Trenton, NJ – In a milestone achievement for community members and advocates, at least 112 New Jersey municipalities have passed zoning ordinances prohibiting large-scale data centers within their borders. Tonight, Millburn, Lawrence, and Linden may also vote for municipal prohibitions on data centers, potentially increasing the statewide count to 115 or more.

The milestone number of local data center prohibitions comes as several organizations including BlueWaveNJ, Clean Water Action, Climate Revolution Action Network, New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance, New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, Pinelands Alliance, and Sustain South Jersey joined Food & Water Watch to launch a coalition emphasizing the urgent need for a statewide moratorium, Stop Data Centers NJ. The coalition is calling on Governor Mikie Sherrill to listen to New Jersey residents and issue an executive order placing a moratorium on new AI data centers above 20 MW statewide.

The coalition formed months after 60+ of New Jersey’s leading environmental, labor, community and grassroots organizations submitted a letter to Gov. Sherrill in May with the same demand.

“A future dominated by AI, and powered by data centers in our backyards, is not inevitable. We know enough about data centers to be certain that the unchecked expansion of this aggressive industry is one of the biggest environmental and social threats of our generation,” said Matt Smith, NJ Director for Food & Water Watch. “Communities are already organizing to fight back. Since clean air, water and energy are shared resources that don’t abide by municipal borders, the only way to protect NJ is through a statewide moratorium on data centers.”

Municipal governments can amend their existing zoning ordinances to establish a definition of data centers and make them a prohibited use in all zones throughout the municipality. Since New Jersey began its fight against data centers, Food & Water Watch organizers have tracked these local fights. Pemberton Township was the first to pass a data center prohibition ordinance in February. The latest towns to pass prohibitory ordinances were Estell Manor, New Hanover, Cranbury, Colts Neck, Brick, and Stafford. 

“What we are witnessing is over 100 communities speaking up to protect resources and ensure informed decision-making. Most importantly, people are having their concerns heard and acted on by government officials. Governor Sherrill needs to take note as she put it on municipalities to decide how data center development is handled. I think enough towns have made it clear that it is time to stop and fully evaluate data center risks before any more develop under New Jersey’s regulatory gaps and insufficient guardrails,” said Matt Williams, Chair of Sustain SJ.

The latest public polling from the Rutgers University Eagleton Institute of Politics shows that 72% of New Jerseyans are opposed to a data center being built in their own town or city, while 64% percent are opposed to one in a neighboring county.

Towns across New Jersey are fighting their local municipal governments to keep Big Tech’s influence out of their communities. Next Monday, Mahwah and Edison will have public hearings on ordinances to block data center development, followed by Stanhope on October 27, Hamburg, on November 2, Bethlehem on November 5, Rahway on November 9, and Little Egg Harbor on November 12. For more information on how to pass a local ordinance, visit the Food & Water Watch’s data center ordinance guide.

“Small towns and residents shouldn’t have to fight billion-dollar data centers alone, especially under rules that were never designed for hyperscaled AI data center facilities and their impact on local power, water, air and health. A statewide moratorium would give New Jersey time to write the rules and regulations these projects should have been held to from the start,” said Tiffany Haltom, President of Union County Residents Alliance Coalition.

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