying no. We’re giving communities a voice.” Like Gov. Hochul’s plan, Gov. Healey’s plan requires data centers to provide their own clean energy, or pay into a new “ratepayer protection fund” that goes to keep ratepayer electric rates down.
But will municipalities be calling the shots? The governor said the state would be “laying out the rules for what needs to happen in Massachusetts.” The commonwealth is promoting data centers: “A data center should invest in Massachusetts — bringing new clean energy and paying for the infrastructure to get it there.” The governor is requiring that data centers, and local municipalities, must negotiate a “Community Benefits Agreement” (CBA) that meets state standards, before moving forward with any state permitting. The state will be the entity which approves all data center projects “with peak electricity demand exceeding 25 megawatts.” By the end of December 2026, municipalities will have a state-written “Guide” to evaluate smaller local data center projects — but will developers be allowed to appeal to the state?
Last March the state issued standards for CBAs. Similar language is required in marijuana ordinances. The state does not hide the real purpose of these agreements: “CBAs can avoid or reduce community opposition and delays while accelerating project development and implementation.” A CBA is a candy store of incentives for cities and towns, which can include economic development promises, like “good-paying jobs for local residents,” or affordable housing, transportation access, broadband, childcare facilities or “other infrastructure to support community activities.”
The state’s track record on respecting Home Rule (self-government) over local zoning is not exemplary. They eviscerated Accessory Dwelling Units by “protecting” them from local zoning, and eliminating the requirement for ADUs to have local owners. They exempted solar installations and battery energy storage systems from local zoning. They forced all MBTA communities to have at least one high-density, multi-family housing zone. This November a state ballot question will ask voters to mandate smaller 5,000 square foot building lots everywhere. If the state adds “data centers” as a Dover Amendment protected use (Chapter 40A, section 3) local moratoriums will be rejected by the state attorney general.
“We’ve seen the impact that data centers are having in other parts of the country,” Healey told reporters. “They consume massive amounts of energy and that drives up utility bills, which truly no one can afford… We’re doing everything we can as a state to bring more energy online… we can’t have a situation where they are consuming more energy that’s available on the grid at the expense of the rest of our businesses and our residents.”
The governor says her Executive Order is “putting communities in the driver’s seat,” but cities and towns may feel they’ve been locked in the trunk again.
Al Norman’s Pushback column is published in the Recorder every first and third Wednesday of the month.