Around 200 community members showed up for Friday’s press conference, organized by Sustainable Finger Lakes on behalf of the FLX Strong coalition, as part of the statewide ‘Stop Data Centers’ tour. This is led by State Senator Kristen Gonzalez, who introduced the bill (S.10642, the Responsible Data Center Development Act) and the environmental group Food & Water Watch.
Nearly a year ago, the fight began against a proposed 300 Megawatt AI data center on the shores of Cayuga Lake by TeraWulf, a bitcoin mining company-turned AI data center company. This development would bring adverse environmental, quality of life, and economic impacts throughout the Cayuga Lake watershed. To construct their proposed buildings, which will house computing equipment used by companies like Google and UAE’s Core42, they would need to clear more than 40 acres of a forested hillside on the shore of Cayuga Lake and blast into bedrock in some spots. Noise during a lengthy construction phase and once operational would impact both neighbors and those across the lake while disturbing wildlife in the adjacent Cayuga Shores Wildlife Management Area and elsewhere. Central NY residents are also very concerned about grid reliability and escalating electric supply prices on top of already high utility bills.
At the end of the press conference, local and state elected officials, local activists, and community leaders called on Governor Hochul to sign the strong data center moratorium bill.
See local coverage of this event below
