This week, New Jersey ordered the operator of one of the largest planned data centers on the East Coast to pay a $1.1 million fine for secretly installing and operating gas generators in violation of the state’s Air Pollution Control Act.
DataOne was fined after an investigation by The Guardian and Floodlight News in August shared thermal drone footage showing 45 of 62 gas generators were running. None of the generators had the necessary permits for generators with capacities of 37 kilowatts or more, despite operating at capacities of 1,982 kW, more than 50 times the state limit.
States track gas generators like those used by DataOne because they emit “carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and other combustion-related pollutants,” New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) officials said. These pollutants can worsen asthma, cause heart attacks and lead to premature deaths.
Calling the enforcement action “by far the largest ever taken against a data center in New Jersey,” DEP Commissioner Ed Potosnak promised that data centers would not be “built or operated with impunity in this state.”
However, while historic, the state’s solution does not immediately alleviate residents’ concerns. DataOne was given 45 days to apply for permits or cease operations, but can continue to operate the gas engines while applying for permits. Nichole Gardner, co-president of a local environmental nonprofit, Sustain SJ, told Ars that “we believe it is insufficient, both in dollar amount and compliance. The DataOne site should be forced to suspend operations for the 45-day period until appropriate permits are issued.”
In a statement to the New York Times, the company seemed unfazed by the fine.
“We will apply for air permits for temporary generators,” a DataOne spokesperson said, although he noted that DataOne “disagrees” with the fine. Over time, the polluting gas generators will supposedly be phased out as the data center is “transitioning to quiet, low-emission fuel cells,” the spokesperson noted.
