New Jersey hits Microsoft-linked AI data center with record fine for 62 unpermitted power generators, issues 45-day shutdown deadline

What happened

Million-dollar fines won’t end billionaires’ data center pollution, neighbors fear. The DataOne data center is facing a record fine of $1.07 million for operating portable turbine generators without permission.

Residents say that the penalty is a drop in the bucket for these big tech companies. The DataOne data center in Vineland, New Jersey, has just been hit with a record $1.07 million fine for operating unpermitted portable generators on the construction site.

Residents had already complained about it at a February town hall meeting. Inspectors said that there were no generators on site when they first visited in December last year.

However, some residents said that “some type of unit” was spotted by satellite imagery back in February, leading to their complaint at the community assembly. This week, New Jersey ordered the operator of one of the East Coast’s largest planned data centers 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 got hit with the fine after an investigation by The Guardian and Floodlight News in August shared thermal drone footage showing that 45 of the 62 gas generators were operating.