Data Center Moratoriums, Solar Bans, Battery Freezes in 6 States — July 31, 2026

New York became the first state in the nation to impose a moratorium on hyperscale data centers this week, a milestone that arrived alongside a surge of community opposition to energy infrastructure projects stretching from Oregon to Maryland. Across at least nine states, residents packed public meetings, filed lawsuits, and pressured elected officials to slow or stop solar farms, wind turbines, battery storage facilities, and data centers — a week that underscored the growing friction between the nation's appetite for new energy capacity and the communities asked to host it.

Data Center Disputes

The most far-reaching action of the week came from Albany, where Governor Kathy Hochul highlighted New York's first-in-the-nation one-year moratorium on new hyperscale data centers, framing the pause as necessary to protect ratepayers from bearing the cost of massive transmission and infrastructure buildouts. Speaking in the Finger Lakes region, Hochul said the moratorium would give the state time to develop a regulatory framework ensuring that data center developers — not utility customers — pay for the grid upgrades their facilities demand. The governor also announced plans for a Data Center Community Investment Framework designed to guarantee that host localities benefit financially from future projects.

The moratorium reflected a broader national wave of data center skepticism that played out in at least four other states this week. In Salem, Oregon, dozens of residents blasted a $5 billion data center proposal from Silicon Valley-based Verrus at a heated city council meeting. Opponents expressed dismay at both the project's scale and the revelation that the city had signed a nondisclosure agreement keeping the plans secret for more than a year. "The data center itself has little to offer our community and instead offers an out-of-state, private corporation the opportunity to fiscally benefit at the cost of Salem's environment and citizens," one resident told the council. Salem became the latest Oregon city to face a firestorm over data center development in a state where local regulations have struggled to keep pace with the industry's rapid expansion.

In Virginia, Loudoun County leaders took initial steps toward pausing new data center development in a jurisdiction that already hosts one of the world's densest concentrations of such facilities. The county's data center footprint has more than doubled in the last five years, and officials signaled they want time to assess cumulative impacts before approving additional projects.

Across the border in Kentucky, Mercer County residents voiced sharp opposition to proposed data center development, making the issue one of the most contentious in the community. Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, the data center debate took on a different dimension. A proposed statewide moratorium on data centers hit resistance from top Senate Democrats, who expressed wariness about blocking facilities that power artificial intelligence despite growing environmental concerns. And in Lowell, Massachusetts, the fight moved to the courts, where residents sought a judicial injunction to halt the Markley Group's data center expansion, arguing that state environmental regulators violated the law in approving the project. The lawsuit raised environmental justice concerns about the facility's impact on surrounding communities.

Solar Siting Battles

Michigan emerged as a particularly intense battleground for solar opposition this week, with conflicts erupting across three counties. In Ottawa County, residents urged county commissioners to formally intervene against the Silver Maple Solar Project, a 1,914-acre installation proposed by developer RWE America spanning Zeeland and Jamestown townships. The project's footprint — equal to the entire city of Zeeland or nearly half the size of Grand Haven — has become a flashpoint in the statewide debate over a controversial Michigan law that shifted siting authority for large energy projects from local governments to the state. Nearly a dozen residents addressed the county board at its Tuesday meeting, arguing that Ottawa County's legal participation in the state permitting process is essential to protecting local land-use authority.

In Wexford County, the pushback proved decisive. The Wexford Joint Planning Commission unanimously recommended denying a zoning amendment that would have permitted solar farms in the area, following strong public opposition at its hearing. And in Huron County, the planning commission prepared to consider extending an existing moratorium on special use permits for utility-scale solar and battery energy storage sites, as residents packed meetings to weigh in on the county's zoning ordinance.

Beyond Michigan, solar opposition also flared in the South and Mid-Atlantic. In Iberville Parish, Louisiana, residents objected to Entergy's proposed Cypress Harvest Solar project along Highway 75, arguing that productive sugarcane fields should not be converted to solar panels. The agricultural preservation argument — one of the most common flashpoints in rural solar disputes — resonated in a parish where farming remains central to the local economy and identity.

In Betterton, Maryland, the scale of opposition was striking for a community of its size. More than 200 residents packed a public meeting to criticize a proposed solar project, with town officials joining the chorus of concern. Opponents described the project as "tying the hands of a very small town," reflecting anxieties about how large-scale energy development can overwhelm the governance capacity of small communities.

Battery Storage and Wind Energy Concerns

Battery storage projects drew heated opposition in two states. In Iberville Parish — already fighting the Entergy solar proposal — the parish council approved a two-year moratorium on industrial battery energy storage projects following resident pushback centered on fire safety concerns. The action reflected a growing pattern in which high-profile battery fire incidents elsewhere have fueled local resistance, even in communities that have not experienced such events firsthand. In Harford County, Maryland, residents and county officials fought back against a proposed utility-scale battery storage facility, one of four currently under state review. Opponents cited the project's placement on a pristine hillside and raised concerns about its potential effects on a beloved creek that flows into the Susquehanna River.

Wind energy also drew crowds this week. In the Town of Lewis, New York, residents packed a public meeting to question representatives of a wind power company about a proposed project, though specific details about the developer and capacity were not immediately available. And in Humboldt County, Iowa, county officials passed a new ordinance regulating wind turbines, establishing controls over where future turbines can be sited — an increasingly common regulatory approach in rural Iowa counties seeking to get ahead of development proposals.

What to Watch

Ottawa County, Michigan: County commissioners are expected to vote on whether to become legal intervenors in the state permitting process for the 1,914-acre Silver Maple Solar Project proposed by RWE America. The decision could test the limits of Michigan's controversial state siting law. (MLive)
Huron County, Michigan: The planning commission will consider a recommendation to extend the moratorium on special use permits for utility-scale solar and battery storage projects, a vote that could keep new applications on hold for months. (Huron Daily Tribune)
Lowell, Massachusetts: A court will weigh residents' request for an injunction pausing the Markley Group's data center expansion, a case that could set a precedent for environmental justice review of data center approvals in the state. (WBUR)

Patterns and Trends

This week's opposition stories reveal a notable convergence: whether the project involves solar panels, battery cells, wind turbines, or server racks, communities are reaching for the same procedural tools — moratoriums, zoning denials, and legal interventions — to slow development they feel has outpaced local input. Data centers, in particular, have graduated from a niche concern to a multi-state political issue in a matter of months, with New York's statewide moratorium marking an inflection point. Michigan continued to serve as ground zero for the tension between state-level clean energy goals and local land-use authority, with three separate counties pushing back in a single week. Across all project types, a recurring theme emerged: residents expressed frustration not just with the projects themselves, but with processes they described as opaque, secretive, or stacked against local voices — a trust deficit that may prove as consequential as any individual siting dispute.