Orangeburg, NY – On May 27, 2026 concerned Rockland County residents joined members of Food & Water Watch, Indivisible Rockland and the Bi-State Data Center Crisis Coalition of NY/NJ outside the Orangetown Town Hall building in Orangeburg, New York for a rally after the Planning Board abruptly canceled the scheduled meeting, stopping residents to raise their voice in opposition to DataBank’s proposal to build another data center in Orangeburg.
DataBank is proposing another huge data center at its Orangeburg campus, right next to the Lake Tappan Reservoir, which serves water to tens of thousands of people and provides a natural habitat to wildlife.
If approved, their campus power use will rise to 45 megawatts, enough electricity to power 45,000 homes. It’s been widely reported that the proliferation of these huge data centers has led to higher electric bills and grid instability.
The construction and operation of this facility pose serious risks to a critical drinking water source. Electrical equipment failures, transformer or generator fires, fuel storage, battery systems, and fire-suppression runoff could release contaminants into nearby wetlands and the reservoir.
The project would also destroy protected wetlands and wildlife habitat, including bald eagle habitat.
We can stop this if we put enough pressure on the Orangetown Planning Board to deny Databank’s application. A decision on how to move forward with the application was likely to be made at this meeting!
We need to show a large display of opposition to DataBank’s plans by showing up to Orangetown’s Planning board next meeting on July 8, 2026. Anyone can make a public comment.
Please note that the meeting will take place inside the Town Board meeting room which will have plenty of seating for over 150 people!
© Erik McGregor – erikrivas@hotmail.com – 917-225-8963