Summary
On 14 July 2026, Governor Kathy Hochul issued Executive Order 62. The order's title calls it a temporary moratorium. Its operative permit clause directs the Department of Environmental Conservation to hold specified discretionary applications for construction or expansion of covered data centers until the Department of Public Service submits a final Generic Environmental Impact Statement and findings. Covered facilities are those that consume or can consume at least 50 megawatts and meet the order's other definition, with stated exclusions. Applications DEC had already determined complete are not held. Local permits are outside the order. The order does not give a calendar expiration, and it does not direct existing operating facilities to shut down.
Scope
Executive Order 62 directs the Department of Environmental Conservation to hold in abeyance discretionary permit, approval, license, and similar applications for construction or expansion of a covered data center, when the application is pending or filed after the order and DEC had not determined it complete before 14 July 2026. The order's definition covers facilities, or groups of facilities on the same or contiguous sites, that consume or can consume at least 50 megawatts and meet the stated equipment and service characteristics. It excludes facilities primarily used for manufacturing, specified research, education, or medical care. The order says it does not apply to local-government permissions. It does not pause the NYISO interconnection queue and does not order existing facilities to shut down.
- Geographic scope
- New York
- Jurisdiction
- State
- Authority type
- Executive
- Issuing authority
- Governor of New York
Dates
- Adopted
- No adoption day is recorded
- Effective
- 14 July 2026
- Scheduled expiration
- See completion condition
- Ended
- Not recorded as ended
- Completion condition
- The DEC hold lasts until the Department of Public Service submits its report of the final Generic Environmental Impact Statement and the associated findings statement. The order text does not set a one-year expiration. A separate instruction tells DEC to deliver a water-withdrawal assessment no later than twelve months after the order; that report deadline is not the end of the permit hold.
- Source document
- 14 July 2026
- Last checked
- 2 October 2026
About this date
This record was last checked before the tracker date, 11 November 2026. An earlier check date does not by itself mean the record's status has changed.
What this does not establish
- The reviewed text is the HTML publication of the order on the governor's website. The linked PDF was not compared word for word with that HTML.
- Public descriptions of a one-year pause were not adopted as the legal end date, because the order's hold continues until the final GEIS and findings are submitted.
- The order also directs studies, a community-investment framework, and interconnection working groups. Those directions are not recorded as a separate grid-interconnection pause. The order does not say NYISO must stop processing queue requests.
- The Responsible Data Center Development Act (A11560/S10642), which both houses passed on 4 June 2026, is a separate proposed record (ny-a11560-s10642-responsible-data-center-development-act-2026); it had not been delivered to the Governor as of 23 September 2026.
- Calling the order a moratorium repeats its title. The legal effect recorded here is the DEC abeyance, not a prohibition on every data center in New York and not a local construction ordinance.
Unresolved questions
- The Public Service Commission issued a positive declaration and a draft scope for the Generic Environmental Impact Statement on 17 September 2026, with public comments due 20 October 2026, so the final GEIS and findings statement that end the hold had not been submitted as of 23 September 2026.
- How many applications DEC has actually held, and whether any were determined complete before 14 July 2026, was not counted.
- The Responsible Data Center Development Act (A11560/S10642) passed both houses on 4 June 2026 and was returned to the Assembly; as of 23 September 2026 the Assembly page shows no delivery to the Governor, signature or veto. It is recorded separately as a proposed bill.
Relationships
Supersession means a later instrument replaces the earlier legal effect. Repeal links identify the repeal instrument and the measure it ends. A later implementation or related letter is not treated as a replacement unless the record says so.
- Related, not a replacement Responsible Data Center Development Act (passed both houses, not signed) (Proposed)
Sources
Primary source: Governor of New York page on governor.ny.gov
- Executive Order 62 PDF linked from the order page — download linked from the reviewed HTML; not separately compared · 14 July 2026