New York data centers need a regional approach

The power needs and potential environmental concerns of large-scale data centers demand regional redress by New York State. As our governor and state majority sit idle on our major regional issues, forcing local municipalities to deal with the complicated and interwoven issues associated with regional solid waste management, a free-for-all may soon ensue with regard to power- and water-consuming data centers on Long Island.

Long Island already faces remarkable challenges in terms of our electric grid, exacerbated by our state's seemingly ever-changing energy policies, previously driven by ideologues with a myopic view of these issues rather than pragmatists. We face some of the highest electric rates in the nation, which could be driven higher due to the capacity needs of potential data centers if a haphazard municipal approval approach is allowed to ensue.

It is no secret that every municipal level of government is burdened by the increased pressures of fixed costs and the public pressure to stay under the tax cap. It is certainly within reason to believe that those pressures will cause municipal zoning authorities to consider approving a data center and the financial largesse promised through everything from permit and inspection fees to lucrative payments in lieu of taxes, as they look to make budgetary ends meet in light of the ever-increasing state-mandated fixed costs, which include higher pension contributions and healthcare costs.

Brookhaven National Laboratory was considered for a data center among 16 locations last year, and the U.S. Department of Energy did not select the location. However, there is another entity that is working with the Long Island Power Authority and the New York Independent System Operator on power needs for a possible proposal in Brookhaven Town, in Yaphank. Such data centers have insatiable power demands and need a tremendous cooling capacity. As technology advances and chips become smaller and hotter, these demands could increase exponentially, and so could the demands from our sole-source aquifer, which knows no geopolitical boundaries. Advocates will try and assuage such concerns by touting closed-loop systems that do not constantly draw fresh water. However, such systems have been shown to be vastly larger consumers of energy and create concentrated buildups of contaminants that must be dealt with.

The time is now for Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state legislative majority to support a regional approach to this issue and not selectively choose to hide behind municipal home rule when it suits them, as is currently being done on our looming regional municipal solid waste issues, because the electric capacity and freshwater resources on Long Island belong to all of us.

The notion that municipalities, faced with ever-increasing budgetary pressures, will be enticed by proposals dangling revenue to stave off tax increases is not theoretical. It is happening right now as LIPA considers such electric capacity needs, while ironically considering repowering natural gas-generating plants that New York State considered shuttering just years ago. While Hochul has asked the Public Service Commission to ensure that large data centers pay their share, it's incumbent on the state to guarantee that safeguards are in place to protect against even higher electric costs and less available clean water for us all.

Change is the law of life, and technology will advance, but so must our laws and regulations. While our exorbitant power costs already make this region less economically desirable for data centers, we cannot and should not rest on that hope.

This guest essay reflects the views of Brookhaven Town Supervisor Dan Panico, a Republican from Center Moriches.