New Jersey fines DataOne $1.1M over 62 gas generators

New Jersey fines DataOne $1.1M, but the state is letting the generators keep running while the company applies for the missing permits.

Sixty-Two Generators, Zero Permits

DataOne got hit with a $1.1 million penalty this week. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection ordered the company, which operates one of the East Coast's largest planned data centers, to pay up for secretly installing and running gas generators in violation of the state's Air Pollution Control Act. It's a big fine. The penalty came after a joint investigation by The Guardian and Floodlight News in August, which used thermal drone footage to show that 45 of the 62 generators were actively operating at the Vineland site, and officials say they're still reviewing what comes next. But the generators don't stop there.

None of those units held the permits. New Jersey requires them for generators rated at 37 kilowatts or higher. DataOne's machines run at 1,982 kilowatts, more than 50 times the threshold that triggers state oversight. And that gap between what the law demands and what the company actually built, a gap that no one disputes and that now sits at the center of the enforcement action, is what this fight is really about.

Why Regulators Track These Machines

Gas generators earn scrutiny. Why? They release carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and other combustion-related pollutants, according to the DEP, and it's those very emissions that public health officials and regulators keep pointing to when they argue that these machines don't belong near homes, schools, or anywhere people live and breathe. Those emissions are linked to worsened asthma, heart attacks, and premature death.

DEP Commissioner Ed Potosnak called the penalty "by far the largest ever taken against a data center in New Jersey" and pledged that data centers would not be "constructed or operated with impunity in this state."

The 45-Day Window That Isn't a Shutdown

Here is where the enforcement gets slippery. DataOne has 45 days to apply for the missing permits or cease operations. But the state is not forcing the company to power down while it pursues those permits. The generators can keep humming in the meantime.

"We believe it is insufficient, both in dollar amount and enforcement," Nichole Gardner, co-chair of the local environmental nonprofit Sustain SJ, said. "The DataOne site should be made to discontinue operations during the 45-day period until the proper permits are issued."

DataOne, for its part, does not sound rattled. A company spokesperson said DataOne "will apply for the air permits for the temporary generators" while maintaining that it "disagreed" with the fine. The spokesperson also said the site is "transitioning to low-emission, quiet fuel cells," which would eventually retire the gas units.

Residents Ask What They've Been Breathing

Tiffany Leone-Vespa has lived in the neighborhood for 18 years. She wants numbers, not promises. "What have we been breathing in since they've been running these generators without permits?" she said. "What emissions were released? What's the air quality surrounding this neighborhood? Has it ever been measured?"

Steve Brown, another longtime Vineland resident, framed the company's approach as a "don't ask for permission, just ask for forgiveness later" arrangement that will not deter anyone. "It's still kind of a drop in the bucket for a company that has several billion dollars of capital," he said. Leone-Vespa put it more bluntly: "What's $1.07 million? They should have done it for each generator they were running, illegally. They're billionaires. It's like pocket change."

How a Farmer With a Camera Cracked It Open

Zac Landicini founded Sustain SJ to push back on development in South Jersey. At a public town hall in February, he raised the alarm after a farmer spotted "some type of unit" on satellite imagery of the DataOne site. The farmer was not investigating anything. He was photographing a neighboring golf course.

State inspectors finally visited the 2.6 million-square-foot complex in July. The tractor-trailer-size generators were, as described, impossible to miss, and they had not been there when inspectors last came in December 2025. That six-month gap between the first public complaint and any enforcement has become its own grievance for residents.

A Permit Withdrawn, a Pivot Delayed

DataOne tried to get permits for about 30 gas generators. Then the DEP found multiple deficiencies. So the company pulled its application in May and said it would pivot to fuel cells instead, which is a big shift for a firm that had spent months chasing approval for roughly 30 gas generators it now claims it won't use. Meanwhile, maintenance logs showed the generators kept running. Some first switched on in October.

There is a broader backdrop here. New Jersey has more than 80 data centers planned or under construction, and DataOne stands out as the first operator in the state to lean on gas generators for its own off-grid supply. Public backlash has already shifted policy. The state recently passed a law ending data center tax credits, cutting developers off from a fund that had offered $250 million in incentives.

Frankfort, Indiana, and the "Good Neighbor" Pitch

New Jersey handed down the fine. That same day, DataOne held a public town hall in Frankfort, Indiana, where it promised residents it would be "good neighbors" on sound and light, according to Sustain SJ's Instagram account, which is where the group laid out what happened next. The group pointed to a local report. It quoted CEO Charles-Antoine Beyney. He said his company "decided to build on" its Vineland experience. And they're doing "the exact contrary here in Frankfort," he said.

To Sustain SJ, that sounded like a company taking credit for simply following the rules.

Vineland's friction with DataOne did not start with emissions. When the project was announced in March 2025, construction moved fast before residents grasped its scale. Backlash erupted when the mayor and council proposed a $6.2 million loan to the company. Resident and Sustain SJ member Matt Williams said it "caught everybody by surprise" that the town would direct public funds toward a private project. DataOne rejected the loan, but complaints about noise pollution kept coming, eventually producing a federal lawsuit from residents after the company notched several public health violations for excessive noise.

What Comes Next

• DataOne has 45 days to apply for the missing air permits or stop operating the generators.
• The company says it will apply and is moving toward low-emission fuel cells.
• Sustain SJ is pushing for a statewide moratorium on new data center projects.

Gardner said the group has spent nearly a year fighting the development and has "proven time and time again" that DataOne "cannot be trusted to be 'good neighbors.'"

Forty-five days. That's the window. Whether the largest data center fine in New Jersey history changes anything at all depends entirely on what happens after those 45 days pass, because a fine is just a number until someone decides what comes next. For now, the generators keep running. The permits remain unissued. And the neighbors keep asking what is in the air. They've asked before. They're asking still. We don't have the answer yet.