Where Things Stand as of June 5, 2026

Since New York's data center moratorium bill landed on Governor Kathy Hochul's desk for signature, other states have been scrambling to figure out their own rules for the industry. North Carolina and Texas are the two clearest examples of where that scramble leads — in very different directions.

North Carolina's Bill: Some Good, a Lot of Bad

The North Carolina Senate's Ratepayer Protection Act has at least one genuinely good idea buried in it. It prohibits local tax credits for data centers. Ending government handouts to a multi-billion-dollar industry is exactly the kind of common-sense fiscal conservatism that actually helps ordinary taxpayers.

Everything else is messier.

The bill, as analyzed by Reason, requires data center proposals with a peak monthly demand of 100 megawatts or greater to include noise assessments for schools and homes within 500 feet. It mandates more expensive cooling systems. And it forces data centers to contractually cover all grid upgrade costs so retail customers aren't subsidizing them.

That last part sounds reasonable. President Trump has publicly called for tech companies to fund their own grid upgrades — and several AI companies have already committed to doing exactly that voluntarily. Codifying it isn't crazy.

The Nuclear Veto Clause That Nobody's Talking About

The bill bars North Carolina utilities from retiring any power plant generating 100 MW or more until at least one utility in the state receives regulatory approval to build a 1,000 MW nuclear facility.

This looks like pro-nuclear policy, but it functions as a government mandate to keep aging, expensive plants running indefinitely — because the nuclear threshold is essentially controlled by one company.

There are five electric utilities operating in North Carolina. According to Reason, only one — Duke Energy — has plans to build a new nuclear plant. Duke's proposed facility won't come online until 2036. And it reportedly falls short of the bill's 1,000 MW requirement anyway.

So the math here is brutal. Every other utility in the state is locked into keeping old plants running — regardless of cost, regardless of whether cheaper alternatives exist — until Duke Energy clears a regulatory bar that Duke itself controls the pace of.

What That Actually Costs Ratepayers

A federal emergency order forced a Michigan coal plant to stay open past its scheduled retirement date. According to the Environmental Defense Fund, that decision could saddle Michigan ratepayers with $180 million in additional costs. North Carolina ratepayers face the same risk.

And if North Carolina eventually does get a 1,000 MW nuclear plant off the ground, ratepayers should brace themselves. In Georgia, the two Vogtle reactors — each 1,000 MW — were completed recently. The final bill: $10.2 billion. Georgia ratepayers absorbed $7.56 billion of that through higher utility bills, according to Reason.

The bill doesn't appear to address how North Carolina ratepayers would be protected from that kind of cost exposure.

Texas Is Doing This Differently

Texas is drafting rules that lean on market mechanisms rather than government mandates. The core idea: make data centers pay their own way without forcing utilities or ratepayers to subsidize them, but don't stack the regulatory deck in favor of any single energy source or company.

It's a meaningfully different approach. No provision locking in aging plants. No single-company nuclear threshold acting as a choke point.

Whether Texas gets the details right remains to be seen — the rules are still being drafted. But the framework starts from a better premise.

What Mainstream Coverage Is Getting Wrong

Most reporting on state data center legislation frames this as an environmental and energy affordability story — tech companies are building too fast, grids are stressed, residents are worried about noise and power costs. All of that is real. A recent Gallup poll found 71 percent of Americans would oppose a data center in their community, citing environmental impact, quality of life, and energy affordability.

But the North Carolina bill's most consequential provision isn't about data centers at all. It's about locking in power plant retirements to a nuclear timeline that only one company controls. That's a market distortion masquerading as consumer protection.

The left-leaning outlets covering this story are focused on environmental concerns. Right-leaning outlets are framing it as overregulation. Neither is focusing on the specific mechanism that would force North Carolina ratepayers to subsidize aging power plants through an arbitrary nuclear threshold.

What Comes Next

North Carolina legislators are trying to look tough on Big Tech while quietly handing Duke Energy enormous leverage over the state's energy market. Texas is at least attempting to let market forces do the work.

If North Carolina passes this bill as written, its ratepayers won't just be protected from data center costs. They'll be on the hook for keeping old power plants alive — for years — while Duke Energy moves at its own pace toward a nuclear plant that may not even meet the bill's own specifications.