New Jersey town meetings are becoming a new battle ground for a fight against building data centers. According to News 12, more than 90 municipalities have proposed or adopted restrictions and even bans on artificial intelligence and large scale data center expansions after citizens showed up at town halls across the state in large numbers to voice their opposition.
On Aug. 24, Asbury Park Press reported that Howell Township voted to ban building of data centers. Other towns in Monmouth County Holmdel, Asbury Park, Neptune Township, and Red Bank have voted to ban or restrict data center projects. Other towns across New Jersey are doing or considering the same. According to Patch.com, which used the list compiled by the Climate Revolution Action Network New Jersey (CRAN), as of Aug. 20 there are 33 towns across New Jersey that are actively banning data center development. The latest count comes from the New Jersey Globe that as of Aug. 27, at least 69 New Jersey municipalities have banned data centers.
The battle over data centers has its critics and supporters. Critics like Ben Dziobek of CRAN stated for Asbury Park Press that regardless of your political affiliation, data centers are likely to increase people’s utilities and bring pollution to the neighborhoods. However, Chris Emigholz of New Jersey Business and Industry Association in their statement to Asbury Park Press shared his position that towns should not issue blanket bans on data centers because those centers are needed infrastructure in support of the innovation economy.
Major concerns expressed by many residents revolve around resources needed and the costs associated with operating large scale data centers. Patch.com outlined several major reasons that concerned residents. High energy use is a known problem with data centers. Large amounts of electricity strain local power grids and increase utility bills for local residents. Data centers also need water for cooling the computers and they are massive users of water which in turn also increases costs for local residents.
Additionally, noise and air pollution are known side effects to data center operations and are of significant concern to the residents. Some supporters of data center infrastructure cite jobs as a positive incentive however, according to non-partisan New Jersey Policy Perspective think tank in their analysis of data centers economic impact argue that data shows how data centers provide few, if any permanent jobs.
William J. Hughes of Public Policy at Stockton University reported on May 5 that under previous governorship of Chris Murphy, “New Jersey aim to position itself as an AI hub offering tax incentives to attract data center development.” After a hyperscaled data center in Vineland, Cumberland County was built, it provoked almost immediate backlash by the residents. The current Governor Mikie Sherrell’s response to this issue was to sign a new law that would require data centers to report their energy usage twice a year short of refusing to issue a statewide ban. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, there are no states currently that have outright bans on data centers however some states have moved to put restrictions. New York has temporary moratoriums to a large-scale data center buildup while New Hampshire and Connecticut governors are considering restrictions or blocking massive data centers due to their increase in energy prices.
According to Pew Research Center, Virginia and Texas have the largest number of operational data centers and data centers around Ashburn in Virginia are known as “data center valley.” These states in addition to Georgia also lead in planned new data center developments. One of the largest data centers named Colossus in the United States is located in Memphis Tennessee is operated by Elon Musk’s xAI. Along with the size and the number of rapid data center developments another important criticism is that they are built in low income and communities of color. According to USC Annenberg’s Center for Health Journalism, “The AI data center boom will harm the health of communities that can least afford it.” The biggest data center in New Jersey is in Cumberland County, as previously mentioned, and, according to 24/7wallst.com, a financial news outlet, is the poorest county in New Jersey.
When in early May William J. Hughes of Public Policy at Stockton University released a poll that had 56% of New Jersey voters supporting a ban of data centers in their own communities. It was a signal that data center backlash may be coming to New Jersey.
New Jersey continues to be a battleground for data center construction. A small town of Kenilworth in Union County New Jersey, of about 8,500 residents is seeing a 1.8 billion dollar data center under construction by CoreWeave set to be opened in 2027 according to NJ.com. The residents are pushing back. In the most recent town hall from Sept. 2, reported by Status Coup News, residents voiced their concern about pollution, environmental impact, property value loss, as well as loss of community. Additional controversy that builds distrust between local officials and residents in this, and many similar cases, is that residents feel that agreements are being made with developers without resident’s knowledge and needed transparency for such consequential projects. One resident who was unidentiefied in the report by Status Coup, spoke on the betrayal she feels about the agreement the town made with the developer pointing to potential profit incentives. She stated, “At the end of the day, you can’t drink dollars, you can’t drink data, you cannot drink coal.”
