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Residents urge Princeton to seek air permits and monitoring for proposed compressor station and data center
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Summary
Residents and an environmental consultant asked the Princeton Mayor and Council to request NJDEP air-permit hearings and expanded monitoring after presentations describing a planned compressor station and a proposed Sentinel data center with multiple backup generators and potential NO2 spikes.
Residents urged the Princeton Mayor and Council on April 27 to press for additional air monitoring and a formal permit hearing after public commenters described two proposed or permitted projects near town boundaries: a compressor station and the Sentinel data center.
Lehi Asmus, who previously raised the compressor-station issue with the council, told elected officials that the Sentinel data center could require as much as 70 megawatts of power and would include 20 industrial-size diesel backup generators. "If they are built, Princeton should plan for short term pollution spikes from these facilities due to blowdowns and combustion," Asmus said, and asked the council to seek an air-permit hearing and regional monitoring.
Kirk Frost, introduced to the council as an expert who has provided reports to local health and environmental commissions, told the meeting that permit limits and monitoring are inadequate for localized emissions. "Protecting our air is not optional. It's foundational," he said, and asked the council to coordinate with neighboring towns and the county to pursue additional monitoring and to ask New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection sites to capture local NO2 measurements.
What residents asked for
Public speakers requested three steps: 1) that the council send a formal letter requesting an NJDEP air-permit hearing for the proposed projects; 2) that the council request additional localized air monitoring near the sites, including monitoring of NO2; and 3) that the municipality coordinate regionally with neighboring towns and counties on monitoring strategy.
Council response and status
Council members acknowledged the comments and said they would take them under advisement; the meeting record shows no vote or formal direction to send a letter during the April 27 session. The transcript includes technical claims about generator counts and projected emissions that residents and consultants asked the council and NJDEP to verify.
Why it matters
Speakers cited research linking short-term spikes in NO2 and other combustion-related pollutants to acute and chronic health impacts and urged municipal advocacy to ensure permit conditions and monitoring protect nearby neighborhoods. The council did not take immediate formal action on the requests during the meeting.
Next steps
Residents asked the council to pursue letters to NJDEP and to coordinate a regional monitoring approach; if the council elects to act, those requests would be part of follow-up work by municipal staff and possibly the environmental commission.
