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Join Us for a Rally & Press Conference Outside the Public Service Commission Technical Conference on Data Centers, Large Electric Loads & the CLCPAWhen:
Wednesday, October 28th at 12 pm
Where:
*Outdoors - *Outside of Agency Building 3
Department of Public Service (DPS) Headquarters
S Mall Arterial, Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY
Co-sponsoring Organizations: Frack Action, Citizen Action of NY, Catskill Mountainkeeper, NYPIRG, Seneca Lake Guardian, Food & Water Watch, Third Act Upstate NY, Environmental Advocates of NY, Alliance for a Green Economy, Progressive Schenectady, Capital District DSA and more.
Action Network Link: https://actionnetwork.org/events/governor-hochul-psc-stop-the-rush-to-build-ai-data-centers-in-ny/
Event Info:
On Wednesday, October 28, outside of the Department of Public Service headquarters, advocates are rallying to urge Governor Hochul to slow down and expand the review process for new data centers, while giving the public more opportunities to meaningfully engage in the process. Inside, the Public Service Commission is holding an important conference with implications for AI data centers development and policy in New York. This comes as the PSC is reviewing data centers - including environmental, economic and energy grid impacts - as a part of Governor Hochul’s Executive Order (EO) which put a temporary pause or moratorium on data centers in New York while the review is underway. The current pause under Hochul’s EO may extend over a year, but could take less time.
There is currently a “scoping” process taking place under SEQR. One of the first steps is to issue a "scope" for the review, to discuss what action the review is evaluating, what impacts it could have, and what research it needs to consider to accurately evaluate those impacts. The PSC’s day long technical conference on Oct. 28 addresses interconnection reforms regarding large electric loads with a focus on data centers, as well as grid upgrades, reliability of the electric system, utility rates and CLCPA considerations as it pertains to these topics.
Join us with leading state organizations and NYS residents to send the following message to Governor Hochul and the PSC:
This process to draft a scope for the needed Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) has been a rush job and must be slowed down and expanded so that all environmental, climate, and cost impacts of AI data centers can be considered. Once the draft scoping document was released in September, the public, experts and organizations were given only 30 days to comment. The public comment period was only recently extended by two weeks, ending a day after a major U.S. election.
The draft scope released in September is too narrow. The proposed plan leaves out major concerns, including rising electricity bills, air pollution, water consumption, and impacts on local communities and Indigenous Nations. Not to mention dangerous noise levels and the scooping up of massive amounts of land. The draft scope as written also blocks the possibility of extending the moratorium or blocking data centers all together as a potential conclusion of the review. The PSC needs to conduct a comprehensive environmental review that fully examines the comprehensive extent of the risks, along with the actions the State may need to take to protect our residents.
The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) needs to be more than just an "interested" party assisting the PSC. The PSC are energy experts, they are not climate impact experts, like DEC. DEC should not simply be "assisting" the PSC but should be made a leader in creating a sufficiently robust and adequate regulatory framework for such large infrastructure that has profound implications not only on New Yorker's energy rates but also all New Yorkers' air, water and natural environment.
No public hearings = unacceptable. There are currently no public hearings scheduled for the PSC to hear from the public, experts and other stakeholders on this matter. There need to be regional public hearings across the state for this to be a legitimate review process.
Stop the Rush to Build AI Data Centers in NY!
RSVP HERE: https://actionnetwork.org/events/governor-hochul-psc-stop-the-rush-to-build-ai-data-centers-in-ny/
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Event venue
3 Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY , United States
Tickets
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