TeraWulf sues its host town of Lansing over public records
The petition lands a week before Lansing votes on a local law that would prohibit data centers outright, the use TeraWulf's unleased 320 MW Lake Hawkeye campus depends on. Roughly 2.1 GW of the company's controlled capacity has no tenant, and WULF holders own that risk at around $12.
Vincent Jiangthree-minute read
TeraWulf's+1.78% — TeraWulf, up 1.78 percent today Lansing subsidiary, Lake Hawkeye LLC, asked a Tompkins County Supreme Court judge on November 3 to order the Town of Lansing to release public records, alleging that at least two Freedom of Information Law requests drew legally insufficient answers and that board members conducted public business on a private email listserv in violation of New York's Open Meetings Law 12.
An Article 78 petition, the state's route for judicial review of a government decision, is a claim for a judge, not a finding of wrongdoing 12. "After exhausting the administrative process" the company filed, Chief Strategy Officer Kerri Langlais said, "to obtain information we believe the public is entitled to access" 1. Town Supervisor Ruth Groff declined to comment 1.
A ban vote sits one week out
Lansing's Town Board has called a special meeting for November 17 at the middle school auditorium to take public comment on a local law that would leave data centers and cryptocurrency mines off the town's schedule of permitted uses, an explicit prohibition 1. The board ordered the draft in September, questioning whether the industry fits the community and whether town staff could carry the review load 1.
Chairman and CEO Paul Prager told residents in a October 25 letter that TeraWulf had invested under the existing rules and deserved review on the merits 1. The board withdrew an earlier moratorium in November 2025 after TeraWulf threatened to sue, then introduced a redefinition of "general processing" covering only tangible goods 2.
The site in the crosshairs has no tenant
Lake Hawkeye is the former 300 MW Cayuga coal plant on Cayuga Lake, a 183-acre parcel under long-term lease with triple-redundant 115 kV transmission 3. TeraWulf's own disclosure puts it at 320 MW of critical IT capacity, the power a campus can deliver to servers, with zero contracted 3.
Across five campuses the company counts 2.9 GW controlled against 839 MW contracted, leaving roughly 2.1 GW open, and Lake Hawkeye is the only open site with a ban vote on a calendar 34. Jefferies−2.31% — Jefferies, down 2.31 percent today cut its WULF target to $14 from $15 on November 9 while keeping a Buy rating, on meaningful contracted capacity but limited delivered megawatts 5. The stock trades near $12, down from a 52-week high of $29.84 6.
Only two of five TeraWulf campuses have a tenant
Roughly 2.1 GW has no tenant; Lake Hawkeye's 320 MW faces a ban vote
- Contracted
- Open, no tenant
Data
| Contracted | Open, no tenant | |
|---|---|---|
| Lake Mariner, NY | 438 MW | 162 MW |
| Justified, KY | 401 MW | 0 MW |
| Lake Hawkeye, NY | 0 MW | 320 MW |
| Muskie, KY | 0 MW | 800 MW |
| Chesapeake, MD | 0 MW | 800 MW |
The contracted megawatts sit in Kentucky
Justified, the Kentucky campus, is the model: 401 MW fully leased to Anthropic$350B — Anthropic, private, latest valuation $350B for 20 years at roughly $19 billion in contracted revenue, financing backstopped by Google, construction under a definitive Fluor contract on the $4 billion site 78. The Inference covered the $63 million quarterly AI lease line on November 9 and the Google backstop on November 4; Lake Hawkeye is the exposure neither piece priced.
Squeezed from both directions
FLX Strong and Cayuga Lake Environmental Action Now petitioned in January against the December 2025 zoning ruling that lets the project proceed as general processing, so TeraWulf now fights the town over records while environmentalists fight the interpretation that opened the door 1.
If the board passes the ban on November 17 and it holds, 320 MW of open pipeline loses its zoning path, and the next question is whether TeraWulf's lawyers move from process to the law itself. Every megawatt without a lease is a megawatt a town board can still take away.
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