To the Editor:
There is a meeting tonight, Wednesday, September 23, that many Princetonians may not know about. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection will hold a hearing to consider whether to grant Sentinel Data Centers a preconstruction air pollution control permit for a large, or “hyperscale,” data center on our border with South Brunswick.
The out-of-state company is seeking permission to begin testing facility generators despite the amount of air pollution they would release. This hyperscale data center is being built on the site that was once home to Princeton Nurseries, approximately three miles from both Riverside and Littlebrook elementary schools.
Tonight’s meeting will be held from 5:30 to 9 p.m. at the Princeton Marriott at Forrestal located at 100 College Road East. Both oral and written comments will be accepted.
Whether at this meeting or through other venues for comment, I urge my fellow Princeton residents to share their thoughts on what is essentially a Princeton-based hyperscale data center by contacting our state and local representatives. And to consider the following:
If Sentinel Data Centers didn’t need permission to release emissions from the 400,000 gallons of diesel needed to fuel the center’s emergency generators (the request that led to tonight’s hearing before NJDEP), it’s likely many of us in Princeton would be
unaware of the construction. As far as I know, the residents of Princeton have not been properly informed. Rapidly growing public sentiment and policy across the country suggests NJDEP should not consider granting the air pollution control permit until Princeton residents have an opportunity for further public participation.
Data centers are not like other uses contemplated by most, if not all, current zoning, planning, and pollution control laws. Given the broad public policy concern about data center proliferation, and local and regional concerns about this one — particularly given our historic location — there should be an enhanced requirement for public notice and
opportunities for our citizens to be heard.
Until then, construction should be paused and submitted to public referendum.