Sign Petition: Ask Governor for Moratorium on Data Centers

New Jersey is seeing a surge in proposals for massive new data centers—but empowered communities can keep them at bay. New Brunswick residents defeated a data center proposal, and Pemberton Township has banned them outright.  

Pinelands Alliance (PA) has three actions that you can take to help protect New Jersey communities and the environment from this emerging threat:  

• Sign its “Petition to the Governor: NJ Needs a 3-year Moratorium on New Data Centers”: https://engage.pinelandsalliance.org/datacentersnj

PA is urging Governor Mikie Sherrill to enact a three-year moratorium on new large-scale data centers in New Jersey so the state can evaluate risks, set clear standards, and ensure communities have a voice. Please sign the petition today to help protect our water, energy system, and environment. 

These facilities use enormous amounts of electricity and water and could put critical resources at risk. In South Jersey, many communities rely on the Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer for drinking water and ecosystem health, making the region especially vulnerable to heavy groundwater withdrawals and potential PFAS contamination.

Yet projects are moving forward without thorough review, sometimes approved locally before environmental impacts are fully studied, as seen in Vineland. There is a need for greater leadership at the state level. 

 • Urge Your Town to Take Action: Ordinance to Ban Data Centers 

Urge your municipal council to adopt an ordinance to explicitly prohibit data centers as a permitted use in your municipality. Pemberton Township has already done this, and municipalities like Green Township and Philipsburg are not too far behind. 

 View a model ordinance at https://pinelandsalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Model_Ordinance_Data_Centers-2026.pdf

• Tell the Pinelands Commission: No Data Centers in the Pinelands. 

The latest meeting was March 27, at Pinelands Commission, 15 Springfield Road, New Lisbon. The agenda for the meeting was set to include a staff presentation on “AI Data Center Development and the Pinelands Regulatory Context.” This was the first formal discussion on this emerging issue by the CMP Policy & Implementation Committee, which is the committee that considers changes to the way that the Pinelands are managed.  

View the meeting at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgG7fph6eOM