Data centers in St. Lawrence County, New York: 3 projects mapped

Imagery: Esri, Maxar

The Massena Town Board voted 3-2 on September 16, 2026 against a six-month moratorium, clearing the way for North Country Colocation Services (NCCS) to keep working toward a large data center next to the former Alcoa East plant. NCCS, an affiliate of the bitcoin company NYDIG that has run a data center in Massena since 2017, says the expansion would use about 400 megawatts of power from the New York Power Authority and a closed-loop cooling system that uses little water. NCCS says the state's one-year pause does not apply because it needs no new permits from the Department of Environmental Conservation.

As first proposed, the project had three buildings totaling about 1.5 million square feet and 635 megawatts, roughly 70 percent of what the Moses-Saunders Dam produces; NCCS has since dropped one building and cut about 400,000 square feet. Supervisor Raymond Lancto and board member Kristy Baker voted for the pause. "We gotta get jobs here, so the fire department, the rescue squad, can flourish again," said Fire Chief Tom Millar. From Akwesasne, Marina Johnson Zafiris of Mohawks United in Safety and Health said: "We need substantial time. We need a moratorium."

Cheap power has drawn crypto miners and now data centers: in May 2026 the county industrial development agency counted ten proposals around Massena, though its chief executive, Patrick Kelly, said that did not mean any would go forward. On County Route 42, Petawatt Holdings has been preparing a 14-acre site with a new substation so it can sell or lease it to a data center developer. On June 1, 2026 the county legislature declined to impose its own moratorium, after its attorney said it lacked the power, and urged towns and villages to consider their own.

Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.