Woman Curses Data Center Spokeswoman At Volatile Secaucus Council Meeting

SECAUCUS, NJ — There was a Secaucus town Council meeting Tuesday night, and it had an us-vs.-them feeling as Mayor Mike Gonnelli and the town defended off attacks from residents who are furious about data centers.

Dozens of residents attended the meeting, and everyone was given a chance to speak. Secaucus residents are angry that nine data centers were quietly permitted to open in town in the past two decades. On Sept. 11, one of those data centers, Equinix, caused 5,000 gallons of diesel fuel to spill into a creek that flows into the Hackensack River.

Residents are also angry two new data centers may be coming to Secaucus; the status of those two new centers remains unclear; stay tuned.

Gonnelli said he takes the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection at their word when the state agency says none of the diesel made it into the river, and that no wildlife appeared to be harmed.

"I believe the DEP. I'm not an environmentalist but I believe the DEP," said Gonnelli.

Gonnelli also said diesel fuel tanks are not unique to data centers — most large industrial facilities have generators and diesel fuel tanks on site. A diesel fuel leak could happen at any industrial site, he said.

"It could happen any place; an oil spill can happen any place. There are oil tanks everywhere — UPS has oil tanks," said Gonnelli, referring to the major UPS facility on County Ave. "Equinix handled it properly from Day 1. They contacted the Secaucus Fire Dept., the DEP ... that data center has been back there for 25 years and everything that Equinix did was in accordance with the law. They didn't do nothing illegal."

"I know you're saying there was no damage. But I don't think there has ever been an event like this anywhere where there was not ecological damage," countered Secaucus resident Kathy McFarlane when it was her turn to get up and speak. "I believe there will be long-term consequences for years to come. It can't be determined yet."

But the biggest drama of the evening came at the end of the meeting, when a representative from Equinix spoke. Rey Cheatham Banks, Equinix director of external affairs, talked about how important it is for her company to have data centers in Secaucus, so close to New York City.

"The financial power that powers Manhattan is on Hartz Way and Enterprise Avenue," said Banks, saying Equinix's Secaucus data centers "power financial transactions across the globe," and banks, exchanges and trading houses around the world rely on them.

"Over the course of a day, trillions — and that's with T — in financial transactions flow through our Secaucus building," she said, calling Secaucus "Equinix's most important campus on earth."

Secaucus residents were not impressed.

"Yeah, put the data center in your backyard, b—!" shouted one resident as she marched out the door.

"Do you live in Secaucus? Then it's not personal for you," McFarlane told Banks.

"It would have been nice if you answered (our) questions," shouted a man. (Banks just read a prepared statement.)

Most industrial sites do have generators and diesel fuel tanks, but the issue is that data centers — particularly very large AI data centers, which the town insists Secaucus does not have — need to generate a lot of their own electricity. That's why data centers have many generators on site and thus, need to store a lot of diesel fuel. On Tuesday, Gov. Mikie Sherrill issued a record-breaking $1-million fine to DataOne AI data center in Vineland, South Jersey for operating 62 natural-gas powered generators without DEP permits.

DataOne is the largest data center in New Jersey. DataOne powers AI for Microsoft. DataOne installed the generators in the past year, after DEP inspections, says the state.

“The only reason the public even knows that they were breaking the law is because a small independent news outlet flew a drone over the facility," said Ben Dziobek, director of Climate Revolution Action Network (CRAN). “There needs to be constant, proactive monitoring during construction of hyperscale data centers so violations like this don’t happen ... Right now, the model for data centers companies is to get these facilities built, turn them on and then pay a fine if they get caught breaking the law. The governor calls her data center plan ‘the most comprehensive’ in the nation, but that’s not saying much when a data center gets a slap on the wrist and is allowed to pollute again once they have the right permits in place."

Full video of the Sept. 22 Council meeting is now live: vimeo.com/channels/secaucusmeetings

Stay tuned; more to come on the two new data centers proposed to be built in Secaucus.

Original report: Data Center Spills 5,500 Gallons Of Diesel Into North Jersey Creek

Follow-up: Equinix Explains Diesel Spill Into Creek From Its Data Center