For Immediate Release
October 1st, 2026
Media Contact: Jackie.Greger@sierraclub.org
Data Center Transparency Bill Eliminating NDAs with Municipalities Passes Senate Committee
Trenton, NJ - Today, a critical data center transparency bill, S4304/A2774, was released out of the Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee.
This bill explicitly prohibits developers from entering into non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with municipalities or property sellers that are entered into for the purpose of (or effect of) concealing the details, or preventing public review of the development plans for a data center.
Often, data center developers hide behind NDAs to keep communities in the dark about development plans.
Data centers bring real threats from noise disruption and heat islands, and encroach on open space, farms, and communities. With their massive size comes equally high energy and water needs–demand that is often greater than that of the entire rest of the community combined.
NJ Sierra Club Conservation Program Manager, Taylor McFarland, made the following statement in response:
“The Sierra Club strongly opposes the use of NDAs between data center developers and local governments as they allow tech companies to conduct back door dealing. Non-disclosure agreements create a dangerous lack of transparency that leaves local communities out of the loop on environmental and financial impacts until deals are already finalized.
NDAs have been used to prevent local officials from discussing how much water and energy a proposed facility will consume. Hyperscale data centers like DataOne in Vineland require huge amounts of resources, including millions of gallons of water per day and gigawatts of power that strain local grids. When this information is locked under an NDA, the public cannot calculate the cumulative environmental damage, like air pollution from backup diesel generators or local aquifer depletion, before construction begins.
This legislation addresses this critical lack of transparency, and we thank Senator Greenstein and Senator Stack for their leadership on this bill. We urge both houses to continue this momentum and move it for a floor vote as soon as possible to ensure NJ communities aren’t kept in the dark.”
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About the New Jersey Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit https://www.sierraclub.org/new-jersey.