Hochul Signs EO 62 — First Statewide Hyperscale Data Center Moratorium as 20+ Localities Move in One Week

Governor Kathy Hochul signed Executive Order 62 on July 15, 2026, imposing the nation’s first statewide moratorium on new hyperscale data centers (50 megawatts or larger) for up to one year while state regulators develop energy, water, and environmental rules. The 50 MW threshold targets exactly the facility class driving ratepayer cost-shift concern nationally. New York’s market scale — the largest state economy yet to act — makes this the single highest-consequence action in the datacenter-resistance wave the timeline has tracked county-by-county since June.

The order landed inside an unprecedented single-week acceleration: in the July 14-16 window alone, Jackson MS, St. Charles County MO, Haring Township MI, Marietta GA, Hamilton County TN, New Albany IN, Broken Bow NE, Santa Fe County NM, and Valparaiso IN all passed or advanced moratoriums, while St. Joseph County IN rejected a $13 billion unnamed-hyperscaler project outright. This extends the pattern already documented through dozens of individual county actions (see 2026-07-08–lakeland-fl-bipartisan-opposition-project-swan-data-center, 2026-06-08–charlotte-city-council-150-day-datacenter-moratorium) but marks the first time the resistance has scaled from municipal/county zoning authority to full state executive action — a structural escalation the county-level wave alone could not achieve, since individual jurisdictions cannot set statewide grid-interconnection or ratepayer-protection standards.