A New Jersey data center has spilled thousands of gallons of diesel fuel into a tributary of the Hackensack River. This has prompted a cleanup operation and questions about how the leak occurred. The company has confirmed that the spill happened on the evening of September 11 at Equinix’s NY2 facility in Secaucus. Equinix said its operations staff detected a fuel release from a storage tank outside the building, stopped the leak and brought in Clean Harbors to begin remediation.According to a report by New Jersey News 12, Secaucus Mayor Michael Gonnelli initially attributed the incident to a “computer glitch”, while Equinix said two broken valves caused the release. The company also said it contacted the Secaucus Fire Department, which responded and notified the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the Hudson Regional Health Commission.
Thousands of gallons of diesel spilled
The NJDEP said the 5,000-gallon spill originated from a storage tank at the Equinix data center in Secaucus. Fuel flowed into an unnamed tributary of the Hackensack River, although officials said it did not reach the river itself.A cleanup operation over the weekend removed much of the fuel. Crews had recovered about 3,500 gallons and continued removing fuel from affected areas of the creek.The department said the spill had not resulted in any observed impacts on local wildlife. It also said no drinking water intakes were near the affected area.
Mayor cites a computer glitch
Secaucus Mayor Michael Gonnelli initially described the incident as the result of a “computer glitch” in comments to local news outlets. He said the data center, which has operated at the site since 2001, had not previously experienced a similar issue.Equinix, however, provided a different explanation. The company said the spill resulted from two broken valves used during the facility’s routine filtration process and that it was preparing a full incident response report.“We regret that this occurred and the concern it has caused the community,” the statement said.
Equinix has faced a previous spill
The incident is not the first diesel spill involving a data center in New Jersey. In 2017, about 600 gallons of fuel from a data center entered storm drains in the Clifton area. In 2022, an Equinix data center in North Bergen spilt about 1,800 gallons of diesel.The latest incident therefore involves a larger volume of fuel than those previous cases. Data centre-related diesel spills have also been reported elsewhere in the US, although they represent a small share of overall oil spills.
Why data centers use diesel
Diesel fuel is commonly used to power backup generators at data centers. These generators keep facilities operating during power outages, when interruptions can affect the services hosted inside.The use of backup diesel generators has expanded alongside data center construction. According to the Better Data Center Project, data center diesel generator capacity increased from 20 gigawatts in 2018 to 55 gigawatts in 2024.Data centers also require substantial cooling infrastructure, which can lead to facilities being built near water sources. That can create additional environmental concerns when fuel or other materials escape from a facility.