An estimated 5,000 gallons of diesel fuel spilled from a storage tank at a Secaucus data center and entered a creek connected to the Hackensack River, prompting a multi-day cleanup and renewed calls for New Jersey to impose tighter controls on the rapidly expanding data center industry.
The spill occurred Friday, Sept. 11, at an Equinix data center and sent No. 2 diesel fuel into a storm drain and Anderson Creek, a small tributary running through the environmentally sensitive Meadowlands.
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection said the discharge has been contained and that a significant portion of the fuel was recovered during the initial cleanup over the weekend. Officials have not determined precisely how much diesel entered the creek.
Cleanup crews hired by Equinix have been using large vacuum trucks and absorbent materials to recover diesel from affected portions of the creek. The contaminated fuel and water are being removed for proper disposal.
Protective booms were also installed near the mouth of the creek to prevent contamination from reaching the Hackensack River.
The DEP and U.S. Coast Guard have been monitoring the river and the containment booms and said they have not observed impacts to the Hackensack River or wildlife. There are no drinking water intakes in the immediate area, according to the DEP.
The spill originated at Equinix’s NY2 facility, where diesel is stored to supply backup generators that can keep the data center operating during disruptions to the electric grid.
Equinix said employees detected the fuel release Friday evening, stopped the leak and hired environmental cleanup contractor Clean Harbors to begin remediation. The company also contacted the Secaucus Fire Department, which notified the DEP and Hudson Regional Health Commission.
“We are working closely with those agencies, local officials, and community stakeholders to ensure a thorough remediation while also conducting a full investigation to determine the root cause and prevent recurrence,” Equinix said.
The DEP said it has not reached a conclusion about what caused the spill.
Secaucus Mayor Michael Gonnelli, however, has said a computer malfunction was responsible. Gonnelli said the facility has operated in Secaucus since 2001 without a similar incident.
Bill Sheehan, executive director of Hackensack Riverkeeper, said he also was told that a computer problem contributed to the release.
“The computer was calling for oil,” Sheehan said.
Sheehan said the absence of immediately observed wildlife deaths does not necessarily mean the spill will have no ecological consequences.
“I’m not saying that they found a lot of dead animals. I’m not saying that,” Sheehan said. “I am saying it’s too early to know.”
Anderson Creek is part of the network of tidal waterways and wetlands feeding the Hackensack River through the New Jersey Meadowlands. Sheehan said even relatively small tributaries play an important role in the broader ecosystem.
“The tributaries are the capillary system of the whole ecosystem,” Sheehan said. “All the water that runs off of our land goes into the creeks first, and then runs through the creeks out into the river.”
The accident also has intensified an emerging debate over the proliferation of data centers in New Jersey.
Data centers require large amounts of electricity to continuously operate servers, networking equipment and cooling systems. Facilities typically maintain diesel-powered emergency generators and substantial quantities of fuel so operations can continue if grid power is interrupted.
Ben Dziobek, executive director of Climate Revolution Action Network, said the Secaucus spill demonstrates that the environmental footprint of data centers extends beyond their electricity consumption.
“This is supposed to be some of the most advanced technology out there, and if a computer glitch can cause 5,500 gallons of diesel to spill into a local marsh, we really need to be putting more regulations on this technology,” Dziobek said.
Dziobek’s organization is among environmental and community groups calling for a statewide moratorium on new data center development while New Jersey considers broader regulations governing the industry.
More than 60 environmental, civil rights and community organizations called for such a moratorium earlier this year, arguing that municipalities have largely been left to evaluate data center projects individually while their effects on electricity demand, water use, pollution and surrounding communities can extend across municipal boundaries.
The organizations have asked Gov. Mikie Sherrill and state lawmakers to pause approvals of new facilities while statewide standards are developed.
“Secaucus is the place where data centers have been being built,” Dziobek said. “We need to slow this down, and we are calling for a statewide moratorium on data centers.”
Equinix operates 10 data centers in the New York-New Jersey region. The company said it has operated in the Secaucus community for more than two decades and pledged to investigate the accident and prevent another release.
The company said it remains committed to resolving the spill “quickly, transparently and responsibly.”
DEP officials said the agency is coordinating the cleanup with Equinix, its contractor and a licensed site remediation professional retained by the company to oversee longer-term environmental work.
The immediate cleanup is expected to continue for several days, while environmental monitoring could continue longer.
For now, state officials say the containment measures have prevented observable contamination of the Hackensack River. Environmental advocates say the longer-term consequences for Anderson Creek and its wetlands may take more time to determine.
The DEP said it remains committed to a thorough cleanup and has not yet made a determination about the specific cause of the discharge.