Neptune Township bans data centers and ICE detention facilities
The Monmouth County town is the latest New Jersey municipality to restrict data centers as concerns grow about energy and water use.
Neptune Township has banned data centers and immigration detention facilities, joining a growing number of New Jersey municipalities moving to block large-scale data centers amid concerns about their energy and water use.
Neptune is the 25th municipality in the state to ban data centers, according to Climate Revolution Action Network New Jersey, a Gen Z-led environmental group that worked with township officials on the ordinance.
The Township Committee approved the restrictions on Monday. Recent bans have also been enacted in Andover Township, Millville, Red Bank, Tranklin Township, and Warren Township.
“Data centers and ICE facilities each present serious concerns from resource consumption and environmental impact to due process and public safety,” Neptune Deputy Mayor Derel Stroud said. “A lot of elected officials talk about putting people first. This ordinance is how we make that mean something.”
The rapid expansion of data centers, driven in part by growing demand for artificial intelligence, has become an increasingly contentious issue in New Jersey. Critics have raised concerns about the facilities’ enormous electricity demands, water use, and potential effects on utility bills.
Gov. Mikie Sherrill last week signed legislation aimed at preventing data centers from shifting certain electric grid costs onto other ratepayers.
The Climate Revolution Action Network has pushed for a statewide moratorium on new artificial intelligence data centers.
“People are showing up across the country to stop data centers from opening in their communities, and New Jersey is no exception,” Climate Revolution Action Network Executive Director Ben Dziobek said.
Neptune’s ordinance also blocks immigration detention facilities from operating in the township as the Trump administration seeks to expand detention capacity in New Jersey.
“Neptune is deciding what it wants built in its town and what it doesn’t,” Dziobek said.
Krystal Knapp is the founder of The Jersey Vindicator and the hyperlocal news website Planet Princeton. Previously she was a reporter at The Trenton Times for a decade.