New Jersey approved $500 million in tax credits to attract AI data centers under a program called "Next New Jersey Program – AI." Half of that money has already been handed to CoreWeave, a billion-dollar AI company building a 400,000 square-foot facility in Kenilworth. The other $250 million has now been temporarily frozen — but temporarily is not good enough.
Seven out of ten Americans do not want AI data centers built in their communities. More than 60 environmental, labor, and community organizations in New Jersey have called on Governor Mikie Sherrill to impose a statewide moratorium on data center construction. Protesters have gathered outside planning board meetings holding signs reading "No Tax Breaks for AI Companies."
One New Jersey assemblyman has already introduced legislation to repurpose $250 million of those tax credits — redirecting them to utility bill relief for residents and investment in clean energy. That is exactly the right idea.
Data centers consume massive amounts of electricity and water, strain the grid, generate noise, and create relatively few permanent jobs. As one neighboring farmer put it when a data center arrived on former farmland in Vineland: these companies would have come anyway. New Jersey did not need to pay them.
We're calling on the New Jersey Legislature and Governor Sherrill to permanently repeal the state's AI data center tax breaks and redirect that money to the residents who need it.