Unpermitted gas turbines and a 1.5-million-gallon LNG tank: the Microsoft-linked data center outraging New Jersey

The DataOne data center, under construction in Vineland (New Jersey) since 2025, has become the focus of neighborhood protests over a series of alleged violations documented by the organizations Stand.earth and Sustain South Jersey. According to their investigation, the facility has been operating several gas turbines without the required permits, emitting air pollution in an area close to two local schools, and built a 1.5-million-gallon (roughly 5.7 million liters) liquefied natural gas storage tank without authorization. Added to that are complaints about nighttime noise levels considered unacceptable, affecting residents within a half-mile radius of the complex.

The project gained public prominence when it emerged that Nebius had signed a multi-year agreement in October 2025 to supply dedicated computing capacity to Microsoft from this new data center in Vineland, as part of a contract valued at $19.4 billion to secure close to 100,000 Nvidia GB300 GPUs. According to Matt Williams, president of Sustain South Jersey, work had already begun even before that agreement was signed, and residents only found out it was an AI data center after the deal became public, when they started finding references to the project in government documents. Public pressure forced local authorities to convene a town hall in January 2026, months after construction had started; DataOne's own chief executive, Charles-Antoine Beyney, acknowledged at that meeting that it should have been held much earlier.

A few weeks before that meeting, some nearby residents were already complaining about a noise described as a low hum, similar to a generator, although they could not pinpoint its source with any certainty. A subsequent investigation revealed that the site had 62 gas turbines installed, of which at least 45 were said to be running at any given time. The article draws a direct parallel with what happened in Memphis (Tennessee), where SpaceXAI deployed 69 natural gas turbines without a permit to power its data centers; that company committed to removing them, but in phases over the course of a year, while replacing them with its own 1.2 GW power plant.

Beyond the turbines, a third party specializing in engineering reviewed the site's stormwater management system and concluded that it does not comply with state regulations. That report warns that, if left uncorrected, it could cause flooding both on and off the property, a risk compounded by the large size of the parcel, 55 acres. The experts cited also note that the project underestimated annual groundwater recharge by at least 20 million gallons a year, which could lower the aquifer level and affect both the availability and the quality of water for people living in the area.

Nathan Taft, senior campaigner at Stand.earth, was especially critical of Microsoft in a statement carried by the outlet: he argues that the case 'should shatter the illusion that Microsoft is a good neighbor or somehow more responsible than the rest of Big Tech', and accuses the company of following, despite its promises to act 'differently from the others', the same playbook he attributes to xAI, Elon Musk's company: 'do the harm first and ask permission later'. In a later interview, Taft clarified that Microsoft does not own or directly operate the Vineland facility, but argued that, as the party that contracted the capacity from Nebius — which ultimately drove DataOne's construction — it has every reason to step in over residents' complaints; he compared it to a contractor who leaves a mess on the property of their client's neighbor.

The article frames what has happened in Vineland as a direct contradiction of the community coexistence commitments Microsoft announced in January 2026, since, although noise and air pollution do not appear explicitly in that text, both equally affect residents' quality of life, and building without permits shows a breach of Vineland's local regulations. Williams sums up the developers' attitude in a blunt phrase: 'act first, pay the fine and apologize later'.

The report fits into a broader trend of conflicts between local communities and large AI infrastructure operators in the United States, citing similar cases such as the class action brought by Wisconsin residents against another Microsoft-linked data center over noise, or the unpermitted natural gas turbines installed by Elon Musk's Colossus 2 project in Memphis. Taken together, these episodes point to a recurring pattern in the accelerated expansion of AI infrastructure: construction moves faster than permitting processes and than the information given to affected communities, generating friction over pollution, noise, water consumption and transparency that will foreseeably keep surfacing as large-scale projects of this kind multiply.