Over the past two years, proposals for data center development in NJ have exploded.
Unfortunately, data center developers have operated in the shadows, leaving residents in the dark on these massive proposals and their impact on their community, their drinking water, their utility bills, and their livelihood.
Many of these proposals reach the public only late in the local approval process. Often, this is due to non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) that are signed with local municipalities to conceal the existence of a data center proposal until the last minute.
Without knowing about a potential data center development, communities rarely can voice concerns, ensure community benefits, or fight back against bad actors. Non-disclosure agreements stifle public participation and allow developers to manipulate situations to their advantage and bypass the public review process they are required to follow.
Communities cannot be left in the dark without transparency or meaningful input while billion-dollar corporations move forward with little oversight and sweetheart tax deals.
Data centers have numerous impacts on communities and the environment that should be fully vetted and transparent to the public - from heat and noise impacts, air pollution, high water usage, taking up precious open space, driving up our electric bills, and more. New Jersey families and ratepayers have a right to know how potential developments will impact them.
The Data Center Transparency Bill (S4304 / A2774) explicitly prohibits developers from entering into non-disclosure agreements with municipalities or property sellers that are entered into for the purpose of (or effect of) concealing the details, or preventing public review of the development plans for a data center. Thanks to the Senate prime sponsor, Senator Greenstein, S4304 has passed the Senate floor unanimously! Now we need to urge the Assembly to support and pass the bill!
Take action now to urge Assemblyman Tully, Chairman of the Assembly Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, to post the bill to his committee and support it, because it would ensure NJ communities aren’t kept in the dark by data center developers and their NDAs!
