By Walter Pryce
This is an opinion column. It reflects the views of the writer. It responds to a commentary published Nov. 9 by Matt Weidinger of the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank. The arguments and quotations attributed to AEI and its author are theirs; the conclusions about Western New York are the writer’s.
Data centers had a rough Election Day. A new commentary from the American Enterprise Institute argues they may have an even rougher year ahead, because the politicians most eager to restrain them also want to tax them. Western New York’s towns are not writing federal tax law. But they are facing their own version of the same choice, and they should use the time they have bought to make it clearly.
What AEI argues
Matt Weidinger of AEI writes that voters this year considered 47 ballot measures on data centers, most restricting their construction, and that only one, in tiny Harwood, North Dakota, went the “allow” way. He notes that Sen. Bernie Sanders has called for a national moratorium on data center construction.
At the same time, Weidinger argues, leading Democrats are proposing new taxes on data centers and the AI industry to pay for expanded unemployment and other benefits. He cites a bill from Sen. Mark Kelly and a plan announced by Sen. Ron Wyden with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and others. He writes that similar proposals would effectively triple spending on unemployment benefits, “increasing taxpayer costs by $1.3 trillion or more in some decades.” He also notes that President Trump has called for a government stake in AI and for tech companies “giving back” to the public.
His conclusion is pointed. “We will soon see exactly how Democrats plan to both throttle an industry they say threatens humanity’s future while still reaping vast new taxes from it to finance their benefit-expanding ambitions,” he writes. Some proposals, in AEI’s view, risk “turning data centers into slush funds.”
Those are AEI’s arguments, and Democrats would answer that taxing a power-hungry industry is how you keep its costs off everyone else’s bill. But the core tension Weidinger identifies is real, and it is not only a Washington problem.
The pause has already reached Western New York
Hamburg’s Town Board voted 5-0 on Nov. 2 to pause data centers for a year, the Chronicle reported. Town planner Joshua Rogers was candid that nothing is pending. “Obviously, right now there aren’t any proposals or any data centers here in the town of Hamburg,” he said. “This is just the town being proactive instead of being reactive.”
Councilman Frank Bogulski described what residents raise with him. “I know one of the things that we all collectively hear in Hamburg is that people are concerned about the overdevelopment of our town and the loss of green space, but also for data centers, especially the use of power, our resources, and quality of life issues,” he said.
West Seneca’s board passed a one-year moratorium 4-0 in October that expires at the end of August 2027, Spectrum News reported; Supervisor Gary Dickson said it gives the board time to set standards on energy, water use and noise. The Town of Tonawanda has passed one too, and Spectrum reported that Buffalo’s Common Council was expected to pair its own pause with a nine-member task force.
Albany is on the same clock. In July, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order pausing new state environmental permits for hyperscale data centers for up to a year while the state writes standards. “As data center development threatens to hike up utility bills, deplete our natural resources, and create uncertainty for New Yorkers, it’s my responsibility to take action and lead,” she said. The same order directed Empire State Development to issue a framework to help localities negotiate community benefits, and the governor said she would seek to repeal sales tax exemptions for massive data centers.
Where AEI’s point lands locally
Put those facts side by side and the local version of AEI’s tension comes into focus. The state is preparing a guide to help towns win money from data centers. Towns across Erie County are pausing them. Both can be reasonable for a year. They cannot both be the permanent answer.
A town that wants the tax base, construction jobs and community payments a data center might bring has to be able to say yes on clear terms. A town that decides the power, water and noise costs are too high should say no clearly, in its zoning, so developers stop circling. What a region cannot afford is a rolling series of extensions that leaves everyone guessing.
The strongest objection
The case for waiting is serious. Residents’ worries about power bills and water are legitimate, and the governor’s order is built around protecting ratepayers. Hamburg and West Seneca have no applications in hand, so there is no harm in studying first. That is fair. The answer is not to rush, but to make sure the study ends with a rule.
What should happen
Each town that has paused should publish a short timeline now: when draft standards will be released, when a public hearing will be held, and when the board will vote, all before its moratorium expires. Those standards should cover the issues residents named, from power and water to noise, and say which zones are open.
Erie County’s towns and Buffalo should also share their work rather than write a dozen different codes. And when Empire State Development finishes its community-benefits framework, towns should say publicly whether they will use it.
Hamburg’s Town Board meets next on Nov. 16. Residents there, in West Seneca and in Buffalo can ask their boards one question: when this pause ends, what will the rule be? A year is enough time to get an answer.
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