New York Gov. Hochul urges $1 million per MW community contributions for data centers

Governor Kathy Hochul has issued guidance urging local governments to demand that developers of new data centers provide community investments of at least $1 million for every megawatt of utility demand. The proposal arrives months after New York imposed the nation's first moratorium on large data-center construction. Officials argue the payments will allow host towns to capture a share of the long-term economic value, despite the limited job creation typical of such facilities.

Hope Knight, president of Empire State Development, said the approach acknowledges that data centers differ from traditional manufacturing in their development impact. Companies such as Amazon, Meta and Google have not responded to outreach, while Microsoft declined comment. The move comes amid growing national scrutiny of data-center power use and bipartisan calls to curb rising electricity costs.