Residents Push Back As Secaucus Has The Most Data Centers In New Jersey

SECAUCUS, NJ — When 5,200 gallons of diesel spill from a data center into a creek that feeds into a river, town residents get angry.

And they want answers.

Not all residents seemed satisfied with a debriefing the town gave Tuesday night on data centers, where Mayor Mike Gonnelli and his council told the public what was said at the Oct. 13 meeting between town residents and representatives from PSE&G, Veolia water company and CoreSite and Equinix, the two biggest data-center operators in town.

With nine data centers in town, and two more already approved and in the pipeline (215 County Avenue, and the existing data center at 275 Hartz Way is being made much bigger), Secaucus has the most data centers out of any town in New Jersey.

"I think Secaucus is being used as a guinea pig," resident Kathy Saverino told the Council. "We have the most data centers. The most. And I don't want to be known for that."

"I get that some people like them because of the taxes they pay, which I certainly understand in this economy," said Cathy McFarlande, one of the town's most outspoken data center critics. "But I just feel I can't let this issue go."

On Tuesday night, the gloves quickly came off between McFarlande and the mayor.

McFarlande told Gonnelli, in front of a packed Council chambers, that he told her the town would test air quality and noise around data centers on a periodic basis. Gonnelli denied making that promise.

"How do you test for air? It's not my purview," said Gonnelli.

"Air quality can always be tested," shot back McFarlande.

"I'm not saying yes, I'm not saying no. I will look into it," said Gonnelli.

The Council read all the questions that were asked at the meeting earlier in the day, and read the answers from Equinix and CoreSite. Video of the meeting will not be posted here on the town website until Friday. But here's a sampling of what was said:

McFarlande and resident David Kraatz, joined by Council members, toured CoreSite's data center at 2 Emerson Lane. That data center alone uses 200,000 gallons of water a day, both Kraatz and McFarlande said CoreSite told them.

"It was something the Veolia reps didn't seem too concerned about," said Kraatz. "They said they have the reserves to handle that water intake."

"Veolia kept saying they can convey the water (bring it in from elsewhere). They said they have the reserves. I told them they can convey the water, but they can't create it," said McFarlande.

And what about how data centers have increased our electric bills?

"PSE&G said the same thing they've been saying, which is that any data center on the grid will increase them," said Kraatz.

Kraatz said Gonnelli told all the residents who attended Tuesday's meeting not to bring up the Sept. 11 oil spill. Kraatz said that was akin to a "gag order."

He, Gonnelli, Councilman Rob Costantino and town administrator Gary Jeffas then argued over that: Equnix said it did not want to answer questions about the oil spill because their competitor CoreSite would be in the room, said Jeffas.

Kraatz also declared his candidacy as a candidate for Ward 2 Council; the data center opponents in the audience clapped when he announced it. The election is Nov. 3; longtime Councilman James Clancy is running for re-election in Ward 2.

Nobody on the town Council has been critical of having so many data centers in Secaucus.

How much bigger will the new Equinix data center at 275 Hartz Way be? (That's the data center where the Sept. 11 fuel spill happened.)

The current building is approximately 198,000 square feet and two floors tall. Equinix is making it 369,968 square feet and four floors tall. The new data center will support online banking, online video streaming and data for hospitals. It will be called NY10.

NY 10 is not being developed as an AI data center, said Equinix. Both CoreSite and Equinix stress they do not operate what's known as hyper-scale or AI data centers in Secaucus. Both call themselves "retail co-location providers," which means they house the computer databases for thousands of different companies under one roof.

"Every major company you can think of is here (in Secaucus)," said Councilman Costantino.

"Any major company you can think of," he emphasized.

"We want to ban AI data centers totally," said Gonnelli.

Secaucus town attorney Nick Strasser then piped up and said he is drafting a municipal law that would ban AI data centers. He said he has to be careful how he writes the ordinance, because the town of Secaucus has to first, accurately define what AI data centers are —and thus, what it would ban — and secondly, whatever the town writes has to be able to withstand legal challenges.

Such a ban would only apply to the 12 percent of Secaucus the town controls the zoning over, said the town lawyer.

"Eighty eight percent of Secaucus is zoned by NJSEA (New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority)," said Strasser.

McFarlande then got up and said the town actually does have the ability to deny data centers — when they have to go before the Zoning or Planning Board seeking variances, such as for things such as lighting and parking.

"It would have been a perfect opportunity to veto, to say we're gonna show our residents that we are not behind these data centers," she told the Council.

Strasser responded that the town cannot deny a variance request because it actually wants to deny data centers. He said it would be capricious, and "opens the door to a lawsuit."

"We don't have the ability to say we're using (parking) as a subterfuge to say we're rejecting a project because we don't like (it)," he said. "Because remember, this use has already been approved."

Why has Secaucus allowed so many data centers?, asked one resident.

The first data center came to Secaucus 25 years ago, replied the town. Data centers are allowed under NJSEA zoning for Secaucus. The town of Secaucus did not go out and market to bring data centers here, said the town. It naturally happened largely in part due to our location next to New York City and the strong network of fiber optic cables that were installed in our area, said the town.

Equinix said at Tuesday's meeting it is vital they keep running 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Equinix said they were proud their Secaucus data centers kept running through Superstorm Sandy, when the rest of the state was without electricity.

Resident Ed Becker said he attended Tuesday's meeting, and he supports having so many data centers in town.

"They are not using a lot of water," he said. He said data centers have increased electric bills by increasing demand, but he said that was explained to him as something that could happen anywhere on the grid.

"We would still get those costs passed on to us and we would get none of the economic benefit, in terms of taxes that they give us. I think it's a good idea, good revenue as long as it doesn't prevent any danger to us," said Becker.

That same night, the Council appointed Becker to the town Zoning Board; he was unanimously approved.

The Dept. of Environmental Protection is overseeing the clean-up at the creek where the diesel fuel spilled happened Sept. 11. The DEP still has to issue its report on that fuel spill; the DEP has not given a date when it will release that report.

Where Secaucus' 2 Newest Data Centers Will Go; Will Bring Town's Total To 11 (Sept. 25)

Data Centers Are One Reason New Jersey Electric Bills Have Gotten So High (June 5)