New York 50 MW permit pause halts miners’ AI conversions

Governor Kathy Hochul signed an executive order on July 14 directing state regulators to pause incomplete state permit applications for new or expanding data centers that would use at least 50 megawatts of power. The temporary moratorium applies statewide while agencies study the projects’ effects on electricity demand, water supplies, air quality, noise and surrounding communities. Applications declared complete before the order may proceed, and local permits are not covered.

The order expands a regulatory approach New York used in 2022, when officials paused certain air permits for fossil-fuel plants that directly supplied proof-of-work bitcoin miners. The current pause does not single out bitcoin mining by name but covers the large, power-rich sites many public miners are converting to host graphics processors and other high-performance computing equipment.

Public bitcoin-mining companies have been repurposing sites built around industrial land, large electricity allocations and existing grid connections. Firms have announced more than $70 billion in contracts to host AI and high-performance computing workloads. An investment strategist at CoinShares Valkyrie estimates AI could account for about 80% of public miners’ revenue by the end of 2026. Goldman Sachs projects annual AI capital spending of about $765 billion in 2026, rising toward $1.6 trillion by 2031.

Converting a mining site for AI requires installing advanced graphics processors, higher-performance networking, stronger backup power and more sophisticated cooling. Industry estimates put bitcoin-mining infrastructure costs at roughly $700,000 to $1 million per megawatt, compared with roughly $8 million to $15 million per megawatt for AI facilities. AI contracts commonly run a decade or longer, while mining revenue varies with cryptocurrency prices and network conditions. CoinShares estimated the average cash cost to produce one bitcoin for publicly traded miners was about $79,995 in the fourth quarter of 2025 as revenue per unit of compute fell to multiyear lows.

Keel Infrastructure, formerly Bitfarms, received conditional local approval in Sherbrooke, Quebec, for a C$1.8 billion high-performance computing campus that would consolidate 96 megawatts now spread across three bitcoin-mining sites into a single AI center.

Public concern about electricity, water and local impacts has prompted legislative activity in several states. A March survey found 71% of U.S. adults opposed construction of an AI data center in their local area. By July 1, lawmakers in 15 states had considered moratoriums or tighter oversight; proposals in Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Vermont sought multiyear pauses or limits on approvals. Members of Congress introduced a bill to suspend AI data-center construction until protections covering utility customers, workers, civil rights and the environment are adopted.

The pause could affect miners’ project timelines and financing before any permanent rules are adopted. Temporary permitting delays can push out construction milestones, postpone customer deployments and extend the period operators must service debt on projects not yet producing AI revenue. The order directs regulators to consider creating a Grid Acceleration Fund financed by data-center developers and to explore a beneficiary-pays approach that could require large customers to fund transmission upgrades, generation or storage.

Until the state’s review is complete, bitcoin miners planning projects at or above 50 megawatts face uncertainty about schedules, capital commitments and the number of locations available for conversion.