Microsoft’s Nebius Data Center Operated 45 Diesel Generators Without Any Licenses!
DataOne’s data center in New Jersey (part of the $17 billion Microsoft-Nebius deal) deployed 45 diesel generators without any environmental permits, just one mile away from two schools.
A data center called DataOne, in Vineland, New Jersey — part of a $17 billion deal between Microsoft and Nebius — ran 45 diesel generators, each the size of a truck trailer, with no environmental permits. It sits one mile from two schools. New Jersey's regulator says none of the 62 generators on site had a valid permit.
Reporters from Floodlight and The Guardian found this using a drone with a thermal camera to check the site. A former EPA head, Bruce Buckheit, said federal law required a final permit before these generators were ever switched on.
For me this is a sign of how fast AI infrastructure is being built right now — companies are standing up huge data centers before all the needed permits are even in place. The demand for computing power is growing so fast that the system approving these sites just can't keep up with it.
Source: www.engadget.com
Free course
Stop reading about AI — start building with it
The free Claude Code course: your first site, tool or game — no coding. No upsells, no cross-sells — nothing to buy here.
Start free →
Author
Evgenii Arsentev
PhD · Chief Executive Officer, digital health
Articles · Latest articles