This week, New Jersey ordered the operator of one of the East Coast’s largest planned data centers to pay a $1.1 million fine for secretly installing and operating gas generators in violation of the state’s Air Pollution Control Act.
Shouldn’t they also straight up close the place and arrest everyone who signed off on it?
In other news, Nintendo wins $4.5M from some dude selling pirated games…
Fines are just a cost of doing business. There needs to be criminal charges and real consequences on the people making the decisions, and shutting down those generators until they meet regulations.
In many US states if you get caught poaching game, the equipment you used is often subject to confiscation - that includes the boat, 4x4 truck, etc. If you are walking down the street with a suitcase full of cash - police can simply confiscate it with no evidence of an actual crime. If you are not going to jail anybody at least get yourself 62 generators for free. Am I overthinking this?
$1.1M an hour right?
At least $1.1M a day right?
Not even $1.1M a week???
That’s per generator, right?
I feel that only 1 million is a fraction of what they would had to pay if they had to produce the certifications and documentations for getting the permissions for the 62 turbines
Fine per day, right? RIGHT?
Exponentially increasing per day is still up right?
I’m sure they totally turned off those turbines right? So they keep getting fined each day right?
Break the law, pay a tiny fine
Really? $1.1 million is nothing
You guys remember in I think Nice Dreams with Cheech and Chong where they put up the blue tarps over the plants and he acted like he was swimming?
I bet they start using tarps or building buildings around them to start hiding this kind of stuff.
DataOne works for Nebius which caters to Microsoft mainly. This wasn’t a no name datacenter, it’s Microsoft.
If it’s punishable by a fine, it’s legal for a fee. We need jail time for CEOs, not paltry tickets
A measly mil?
the [62] “tractor-trailer-size” generators were “impossible to miss” and certainly were not there when inspectors last visited in December 2025.
Each one of the generators cost roughly $1 million. With shipping, installation, etc. the total was probably north of $100 million for these generators.
So, they were fined less than 2% of what it cost them to have these installed. Pocket change, indeed.
So just the cost of doing business in the end then.
Fine them one million a day until the generators are done. That should motivate them a bit more.
They were already in violation. The days should count from the day they were installed, or from the earliest day it was confirmed as not yet installed.
$1M on day 1, $2M on day 2, $4M on day 3, etc.
Tow the generators and impound them!
Donate em to Ukraine, these things sound perfect for temporary emergency energy relief after strikes on infrastructure.
“You have 30 minutes to remove your generator.”
“You have ten minutes.”
“Your generator has been impounded.”
“Your generator has been crushed into a cube.”
“You have 30 minutes to move your cube.”Instead they’re allowed to run them while they apply for the permit they didn’t follow through on. What a fucking joke
