Data-center buildouts
Data-center pauses
Polling puts local data-center buildouts near 80/20 against, and data centers have become a midterm issue. Where building is actually paused is the checkable version of that claim.
The current read
Analysis
Two states have paused data-center permitting from the top. Texas's environmental agency has paused all permits for supporting infrastructure, with no end date. New York's Executive Order 62 holds discretionary permits for sites of 50 MW or more until the state finishes an environmental study, and a bill that would lower that threshold to 20 MW has passed both houses but has not reached the Governor. Below the state level the count is large (127 jurisdictions with moratoriums in early 2026, by tracker counts) but harder to check: two of the five pauses listed in the analysis are still unverified.
Key takeaways
- Texas: TCEQ has paused all permits for data-center supporting infrastructure, with no end date.
- New York: EO 62 holds permits for sites of 50 MW or more; A11560 (20 MW) has passed both houses but is unsigned.
- Local pauses are numerous but partly unverified; the first live re-check is on or after 11-04.
The signal is spread, not one case. It fires on a new state-level pause, a local pause in a state with heavy AI-compute building (Texas, New York, Kentucky, North Carolina, North Dakota), or an existing pause extended or widened. Baseline: 127 jurisdictions with moratoriums and 300+ state bills in early 2026 (trackers, SECONDARY).
| Where | What | Scope | Ends | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas (state agency) | Gov. Abbott ordered TCEQ to halt data-center permits 09-21; TCEQ confirmed 10-19 it "paused the issuance of all permits" | All permits for supporting infrastructure, including air and water | No end date; ERCOT's audit of ~300 proposed data centers ends late November | Texas Tribune, Community Impact (SECONDARY) |
| New York (state executive order) | Executive Order 62, signed 07-14; not a law | DEC must hold every discretionary permit for building or expanding a data center of 50 MW or more. Applications already found complete, local permits, and manufacturing, research, education and medical sites are outside it. The power source does not matter. | Until the state issues its final environmental impact study; "up to one year" | governor.ny.gov (PRIMARY) |
| New York (pending bill) | A11560/S10642, Responsible Data Center Development Act; passed both houses 06-04 | One-year DEC moratorium on data centers of 20 MW or more | Not delivered to the Governor, not signed, not vetoed | nysenate.gov (PRIMARY) |
| Yadkin County, NC | Two-year moratorium | Detail unverified | About two years from adoption | Unverified; ordinance not yet found |
| Oregon | Permit pause reported | Unverified | Unverified | dcmap.us (SECONDARY) |
Note on New York: the label "first statewide moratorium" was also used for the state's 2022 law on fossil-powered crypto mining, a different rule. EO 62 is the data-center pause.
What would change this view
- New York: the Governor signs or vetoes A11560 (the threshold would fall from 50 MW to 20 MW); the final environmental study (which ends EO 62); a company disclosing a delayed permit.
- Texas: a TCEQ end date or ERCOT's audit findings (early December).
- Anywhere: a new state-level pause, or the jurisdiction count rising well above 127.
Sources and method
PRIMARY means the government's own text (governor.ny.gov, nysenate.gov); SECONDARY means press or a tracker (Texas Tribune, Community Impact, dcmap.us). Rows marked unverified have no primary document yet.