Data Centers, IDA and “Warehouses”

Op-Ed By Jacqui Drechsler

Data Centers. Unfortunately for this informational update – I did access AI on my phone. Just about everything we do to learn, to visit with each other, and to stay connected locally and all around the world, is tied to AI. What are data centers? AI overview: “Data centers are physical buildings or rooms that house computer systems, data storage drives and networking gear. Whenever you stream a video, send an email, use banking apps or ask Siri or Google a question – a data center does the behind the scenes work.” Some data centers across this nation are as big as 10 football fields. Right now the Nashville Zoo is fighting a data center proposed to be sited right next to the zoo, and the State of Arizona – expected to lose 1/3 of its water resources – is fighting big data too. The explosion of data centers has become a national issue with Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Bernie Sanders promoting a national data center moratorium. What is AI? AI overview: “With massive arrays of specialized computer chips, AI trains and runs language models and smart tools while keeping video platforms and search engines online 24/7. The government also uses AI for medical and financial records of people.”  ICE, and of course local law enforcement use AI as well. We hope for the right reasons – to find missing people, stop drug runners and gun runners etc. I hope that you do not mind the simplest of explanations – it’s what my brain can handle.

Adam Garvey of the Rockland County Times has a recent article in which

he talks about the five datacenters in Orangetown including Bloomberg, JP Morgan Chase, and DataBank, partnered with CoreWeave – a “neo-cloud” company.

Data centers suck – electrical energy and water resources, which we must protect in Rockland County as we have a finite supply of water from only three wells and from what comes into Lake DeForest. Data centers sit great big “air conditioners” on top of their buildings as the buildings housing the chips and mechanical parts need to be kept quite cool. They also use massive commercial diesel fueled generators as back up should there be a power failure and which must be tested regularly (which creates very bad air pollution issues, diesel fumes and in the case of DataBank – right next to homes and to a youth baseball field!) to operate. Diesel fuel is supplied by trucking and of course there can be accidents as well as unplanned releases of diesel fuel onto land and into water bodies. Data centers produce such a continuous and high decibel level of noise – between the A/C and generators, that there are now lawsuits nationwide because of noise.

JP Morgan Chase is requesting a massive expansion and there is a Bloomberg data center as well. Ironically, Bloomberg reporting states that: “people in communities in places with recently built data centers have reported dramatic increases in electric bills and water bills since data centers have been built in their towns. Up to a 276% increase in electricity costs.”  DataBank/CoreWeave is insanely wealthy like JP Morgan Chase. They all apply for County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) money that is basically funded by taxpayers. They all claim that they “can’t complete their project without accessing IDA money”. They get the tax breaks and then agree to pay PILOTs, or Payment In Lieu of Taxes agreements with school districts and Towns. And then they have the nerve to come back for more IDA money when they want to expand their operations. According to Adam Garvey, JP Morgan Chase is already taking 77 million dollars in tax breaks and subsidies which would create a job for only one person! This made national news.

As a side note – the Canadian owned merchant transmission cable sending electrical energy to NYC from HydroQuebec, the Champlain Hudson Power Express also know as CHPE,  funded by Blackstone (worth 1.2 trillion dollars) got IDA money. Data centers, warehouses, distribution centers, light industry and industrial companies all apply for IDA money. On August 12, 2026 in a news article in NJ.com by Allison Pries, Pries writes, “The City of Hackensack, N.J. issued final notices to property developers who owe a total of $6.7 million in unpaid fees and interest for PILOT agreements.” Mayor Caseen Gains said; “For too long, under the previous administration, we have heard that tax-exemptions for developers were a necessity.” Companies can renege, fail or sell. We would be left holding the bag. Rockland County’s IDA needs restructuring and State oversight.

So – why and how are we trying to slow down data centers specifically? The why. Data centers use exorbitant amounts of land – clear cutting of natural woodlands and wetlands- our natural carbon sinks and are usually sited near a water source which can become polluted from diesel fuel and other chemical contaminants. So far there have been at least two electrical fires at the DataBank site. Electrical fires cannot be fought with water but must use firefighting foam.  DataBank is sited on Lake Tappan, which is fed by Lake DeForest, which is fed by the Hackensack River. Rockland County has an obligation to send 7 million gallons of our water per day to N.J. through to Lake Tappan – which is a drinking water source for three communities in N.J. Many data centers use huge amounts of water. The loss of trees and wetlands for data centers contributes to more flooding during more intensive storms – such as the ones we now experience due to climate change and global warming. Data Centers use huge amounts of electrical energy – which to date has been and continues to be borne on the shoulders of ratepayers, not on the corporations using the energy. There are no regulations or guardrails – it is the wild West.

Food and Water Watch (FWW) which fights for clean food, water, air and land have joined up with the Bi-State Datacenter Crisis Coalition (www.datacentercrisis.org) to fight against DataBank’s request for expansion for DataBank Phase II. FWW worked with several environmental groups to pass a three year moratorium on datacenters, “the Responsible Data Center Development Act” that passed in the NY State Legislature, but Governor Hochul wouldn’t sign it. The Governor created a dumbed down Executive Order one year moratorium for data centers over 50 megawatts instead. This does NOT help against expansions of currently existing datacenters in Orangetown such as DataBank. On July 28, 2026, The Rockland County Legislature, spearheaded by Legislators Dr. Dana Stilley, Paul Cleary, Beth Davidson, Jesse Malowitz and Alden Wolfe unanimously passed a Resolution encouraging Governor Hochul to sign the Responsible Data Center Development Act.

According to the Bi-State Data Center Crisis Coalition, Orangetown Supervisor Teresa Kenney has proposed a 180 day (Six month) moratorium on new data centers and battery storage systems, recognizing that today’s data centers are not what zoning codes were built for. Clarkstown Supervisor George Hoehmann has recently announced a six month moratorium on over development in Clarkstown due to public outcry regarding the Cedar Corners monster “distribution center” masquerading as a “warehouse” along with many other very large building projects in the town. Next should be W. Haverstraw and Stony Point Planning Boards and Town Supervisors announcing a six month moratorium because of the public outcry regarding another massive “distribution center” masquerading as a “warehouse”. Will the Town of Ramapo Supervisor Specht join in as well? Problem is that neither of these six month moratoriums includes what is currently before their Boards, they only apply to new applications. And they are only for six months –  not even a year! A carve-out for DataBank will most certainly set a precedent for all data center expansion projects. The proposed moratorium on “over development ’ of the “warehouse” in Congers has a carve out for that too!

Save the date: September 9th. Come out & speak on the “scoping plan” on the DataBank Phase II Environmental Impact Statement at the Orangetown Town Hall at 7 PM at a Town Planning Board meeting.

Save the date: September 14th RCENJC meeting on data centers, license plate surveillance and Flock cameras.

Save the date:  September 15th.  Come out & speak on the proposed moratorium on “over development” at the Clarkstown Town Hall at a Town Board meeting at 6:30 on September 15th.  Thanks to all of you who have been able to attend previous hearings and have supported communities across Rockland County!

Finally, advocates are concerned that data centers, warehouses and distribution centers can be repurposed into GEO Prisons (the GEO Group corporation). GEO has multiple contracts with the federal government for ICE Detention Centers. We cannot allow this to happen in Rockland County. Clarkstown Town Supervisor George Hoehmann is on the public record from a May 2026 Town Board meeting stating that: “Warehouses in Clarkstown will NEVER be used as detention centers to house people for ICE.” EVERY town supervisor and the Rockland County Legislature need to say this, with a formal Rockland County Legislative Resolution.