New Jersey fines data center $1.1M after drone pics expose 62 gas generators
New Jersey fines data center $1.1M after drone pics expose 62 gas generators
新泽西州对一数据中心罚款110万美元：无人机航拍揭露其违规使用62台燃气发电机
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. 本周，新泽西州下令东海岸最大的规划中数据中心之一的运营商支付110万美元罚款，原因是其秘密安装并运行燃气发电机，违反了该州的《空气污染控制法》。
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. None of the generators had permits required for generators with 37-kilowatt capacity or higher, despite running at 1,982-kw capacities more than 50 times higher than the state limit. 在《卫报》和 Floodlight News 于8月进行调查并分享了热成像无人机画面后，DataOne 收到了这笔罚款。画面显示，62台燃气发电机中有45台正在运行。尽管这些发电机的运行功率高达1982千瓦，超过州政府限制的50多倍，但它们均未获得37千瓦及以上容量发电机所需的许可证。
States track gas generators like DataOne uses because they emit “carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and other combustion-related pollutants,” officials from New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) noted. Those pollutants can worsen asthma, trigger heart attacks, and cause early deaths. 新泽西州环境保护部（DEP）的官员指出，州政府会对 DataOne 使用的这类燃气发电机进行追踪，因为它们会排放“二氧化碳、氮氧化物、一氧化碳和其他与燃烧相关的污染物”。这些污染物会加重哮喘、诱发心脏病并导致过早死亡。
Calling out the enforcement action as “by far the largest ever taken against a data center in New Jersey,” DEP Commissioner Ed Potosnak vowed that data centers would not be “constructed or operated with impunity in this state.” DEP 专员 Ed Potosnak 将此次执法行动称为“新泽西州有史以来针对数据中心采取的最大规模处罚”，并誓言数据中心绝不能在该州“肆无忌惮地建设或运营”。
However, while historic, the state’s solution doesn’t immediately relieve residents’ concerns. DataOne was given 45 days to apply for the permits or else cease operations, but they can continue operating the gas engines while seeking permits. 然而，尽管这一处罚具有历史意义，但州政府的解决方案并未能立即缓解居民的担忧。DataOne 被给予45天时间申请许可证，否则必须停止运营，但在申请期间，他们仍可继续运行这些燃气发动机。
Nichole Gardner, a co-chair of a local environmental nonprofit Sustain SJ, told Ars that “we believe it is insufficient, both in dollar amount and enforcement. The DataOne site should be made to discontinue operations during the 45-day period until the proper permits are issued.” 当地环保非营利组织 Sustain SJ 的联合主席 Nichole Gardner 对 Ars 表示：“我们认为这在罚款金额和执法力度上都是不够的。DataOne 站点应该在45天期限内停止运营，直到获得适当的许可证为止。”
In a statement to The New York Times, the company seemed unfazed by the fine. “We will apply for the air permits for the temporary generators,” a DataOne spokesperson said, while noting that DataOne “disagreed” with the fine. Eventually, the polluting gas generators will supposedly be phased out, as the data center is “transitioning to low-emission, quiet fuel cells,” the spokesperson noted. 在给《纽约时报》的一份声明中，该公司似乎并未因罚款而感到不安。DataOne 发言人表示：“我们将为临时发电机申请空气许可证”，同时指出 DataOne 对罚款表示“不认同”。该发言人还称，最终这些污染严重的燃气发电机将被逐步淘汰，因为该数据中心正在“向低排放、静音的燃料电池转型”。
Fine seems like “pocket change”
罚款被指如同“零花钱”
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. 此前，DataOne 曾告诉 Floodlight，它“始终致力于满足所有适用的环境和许可要求”。但 Vineland 数据中心的邻居们对它的信任已经破裂。居民们知道该数据中心正在为微软的 Copilot 等 AI 工具提供算力，并担心 DataOne 会不惜一切代价维持这笔交易。
