New Jersey fines data center $1.1M after drone pics expose 62 gas generators

Previously, DataOne told Floodlight that it “remains committed to meeting all applicable environmental and permitting requirements.” But trust is broken with the neighbors of the Vineland data center. The residents know the data center is powering Microsoft’s AI tools like Copilot and worry DataOne will do whatever it takes to keep that deal in place. They’re questioning why DataOne would quietly start operating potentially polluting generators in an area “near farmland, homes, and two schools,” the NYT reported. Also baffling, because their concerns were first raised at a public town hall in February, they want to know why it took state and local officials six months to enforce the state’s pollution controls. Tiffany Leone-Vespa, a mother who’s been in the neighborhood for 18 years, told the NYT that questions remain about air quality. “What have we been breathing in since they’ve been running these generators without permits?” Leone-Vespa said. “What emissions were released? What’s the air quality surrounding this neighborhood? Has it ever been measured?” Steve Brown, another longtime Vineland resident, told the NYT that “it’s a ‘don’t ask for permission, just ask for forgiveness later’ kind of deal” that wouldn’t deter similar threats. “It’s still kind of a drop in the bucket for a company that has several billion dollars of capital,” Brown said. Leone-Vespa agreed that million-dollar fines won’t end billionaires’ data center pollution. “What’s $1.07 million?” she told the NYT. “They should have done it for each generator they were running, illegally. They’re billionaires. It’s like pocket change.” Floodlight’s report shares many aerial shots showing what the farmer saw, which stunned state inspectors who finally visited the 2.6 million-square-foot data center complex in July. According to the NYT, the “tractor-trailer-size” generators were “impossible to miss” and certainly were not there when inspectors last visited in December 2025. DataOne ultimately rejected the loan, but the complaints started rolling in from that point forward. Most immediately frustrating for residents was noise pollution from the data center. That prompted a federal lawsuit from residents after DataOne notched several public health violations for excessive noise. Sustain SJ’s Gardner told Ars that complaints remain while the state’s fine seems like “a slap on the wrist” for DataOne that ignored that “local residents are impacted on a daily basis.” “This has been a recurring theme with this project—the state and local government consistently prioritize the interests of these companies over the well-being of the community that has been dealing with noise and pollution for months,” Gardner said. On Instagram, Sustain SJ noted that on the same day New Jersey issued the fine, DataOne was holding a public town hall, promising residents in Frankfort, Indiana, that “they’d be ‘good neighbors,’ specifically regarding sound and light.” The group cited a local report where DataOne CEO Charles-Antoine Beyney was quoted saying that his company “decided to build on” the experience they had in Vineland and “do it the exact contrary here in Frankfort.” To Sustain SJ, it seemed like Beyney was hyping up his company for “just simply following the rules.” Until there’s more transparency and residents are given a voice in how data centers are operating, groups like Sustain SJ are advocating for a state-wide moratorium on new projects. “We have been fighting this development for nearly a year and we have proven time and time again that they cannot be trusted to be ‘good neighbors,’” Gardner said.