Environmental advocates and community leaders will hold a noon Monday press conference at the Finger Lakes Welcome Center in Geneva, calling for stronger state data center limits as they raise concerns about Greenidge Generation's shift toward artificial intelligence operations.
The Geneva stop is part of a statewide “Stop Data Centers” tour led by state Sen. Kristen Gonzalez, the bill's sponsor, and the environmental group Food & Water Watch.
Organizers are urging Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign the Responsible Data Center Development Act, which would temporarily halt some large projects and establish requirements for future development.
Organizers said Greenidge recently rebranded as Vulcan Infrastructure and Power and is tripling its energy consumption as it pivots to a hyperscale AI data center. They said the facility remains permitted to withdraw up to 139 million gallons of water from Seneca Lake each day and has emitted nearly 500,000 tons of carbon dioxide in a single year.
The media advisory said New York denied Greenidge's air permit in 2022, but the Hochul administration reached a settlement in 2025 allowing operations to continue. Organizers said it remains unclear whether Greenidge would be covered by the state's current or proposed data center limits.
Hochul signed an executive order July 14 establishing a temporary moratorium on new large-scale data centers over 50 megawatts while the state develops a broader policy. The Responsible Data Center Development Act, which organizers said passed both legislative chambers with bipartisan support in June, would impose a one-year moratorium on hyperscale data centers over 20 megawatts.
The bill also would require future data center projects to meet energy-efficiency standards, create a host-community public benefit program, use project labor agreements and hold public hearings before permits are approved.
Scheduled speakers include Gonzalez, Assemblymember Anna Kelles, Seneca Lake Guardian Vice President Yvonne Taylor, Food & Water Watch representative Laura Shindell and Cornell University ecology professor Robert Howarth. Organizers also listed Michael Warren Thomas, resident Ellen Campbell, Mark Pitifer of Waterloo Container and Sachem Sam George of the Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ Nation.
The press conference is scheduled for noon at the Finger Lakes Welcome Center, 35 Lake Front Drive. Organizers said it will be livestreamed at youtube.com/live/dp4_jpKhOo4 and that pizza and refreshments will be served.
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