The municipal ban wave

After American Tower withdrew a proposal in East Greenwich Township, the town banned data centers outright — joining Red Bank, Warren, Monroe, Millville, Andover, and Pemberton, with Sayreville adopting an 18-month moratorium. More than 60 organizations petitioned Gov. Mikie Sherrill for a three-year statewide moratorium; she opted for "guardrails" legislation instead, which critics called insufficient. Update (Aug 2026): Jersey City — the state's second-largest city — unanimously banned standalone data centers, the 34th New Jersey municipality with some form of ban, and Gov. Sherrill signed a four-part package including water/energy usage reporting and the data center tax-credit repeal (Planetizen · NJ.gov). Update (Oct 2026): an activist coalition now counts more than 110 New Jersey municipalities that have banned or blocked data centers (an advocacy tally, not an official count) and is pressing for a statewide moratorium (ROI-NJ).