In East Fishkill, New York, a fierce backlash has emerged against plans for a proposed artificial intelligence (AI) datacenter, which could become one of the largest in the country. The town, located 70 miles north of New York City, was once home to a significant IBM campus that contributed to the development of New York’s tech industry for nearly fifty years. However, the community's response has been anything but welcoming.
Background
In early 2026, news broke that Treetop Companies was exploring plans for a datacenter that would span over 1 million square feet and consume approximately 1 gigawatt of power across 143 acres. This announcement sparked immediate concern among residents, leading to organized rallies and calls for a temporary ban on large datacenters.
Despite the absence of a formal application, East Fishkill's town board unanimously adopted a three-year moratorium on new datacenters larger than 20 megawatts in late June. This decision aims to allow time for a thorough study of the potential impacts on local water resources and ecosystems.
Community Concerns
Tanya Radford, a local resident and professor, expressed the need for careful consideration of how datacenters and their energy usage could affect the community's long-term sustainability and environmental quality.
“"I just think that we’re at this moment where things are happening very quickly, we need to get our ducks in a row and think about the various ways in which datacenters and new energy usage will affect our long-term community cohesiveness, environmental quality, and character," Radford stated.
The controversy intensified when residents learned that Treetop Development had submitted a request to the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) for a project that would require about 1,000 megawatts of electrical service, raising alarms as this amount exceeds the total electricity consumption of Buffalo, a city with a population of 275,000.
