Dryden’s town board voted to ban data centers and cryptocurrency mining facilities at a meeting last week.
There are currently over 5,000 data centers in the United States, according to the Brookings Center. Over 130 of those are in New York, with more on the way.
Lawmakers amended the local zoning code last week to define and disallow data centers and cryptocurrency mines in the rural Tompkins County town.
Deputy Town Supervisor Dan Lamb said that Dryden was “the first town in New York to ban data centers and cryptomining.” He called it a “nice distinction.”
This comes as controversy over a proposed data center next door in the town of Lansing has spiraled into loud meetings and legal action.
There has been a temporary moratorium on both data centers and cryptocurrency mines in Dryden for over a year.
Local elected officials are not the only ones with bans on the brain. Some New York state and national lawmakers have expressed concerns about the potential environmental and economic impacts of a data center deluge.
Recently introduced state legislation would put a three-year moratorium on data centers that use over 20 megawatts of electricity. The bill is sponsored by State Senator Lea Webb and Assemblymember Anna Kelles, whose districts include Tompkins County.