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. 据《纽约时报》报道，居民们质疑为什么 DataOne 会在一个“靠近农田、住宅和两所学校”的区域悄悄开始运行可能造成污染的发电机。同样令人困惑的是，由于他们的担忧早在2月份的市政厅公开会议上就首次提出，他们想知道为什么州和地方官员花了六个月时间才执行该州的污染控制措施。
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?” 在该社区居住了18年的母亲 Tiffany Leone-Vespa 对《纽约时报》表示，空气质量问题依然存在。“自从他们无证运行这些发电机以来，我们一直在呼吸什么？”Leone-Vespa 问道，“排放了什么物质？这个社区周边的空气质量如何？有人测量过吗？”
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. 另一位长期居住在 Vineland 的居民 Steve Brown 对《纽约时报》表示，这是一种“先斩后奏”的做法，无法阻止类似的威胁。“对于一家拥有数十亿美元资本的公司来说，这仍然只是九牛一毛，”Brown 说。
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.” Leone-Vespa 也认为，百万美元的罚款无法终结亿万富翁们的数据中心污染。“107万美元算什么？”她告诉《纽约时报》，“他们应该为每一台非法运行的发电机分别罚款。他们是亿万富翁，这就像零花钱一样。”
Gas generators “impossible to miss”
燃气发电机“显而易见”
Zac Landicini founded Sustain SJ to fight for responsible development in South Jersey. He told the NYT that he spoke up at the public town hall meeting last February after a “farmer first spotted ‘some type of unit’ on satellite imagery” taken on DataOne’s site. The farmer wasn’t trying to probe the site, Ars learned, but was innocuously photographing a neighboring golf course. Zac Landicini 创立了 Sustain SJ，旨在为南新泽西州的负责任开发而奋斗。他告诉《纽约时报》，去年2月在市政厅公开会议上发言，是因为当时一位“农民在卫星图像上首次发现了 DataOne 站点上的‘某种装置’”。Ars 了解到，这位农民并非试图调查该站点，而是在无意中拍摄邻近的高尔夫球场时发现的。
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. Floodlight 的报告分享了许多航拍照片，展示了那位农民所看到的情况，这让7月份最终造访该260万平方英尺数据中心综合体的州检查员感到震惊。据《纽约时报》报道，这些“拖车大小”的发电机“显而易见”，而且在2025年12月检查员上次访问时肯定不在那里。
In New Jersey, there are more than 80 data centers planned or under construction, but DataOne is notably the first data center operator to rely on gas generators to create its own off-grid supply. 在新泽西州，有超过80个数据中心处于规划或建设中，但 DataOne 值得注意的是，它是第一个依赖燃气发电机来建立离网供电的数据中心运营商。
Although the state previously was welcoming to such expansive data center projects, public backlash pushed the state to recently pass a law ending data center tax credits. That blocked data center developers from a fund that previously offered $250 million in incentives, and it showed residents that they had more power than data centers might think. 尽管该州此前对这类大型数据中心项目持欢迎态度，但公众的强烈反对促使该州最近通过了一项法律，终止了数据中心税收抵免。这阻止了数据中心开发商获取此前提供2.5亿美元激励资金的渠道，也向居民证明了他们拥有的权力比数据中心想象的要大。
According to Floodlight, DataOne tried to get permits for about 30 gas generators, but after New Jersey’s DEP “found multiple deficiencies,” DataOne withdrew its application in May. At that time, the company planned to pivot to using fuel cells emitting less harmful pollutants. In the meantime, maintenance logs showed it had been using the more problematic generators, some of which were first turned on in October, Floodlight reported. 据 Floodlight 报道，DataOne 曾试图为约30台燃气发电机申请许可证，但在新泽西州 DEP “发现多处缺陷”后，DataOne 于5月撤回了申请。当时，该公司计划转向使用排放较少有害污染物的燃料电池。然而，Floodlight 报道称，维护日志显示其一直在使用那些问题更多的发电机，其中一些发电机早在10月份就开始运行了。
For the public, DataOne’s project appears continually shrouded in secrecy. After the project was announced in March 2025, construction progressed quickly before the public began to understand how big the data center would be. 对于公众而言，DataOne 的项目似乎始终笼罩在秘密之中。该项目于2025年3月宣布后，建设进展迅速，而此时公众尚未意识到该数据中心的规模会有多大。