As data center projects proliferate exponentially, many state and local leaders are trying to apply the brakes.

Key Highlights
Moratoriums serve as temporary tools for governments to evaluate impacts of new infrastructure projects amid rapid technological advancements;
Booming data centers, especially across the U.S., are at the center of the debate due to their significant energy, water, and land use;
Recent legislative actions, like New York State’s moratorium on large data centers, signal a growing trend of more cautious regulation in multiple states.
Effective moratoriums should have clear goals, timelines, and pathways to permanent policies to avoid market distortion and project abandonment;
Policymakers and industry stakeholders must collaborate to develop infrastructure strategies that balance growth with sustainability and community concerns.
ACEC
6a5e5b7d6a2b97a8e8707d2a Images
On July 14, 2026, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a landmark executive order launching the first statewide moratorium on new hyperscale data centers in the U.S., temporarily pausing certain state environmental permits for up to one year while the state develops a broader regulatory framework.

Specifically, the order focuses on large facilities consuming 50 megawatts or more. It is separate from a New York Legislature bill, which the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) describes as applying to data centers over 20 megawatts.

As of July 1, NCSL reports that 15 other states also have considered similar bans. So far, Delaware, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Vermont, and Virginia, all are moving forward with efforts to create such legislation. Efforts in Maryland, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Maine have failed.

But what New York State just did may re-energize the data center debate in those states and even help spread it to others.

For its part, the American Council of Engineering Companies views data center growth as both a strategic opportunity and an infrastructure challenge:

Data centers create demand for engineering services across site development, power, water, wastewater, transportation, environmental review, structural systems, and grid infrastructure.

At the same time, concerns about power demand, water use, grid reliability, utility costs, and community impacts are legitimate. The better policy path is not broad opposition to growth, but disciplined planning. Data center development should be managed through infrastructure investment, clear standards, transparent cost allocation, and data-driven permitting rather than blanket restrictions.

Over the past year, moratoriums have become increasingly visible in discussions surrounding data centers, battery storage projects, cryptocurrency mining, renewable energy, warehouses, and other major infrastructure developments.

Data Centers: The New Moratorium Debate

No issue better illustrates the modern moratorium debate than data centers, which have sparked a global conversation about energy use, grid reliability, water consumption and artificial intelligence.

The U.S. currently has far more data centers than any other country. Statista reports 5,427 data centers in the U.S., compared with 529 in Germany, 523 in the United Kingdom, 449 in China, and 337 in Canada.

That scale helps explain the scrutiny and public concern. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the U.S. Dept. of Energy estimate that U.S. data centers consumed about 4.4% of total U.S. electricity in 2023 and could account for a whopping 12% by 2028.

A U.S. Data Center Moratorium Tracker maintained by Interconnected Capital recently reported, 127 active restrictions across the country, up from 116 two weeks earlier. The exact count will continue to change, but the direction is clear: governments are becoming more willing to pause or limit development while they study impacts.

Moratoriums can be valuable when they create time for thoughtful decision-making. The challenge is ensuring they remain temporary pauses that lead to durable policy, rather than permanent substitutes for planning. Data center growth is coming. The question is whether communities will shape it through clear infrastructure strategy or slow it through uncertainty.

Source https://www.hpac.com/technology/blog/55392105/acec-debating-data-center-moratoriums