Update On Fuel Spill Into Creek From North Jersey Data Center

SECAUCUS, NJ — Seemingly overnight, a tiny creek in Secaucus, New Jersey became ground zero for the country's hottest debate: Should America ban data centers?

On Friday evening, a large diesel fuel spill occurred at a data center under construction in town. The data center is owned by AI data company Equinix and it's located on Hartz Way in a warehouse section of Secaucus that backs up to the marshes.

While the town's mayor, the NJ Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Coast Guard all say there has been no impact to the Hackensack River or wildlife, environmental groups have seized on Friday's fuel spill as just the latest hazard of data centers.

"The diesel spill into the Hackensack River, which runs through dozens of North Jersey communities, is the latest sign that New Jersey’s current town-by-town approach to data centers isn’t working," said Ben Dziobek, director of Climate Revolution Action Network, a group that wants data centers banned across the state.

Here's how the spill happened:

Equinix has been located in that spot on Hartz Way for 25 years, since 2001, says the town's mayor, Mike Gonnelli. However, in the past year, as data centers need to accommodate more and more data to power artificial intelligence, Equinix decided to expand the center. The building is currently an active construction site and is being made bigger.

How much bigger?

Gonnelli declined to answer, saying Equinix asked him not to release information on their business. Emails to Equinix for this article were not returned.

A large data center, such as one the size of Equinix's in Secaucus, can consume as much electricity as a small city. That's why there are multiple generators at the Equinix facility on Hartz Way, and thousands of gallons of diesel fuel are stored in tanks at the site to power the generators.

"They have back-up generators for back-up generators," said Gonnelli Tuesday, emphasizing how much electricity data centers need, as they are constantly running in operation. Unlike a light switch, data centers never turn "off."

At approximately 7:30 p.m. Friday, one of those diesel fuel tanks started leaking into a smaller tank that was already full. For whatever reason, a valve in the smaller tank did not close and as a result, about 5,500 gallons of diesel spilled out of the building and into Anderson Creek, which is a small creek that flows through the marsh and into the Hackensack River.

"They spotted it quickly and started addressing it right away," said the mayor.

Equinix hired contractors to clean up the diesel spill, and notified the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

On Tuesday, NJ DEP spokesman Lawrence Hajna gave an update on where the clean-up currently stands:

"The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is continuing to monitor the ongoing cleanup of a small, unnamed tributary to the Hackensack River that is being conducted by a contractor for responsible party Equinix," he said. "An estimated 5,000 gallons of No. 2 diesel fuel were released at the Equinix data center in Secaucus on Friday, Sept. 11. A significant portion of the fuel entered a storm drain and was removed during the initial phase of cleanup over the weekend. Ongoing cleanup involves using large vacuum trucks and sorbent pads to recover fuel from impacted areas of the creek and removing it for proper disposal."

"The DEP and the U.S. Coast Guard have been monitoring the Hackensack River and protective booms at the mouth of the creek and have not observed impacts to the river or to wildlife," Hajna said. "There are no drinking water intakes in the area."

"The DEP continues to coordinate work with Equinix, its cleanup contractor, and a Licensed Site Remediation Professional the firm has engaged to manage the longer-term remediation," he continued. "The DEP is committed to a thorough cleanup of the creek and has not made a determination as to a specific cause of the discharge."

"They've removed 3,500 gallons of fuel from Anderson Creek so far," Gonnelli said Monday. "It never hit the river. It stayed in the creek."

However, the fuel spill became a flashpoint in a growing movement to ban data centers. Prior to this, people attended the August Secaucus town council meeting and urged the town to ban centers; Secaucus already has 10 in operation and more are coming.

So far, Gonnelli and the town Council have given no indication they will ban data centers, something New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and nearly 100 towns across New Jersey have done, including neighboring Bayonne. In fact, Sharon Ashe-Nadrowski was elected to be Bayonne's new mayor this year — and the town's first woman mayor — on a platform of banning data centers in town.

Environmental advocates against data centers seized on Friday's fuel spill in Secaucus:

"Leaving this to individual towns doesn’t make any sense," said Dziobek. "Data centers create problems that don’t stop at municipal boundaries, whether it’s pollution or straining the grid and driving up everyone’s electric bills ... Just look at how Jersey City and Bayonne banned data centers, but they’re still stuck with a polluted river thanks to a diesel spill in Secaucus. No town can protect itself alone.”

So far, New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill has resisted growing demands from environmental groups to follow Hochul's lead and ban data centers. On Aug. 27, the governor's office released this plan where data centers would have to report how much water and electricity they use. The state of New Jersey was also the first in the nation to establish a separate electric-paying rate class for data centers, intended to shield average homeowners from shouldering the electric costs of how much electricity data centers use.

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