BY ADAM ATKINSONNorth Country This Week

POTSDAM -- A town councilman is proposing a local moratorium on data center construction in Potsdam. 

This comes on the heels of a recently approved statewide moratorium signed by Governor Kathy Hochul on July 14, and recent backing by the county for local municipal-level moratoriums. 

Town Councilman Pat Brady said at the July 14 town board meeting that a local moratorium would allow the town time to develop zoning standards specific to Potsdam; study the impacts of data centers on local infrastructure, water resources and land use; hold public hearings and gather community input on such projects; and ensure that regulations are in place before building permit applications are filed.  

"It's better to have all of that in place before we have someone who is looking to develop such a project," Brady told fellow board members. 

Brady said he recently participated in a webinar called Future Proofing the Grid where a representative from New York Independent System Operator (NYISO). 

According to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, NYISO is responsible for operating wholesale power markets that trade electricity, capacity, transmission congestion contracts, and related products, administers auctions for the sale of capacity, operates New York’s high-voltage transmission network and performs long-term planning.

"What I appreciated most about that discussion was hearing from an expert like that, is that it's not about politics, it's about just the facts. How can our grid handle this increase in electricity demand that's coming along from these large data centers?" Brady said.

"New York's electric grid is facing growing challenges, from aging infrastructure, many of the plants, for example, downstate, that have fossil fuel generators, are over 50 years old. And many of them are coming offline because they don’t have parts anymore," said Brady. He said apparently the newer power generating sources are not meeting the loss of power from aging plants going offline and extreme weather events tax the capacity of the system regularly. 

"There's real concern about the grid being able to handle these new data centers that are coming in. So, it just basically reinforced my beliefs that we do need to look at a moratorium so that we can look at all of the facts and put our regulations in place," he said. 

Brady said he drafted a resolution which if passed would establish a local law setting the moratorium. Brady said he shared the proposed resolution with the board and with Town Supervisor Marty Miller who provided a copy to the planning board. 

Brady suggested that after the board had a chance to review the resolution, council members could discuss at their meeting in August if they wished to move forward with a public hearing on a local law to establish the moratorium.