{"id":598665,"date":"2026-08-28T13:32:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T13:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/598665\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T13:32:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T13:32:09","slug":"its-all-you-can-hear-new-jersey-lawsuit-takes-on-datacenters-noise-pollution-datacenters-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/598665\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s all you can hear\u2019: New Jersey lawsuit takes on datacenter\u2019s noise pollution | Datacenters \u2013 US"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a sound Steve Brown, a 63-year-old Vineland, New Jersey<\/a> resident, literally hears in his sleep: BGRRRRRRRRRRR.<\/p>\n

It drones, oscillates, growls \u2013 these are machines at industrial scale. Are they generators? Pumps? Fans? Brown does not know what equipment causes the sound or why. He only knows two things: he\u2019s tired of it, and it\u2019s coming from DataOne \u2013 a 350MW datacenter under construction a little more than a mile from his home of 25 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt woke me up probably around, I don\u2019t know, somewhere around 2 o\u2019clock in the morning,\u201d said Brown, who was weary by mid-afternoon. \u201cI couldn\u2019t get back to sleep, because once you hear it, it\u2019s all you can hear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of all the concerns Americans have raised about datacenters \u2013 including mind-boggling electricity demands<\/a>, water use and emissions \u2013 sound pollution ranks high among them, according to attorneys, experts and the people whose homes are nearby.<\/p>\n

Now, Brown and two of his neighbors are the named plaintiffs in a lawsuit that alleges the sound<\/a> is a nuisance for up to one mile around the datacenter, which is seeking class action status. They are represented by a seasoned environmental pollution law firm in Michigan: Liddle Sheets Coulson.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have four cases that are being litigated in court against datacenters for noise, and we\u2019re gearing up to file quite a few more,\u201d said Laura Sheets, attorney for the class. \u201cThis is one of several.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opposition to datacenters across the country has led to raucous town halls, protests and now potential election consequences. Republicans recently told AI companies they are concerned backlash could swing elections<\/a>. Democrats appear to have also smelled blood in the water: a challenger for Vineland\u2019s very red congressional seat hired a truck<\/a> outfitted with digital billboards reading: \u201cNo datacenter here\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Vineland datacenter, at 2.4m sq ft<\/a>, represents both the scale and speed with which many facilities are coming to American communities. As recently as October 2024<\/a>, the site was a brand new nine-hole public golf course. By March 2025<\/a>, Amsterdam-based Nebius, a spin-off of Russian search-engine Yandex, had contracted with DataOne. Since spring, permit meetings and town halls about the datacenter have packed the Landis Theater, a music venue in town.<\/p>\n

DataOne executives have sought to quell the backlash with a town hall<\/a> of their own and a \u201cmicrosite<\/a>\u201d dedicated to questions about the datacenter. The company even promised<\/a>, \u201cweekly baskets of organic, non-GMO fruits and vegetables\u201d to \u201cunderprivileged residents of Vineland\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I say is that there\u2019s really four problems here: three are given a great deal of attention \u2013 energy consumption, water use and contamination,\u201d said Jamie Banks, president of Quiet Communities Inc, a non-profit advocacy group. \u201cThe forgotten stepchild is noise.\u201d<\/p>\n

The dangers of noise to public health have been recognized since at least 1968<\/a>, when then US surgeon general, William H Stewart, attended the first meeting of the American Speech and Hearing Association in Washington DC.<\/p>\n

\u201cAside from hearing, it has been demonstrated that noise can cause physiological changes,\u201d Stewart said in a keynote address. \u201cThese include cardiovascular, glandular and respiratory effects reflective of the generalized stress reaction,\u201d which can occur \u201cunder sustained high level, or even moderately high noise conditions\u201d.<\/p>\n

Congress tasked the EPA in 1972 with regulating sound and funded regional noise centers. They got to work regulating consumer goods such as motorcycles \u2013 and people can still appreciate the relics of this work on EPA-stamped-and-approved mufflers.<\/p>\n

However, when the Reagan administration defunded noise pollution offices in 1982, regional centers closed, and the EPA has done no appreciable research or enforcement since. Noise pollution, as a priority for federal government enforcement, was all but forgotten.<\/p>\n

Except by people like Bank. As class actions scrutinizing the sound of datacenters ramp up, Quiet Communities won an important legal victory \u2013 they sued the EPA for failing to regulate sound. In July, they won<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, there is just one EPA regional noise center still in operation: the Rutgers University Noise Technical Assistance Center in New Jersey. Eric Zwerling, its director, kept the center alive by turning it into the training center for every noise control officer in the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s 50 years since then \u2013 there\u2019s been a lot more research on the impacts of low frequency,\u201d said Zwerling. \u201cMy personal opinion \u2013 not that of Rutgers and the center, [is] the permissible sound levels for sources such as this need to be re-evaluated according to the correct state of knowledge on the impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cIf [datacenters] are designed and properly built, they can be relatively quiet. On the other hand, if there is no consideration to the sound emissions from the facility, the facility can have impacts that are virtually catastrophic to the people nearby.\u201d<\/p>\n

Volume is measured in decibels, a logarithmic scale based on human hearing. It begins at the edge of auditory perception \u2013 zero. If a whisper is 30 decibels and a normal conversation is 60 decibels, it means the typical conversation is 1,000 times louder than the whisper. A rock band, at 100 decibels, is 1,000 times louder than the conversation.<\/p>\n

A second dynamic of sound is its disruption of atmospheric pressure as it moves in waves. The frequency with which those waves cycle through the atmosphere per second is measured in hertz. Experts describe this as important for people living with the thrum of a nearby industrial facility, because low frequencies are known to travel long distances<\/a> and can be experienced as vibration.<\/p>\n

\u201cEffects like hum, whooshing, whistling,\u201d occur in \u201cvery narrow frequency bands in the low frequency range\u201d, said Banks. \u201cThat noise \u2026 is coming right into people\u2019s homes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another plaintiff in the Vineland suit, Michael Gentile, 63, said he, \u201cfound out it was a datacenter after I began to hear the noise\u201d. He estimates he has called the county health department, responsible for enforcing noise ordinances, about \u201c20 times\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018I know you guys are testing for sound, but what about vibration?\u2019 I said \u2018Can you feel that?\u2019 I could feel it on my porch,\u201d he said. \u201cThey don\u2019t have any tools to do that. I said, \u2018Well that doesn\u2019t help me now.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement to the Guardian, DataOne spokesperson Naomi Race said the company is working to mitigate sound. The company, built \u201ca northerly wall\u2026 as an additional layer to mitigate any sound from the construction site\u201d; adjusted construction timing, said it will be using \u201cquiet fuel cells to power the facility\u201d and that it \u201cretained the services of a sound mitigation specialist to assess the project site\u201d. Race said the company was unable to comment on litigation, but that it is \u201ccommitted to constructive dialogue, regulatory compliance, and being a valuable and responsible long-term member of the community\u201d.<\/p>\n

Nebius echoed DataOne. \u201cIn Vineland, we are working with DataOne to minimize impact, including measures to minimize noise and water use and ensure local residents don\u2019t pay more for electricity\u2026 We remain committed to engaging openly with the Vineland community and being a responsible long-term partner,\u201d vice-president of public affairs, John Sutter, said in a statement.<\/p>\n