A new artificial intelligence data center run by the tech company TeraWulf might be taking over a decommissioned power plant on Cayuga Lake within the next few years. The company has signed an 80-year lease for the property.

While repurposing the retired Cayuga power plant for a data center might promise an influx of jobs and investments for Lansing and its surrounding towns, the project’s environmental risks and insufficient local oversight are causes for concern. Cayuga Lake is central to several communities’ identity and ecology. The town’s board needs to require stricter, transparent environmental reviews and stronger community guarantees before approval.

The town of Lansing is considering implementing a one-year construction moratorium on incoming large development projects while the town updates its zoning and land–use laws. This pause in approvals and building permits helps ensure that all incoming large development projects code aligns with the town’s goals. This would be a positive because it makes sure the project is safe for not only the people living around it, but the environment as a whole.

Data centers can easily stress local water resources and aquatic ecosystems, especially at an old lakeshore power plant site with existing intake and outfall infrastructure. TeraWulf claims that the new AI center will not use any of the lake water to cool its computers. However, the discharge of warm water from the plant can otherwise affect aquatic life; even a closed loop cooling system often requires make-up water and chemical use. Thermal changes and altered flow of lake water can change oxygen levels, nutrient dynamics and species dynamics in lakes like Cayuga.

TeraWulf markets a predominantly zero carbon power use. However, large data campuses, like the one being built on Cayuga Lake still greatly imply major electrical grid impacts and upstream emissions until proven otherwise; the addition of a 400-megawatt facility to the regional grid presents a major grid impact. Such a load could strain existing transmission capacity and potentially increase our reliance on fossil fuels.

If the project increases the regional electricity demand without an additional genuinely renewable capacity dedicated to it, local taxpayers’ wallets and the surrounding towns decarbonization goals may suffer. 

Long leases, like TeraWulf’s 80-year lease of the site, create near-permanent land–use change. This requires robust local oversight, enforceable environmental conditions and transparency from all parties involved in the project. The Lansing town hearing, as well as an abundance of public comments, show the community is asking for a slower, more thorough review of the data site. Safeguards like an independent environmental impact statement, binding water-use limits, heat-rejection monitoring, binding tax commitments and a local benefit fund are critical for a true full community agreement.

The data company’s claim that the site will contain closed-loop cooling and will be a predominantly zero-carbon power source is not enough. Independent verification, enforceable conditions and contingency plans are necessary. The community deserves specific evidence on water flows, thermal outputs, grid interconnections and legally binding community benefits before the project advances any further.