Big Tech wants more data centers. Residents in this New Jersey city said not here.
Business Insider
February 21, 2026
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Residents in New Brunswick, New Jersey, celebrated as their city council voted to remove data centers from a list of permitted uses during redevelopment plans, effectively scrapping the possibility of such facilities being built in their community. The decision came after strong opposition from locals and environmental activists, who argued that data centers pose significant risks to water resources, energy consumption, and overall quality of life. Ben Dziobek, an activist, dramatically announced the council’s decision to cheers and chants from the crowd, highlighting the growing national backlash against these large-scale facilities.
Data centers have become a hot-button issue across the U.S. as tech companies rush to power AI-driven products like chatbots and large language models. These facilities often require massive amounts of energy and water, raising concerns in drought-prone regions. In New Brunswick, residents were particularly worried about environmental impacts, noise pollution, and the strain on local resources. The city’s planning department had proposed allowing data centers as part of a broader redevelopment plan but faced fierce opposition from activists who demanded stricter regulations and community protections.
During a packed City Council meeting, Daniel Dominguez, New Brunswick’s city planner, explained that including data centers was intended to diversify commercial development but stressed it wasn’t essential to the project. Community members expressed fears about the long-term effects of large-scale AI infrastructure in residential areas. The council ultimately sided with residents, voting to amend the redevelopment plan by removing data centers as a permitted use and reinserting requirements for public spaces, like parks.
The New Brunswick decision is part of a broader trend across the country. In Clarmore, Oklahoma, residents protested so fiercely against a proposed data center that one activist was arrested for speaking too long during a council meeting. Similarly, in San Marcos, Texas, hundreds of locals gathered for nearly nine hours to oppose a data center plan, which was
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Originally published on Business Insider on 2/21/2026