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Vineland residents urge pause on proposed AI data center, citing aquifer and water-use risks
Summary
Residents told Cumberland County commissioners the proposed Vineland AI data center (referred to in the transcript as 'Nebius Data 1' / 'NEVIUS data 1') could strain the Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer and asked municipal and county officials to require independent water-demand analysis, less water‑intensive cooling and binding protections for taxpayers before approvals proceed.
Nicole Gardner of Vineland told the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners that residents are asking local elected officials to press for stronger water and environmental safeguards before a proposed AI data center advances.
Gardner, speaking in the public-comment period, said the project—identified in the meeting transcript as 'Nebius Data 1' (also transcribed elsewhere in the record as 'NEVIUS data 1')—is planned as a large campus and cited an estimated scale of about 300 megawatts. She told the board that the Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer supplies much of South Jersey and that large data centers can require "millions of gallons of water per day," putting municipal wells, farmland and sensitive wetlands at risk.
"This project is…
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