In the heart of the Meadowlands, where the Hackensack River winds through marshes and industrial lots, a quiet Friday night turned into an environmental emergency. A storage tank at an Equinix data center in Secaucus released nearly 5,000 gallons of diesel fuel, sending a slick of hydrocarbons into Anderson Creek, a narrow tributary that feeds into the Hackensack and eventually Newark Bay.
The leak was detected late Friday, according to Larry Hajna, spokesperson for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. By Saturday morning, crews from Clean Harbors, the company hired by Equinix, had deployed floating booms and vacuum trucks to skim the toxic mixture from the water. Hajna confirmed that initial containment efforts were underway, but the incident has already reignited a fierce debate about the unchecked growth of data centers across the state.
A community on edge
Bill Sheehan, the Hackensack Riverkeeper, spent Saturday afternoon on the water, watching the cleanup from a distance. He’s not convinced the spill is fully contained. “They’re doing what they can, but when you see diesel sheen spreading, you have to wonder if they got it all,” Sheehan said. His skepticism is rooted in history: in 1994, a 310,000-gallon caustic soda spill devastated the river, and the resulting lawsuits funded the restoration of Lincoln Park in Jersey City. Sheehan is now calling for a similar natural resource damages fund, financed by the companies responsible for such disasters.
Secaucus Mayor Michael Gonnelli didn’t hide his frustration. “I’m furious,” he said. “This plant has been here for 25 years without a problem, and now this. We need to hold them accountable.” Gonnelli supports legal action against Equinix and is pushing for stricter oversight of data centers, which have multiplied across New Jersey in recent years, drawn by cheap power and proximity to New York City.
The timing couldn’t be worse. The Hackensack River was added to the federal Superfund list in 2022, and a major cleanup is finally underway. For local activists, this spill feels like a slap in the face. “We’ve been fighting for decades to clean up this river, and now a company that profits from our connectivity is polluting it,” said Ben Dziobek, executive director of the Climate Revolution Action Network. Dziobek argues that leaving data center regulation to individual towns is a mistake. “These facilities create problems that cross municipal lines. We need a statewide moratorium, not a patchwork of bans.”
Nearly 100 municipalities in New Jersey have already passed resolutions against new data centers, citing concerns about noise, water usage, and now, environmental contamination. The pressure is mounting on Governor Phil Murphy to impose a statewide pause, but so far, the administration has stopped short of a full moratorium.
The bigger picture
This incident is part of a larger national conversation about the environmental cost of our digital lives. Data centers are the backbone of the internet, but they’re also energy hogs, and their construction often comes with hidden costs. In Texas, the AI boom has led to a 71% surge in data center development, raising similar concerns about grid strain and water use. New Jersey, with its dense population and aging infrastructure, is particularly vulnerable.
Experts say the Secaucus spill highlights the need for more rigorous safety protocols. “This wasn’t a freak accident; it was a failure of maintenance and oversight,” said Maria Fernanda Ríos, an environmental engineer based in Bogotá who has consulted on industrial risk in Latin America. “In many countries, we’ve learned the hard way that prevention is cheaper than cleanup.” Ríos points to the 2021 oil spill in Ventanilla, Peru, as a cautionary tale, where a lack of preparedness turned a minor leak into a major ecological disaster.
For now, the immediate focus is on cleaning up Anderson Creek. Clean Harbors crews are expected to work for several days, and the DEP will monitor water quality in the coming weeks. But the long-term damage may be harder to repair. Diesel fuel is toxic to fish and other aquatic life, and even small amounts can disrupt the food chain. The Meadowlands are home to rare bird species and a vital stopover for migratory birds, making the stakes even higher.
Residents in Secaucus, many of whom are part of the area’s growing Latino community, are watching closely. “We’ve lived here for years, and we’ve seen the river get cleaner,” said Carmen Delgado, who lives a few blocks from the creek. “Now this. It feels like we’re going backwards.” Delgado’s sentiment echoes a broader frustration: that the tech industry’s growth is happening at the expense of the communities that host it.
As the cleanup continues, the debate over data centers is likely to intensify. Environmental groups are demanding permanent technical audits of all critical facilities, and some lawmakers are calling for new zoning rules to keep industrial plants away from natural reserves. But investors warn that too many restrictions could drive business elsewhere, a tension that’s playing out in statehouses across the country.
For now, the people of Secaucus are left with a dirty creek and a lot of questions. “We need answers,” said Mayor Gonnelli. “And we need to make sure this never happens again.”
