Secaucus Mayor Calls on Jersey City to Combat NJSEA Over Data Centers

Secaucus Mayor Mike Gonnelli is seeking an alliance with Jersey City Mayor James Solomon to challenge the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority (NJSEA) regarding its jurisdiction over data center approvals in Secaucus. Gonnelli, facing criticism for the nine existing data centers in his town and more planned, claims that 88% of Secaucus falls under NJSEA's authority, limiting the town's ability to stop new developments like CoreSite's proposed second data center at 215 County Avenue.

Gonnelli told the Jersey City Times that he and Solomon should collaborate to change NJSEA's zoning laws, citing the authority's approval of both data centers in Secaucus and a solid-waste facility in Jersey City. As of Friday, Mayor Solomon had not publicly responded to Gonnelli's proposition. The NJSEA, however, previously stated that Secaucus retains approval power over its latest proposed data center.

This local political maneuvering comes amidst broader discussions about data center energy consumption. The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the Ratepayer Protection Act, a bill intended to hold large-load customers, including some data centers, responsible for electricity grid upgrade costs. However, the bill stalled in the Senate after Senator Martin Heinrich (D-New Mexico) argued it did not go far enough. New Jersey has already implemented its own measure, hastily passing a law in July to charge large-scale data centers different electricity rates than homeowners.