A team that was tasked with reviewing three proposals to build data centers at a tech hub in Genesee County has recommended that Genesee County economic development officials advance a plan from Dallas-based Stream U.S. to build the largest data center in the region.
A team of environmental, legal, and engineering professionals made the recommendation to the Genesee County Economic Development Center’s board. That agency owns the Western New York Science, Technology, and Advanced Manufacturing Park, which is where the data center would be built.
The Western New York STAMP is a controversial tech hub in the town of Alabama. It borders several wildlife refuges and the Tonawanda Seneca Nation reservation.
The data center, a massive collection of computers covering 900,000 square feet, would rent out its computing space to tenants. Data centers of this size are largely used for artificial intelligence, but also for data storage and other off-site computational needs.
“The staff and technical team assessed several factors in our recommendation to the board, including thorough review of the responses to relevant comments raised at the February 3, 2025, public hearing,” a statement from GCEDC President Mark Masse reads. “We also took into consideration the number of good-paying jobs that would be created, the footprint of the project, including electric and water needs and impacts on the local community.”
The public hearing the statement references drew dozens of opponents to the project. At that time, there were three potential options on the table. Stream U.S. was the only one of the three that offered a clear background on who was behind the project, with the other two listing limited liability corporations and procurement specialists as their principals.
Opponents raised wide-reaching concerns including the potential harm to the environment, encroachment on the nearby reservation, and the massive power usage. The proposed data center would consume 250-megawatts and would include a 600-megawatt substation. For scope, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission estimates one megawatt can power between 400 and 900 homes in a year.
The Tonawanda Seneca Nation has long been opposed to the STAMP project, and it sees the data center as punctuating the uncertainty and potential risks of development on the site.
“’Data center’ is a generic term that can refer to operations ranging from cryptocurrency mining to Artificial Intelligence processing,” a statement from the Allies of the Seneca Nation reads. “Data centers create minimal jobs, use massive amounts of water and energy, and face opposition from other WNY communities concerned about their noxious public health and environmental impacts.”
The STAMP was first proposed in 2009, but did not begin in earnest until 2021 when it got its first tenant, hydropower firm Plug Power. That project was riddled with issues, both from the potential environmental concerns spurring several legal challenges, as well as Plug Power’s financial troubles.
Last year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service halted construction on a GCEDC project to run a wastewater pipeline into nearby Oak Orchard Creek. The Plug Power project is now on hiatus.
The Stream U.S. project is expected to cost $6.3 billion and the firm is seeking $471.6 million in sales and mortgage tax exemptions, according to the proposal documents. It claims the data center would create 122 full-time jobs. That amounts to about $3.9 million in tax incentives per job.
The Stream U.S. recommendation will be discussed by GCEDC’s STAMP committee on Wednesday. If the committee agrees with the recommendation, it will go to vote before the GCEDC board of directors on Thursday.
