AI Data Centers

What is a Hyperscale Data Center?

A hyperscale data center is defined as any facility that (i) has an electrical demand of 100 megawatts (MW) or greater, or (ii) provides 5 MW per 10,000 sq ft of floor area, and is primarily intended for artificial-intelligence (AI) training/inference, cloud services, or large-scale data storage.  Such facilities typically consume 3–7 million gallons of water per day, emit a number of pollutants such as: nitrogen oxides (NOₓ), fine particulate matter (PM₂.₅), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and greenhouse gases at levels comparable to a small power plant, generate continuous noise up to 96 dBA, and rely on diesel backup generators that can emit 200–600 times more NOₓ per kilowatt-hour than modern gas turbines.

What is our ask?

Our Ask is Simple –

• Sign the Pinelands Alliance petition (https://engage.pinelandsalliance.org/datacentersnj) for a Three- Year State-wide Moratorium, which is necessary to evaluate the environmental, energy, and public health risks associated with the rapid expansion of this industry.
• Have your own municipality consider passing an ordinance banning the data centers as an excepted use throughout your municipality or limit them only to industrial zones. Alternatively have your municipality consider its own moratorium.  Model ordinances and moratoriums can be found here:
  • Pinelands Alliance – Model Data Center Ordinance Ban
  • Warren County – Model Data Center Ordinance Ban
  • NJ Sierra Club – Model Data Center Siting Ordinance
  • Environmental Justice Alliance – Model Data Center Moratorium

More information about Data Center in NJ can be found on the NJ Environmental Justice Alliance Website –  HERE including a Community Toolkit.

Below is a table of Municipalities that have currently passed Data Center Bans as of October 28, 2026.  Updates to this list will be made monthly

 

CURRENT MUNICIPAL TRACKER 

123  DATA CENTER BANS OR RESTRICTONS PASSED,   13 INTRODUCED

6 municipalities have passed or proposed moratoriums including Galloway (Atlantic County), Hamilton Twn (Atlantic County), Mullica (Atlantic County), Newark (Essex County), East Windsor (Mercer County), Sayreville (Middlesex County).  Mercer County and Warren County have also passed 1 year moratoriums on data centers.

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* ANJEC recommends additional action needed such as an ordinance to outright ban hyperscale data centers to provide a positive case against developers requesting variance on existing zoning laws.