The congresswoman wants answers by Oct. 9 about the roughly 5,500-gallon release, emergency notifications and safeguards, after DEP said fuel affected a nearby tributary but did not reach the Hackensack River.
SECAUCUS, NJ – U.S. Rep. Nellie Pou has asked New Jersey environmental officials for a detailed account of the diesel spill at Equinix’s NY2 data center, including how the release happened, when responders were notified and what measures will prevent another spill.
The spill occurred on Sept. 11, 2026, releasing approximately 5,500 gallons of diesel fuel, according to the public reports cited in Pou’s request. Her Oct. 2 letter to New Jersey Environmental Protection Commissioner Ed Potosnak requests answers by Oct. 9. Pou, a Democrat representing New Jersey’s 9th Congressional District, announced the request Oct. 5.
The request follows changing public accounts of the spill’s cause and location. In a Sept. 16 report by Gothamist, DEP spokesperson Larry Hajna said the fuel affected a smaller, unnamed tributary near Anderson Creek. DEP had determined that the Hackensack River, Anderson Creek and Anderson Creek’s wetlands were not affected, he said.
That finding corrected early descriptions placing the spill in Anderson Creek. Pou’s request for findings about the Hackensack River does not establish that diesel reached it.
The facility is at 275 Hartz Way. Equinix rents space for customers’ computing equipment and provides power and connections to telecommunications networks. The company’s 2024 technical specifications for NY2 list seven 2,000-kilowatt diesel generators for standby power, explaining why the site maintains a fuel supply.
According to an Equinix statement published by News 12 on Sept. 14, operations staff detected the leak from an outdoor storage tank on the evening of Sept. 11. The company said it stopped the flow, hired Clean Harbors to conduct cleanup work and contacted the Secaucus Fire Department, which notified DEP and the Hudson Regional Health Commission.
News 12 also reported DEP’s account that the spill was reported Saturday morning, Sept. 12. The published statements do not give exact times for each notification, leaving the sequence among the details Pou is asking DEP to establish.
In that initial coverage, Secaucus Mayor Michael Gonnelli attributed the spill to a computer glitch. Equinix subsequently told Gothamist that its investigation identified failures in two valves used during fuel filtration. The company expressed regret and said its incident report was still being finalized when the Sept. 16 story was published. That explanation was the company’s finding; it was not presented as a final DEP investigative conclusion.
Cleanup involved barriers called booms to contain floating fuel and equipment to remove oil and water. In a Sept. 16 NJ Spotlight News interview, Gothamist reporter Michael Sol Warren said Equinix’s contractor had worked at the site since Friday evening and that cleanup remained underway.
DEP told News 12 in its Sept. 14 report that there were no drinking-water intakes in the area and that no wildlife impacts had been reported. Those statements described conditions reported during the initial response, rather than the results of a completed assessment of environmental damage.
Pou’s letter asks DEP to reconstruct the sequence beginning with the start of the fuel-recycling process and the failure that allowed fuel to escape. She wants times for detection, shutdown, calls to emergency responders and DEP, responders’ arrival, the start of containment and DEP’s notification to Secaucus officials.
She also asks when any barges or other cleanup equipment were removed and what information supported those decisions. A separate question requests the dates of subsequent DEP briefings to Secaucus, or an explanation if the agency did not continue providing updates.
The request extends beyond the immediate cleanup. Pou asks whether DEP has required Equinix or other data centers to use human, on-site monitoring and additional safeguards for automated fuel systems. She requests the agency’s findings on whether diesel reached the Hackensack River, information about remediation and a timetable for a final public incident report.
Her letter also cites earlier reported data center spills: roughly 600 gallons from a Digital Realty facility in Clifton in 2017 and more than 1,800 gallons from an Equinix facility in North Bergen in 2022. Pou uses those incidents to question whether safeguards should apply across facilities.
The Secaucus spill has also prompted calls for environmental restoration. Gothamist reported Sept. 16 that Gonnelli and Hackensack Riverkeeper Bill Sheehan wanted the state to pursue a natural resource damages claim against Equinix.
Under DEP’s restoration policy, responsible parties can be required to restore damaged natural resources and compensate the public for their lost value during the period of injury. Those obligations are separate from investigating and cleaning up a release. A request for such a claim does not establish that the state has filed one or determined an amount owed.
Equinix’s plans for the area add context to the questions about prevention. In a Sept. 18 report, Gothamist described the company’s proposed NY10 data center immediately next to NY2. Equinix said infrastructure work had begun and that it expected the new facility to open by 2030. The company also said it would apply lessons from the spill to existing and planned facilities.
The nearby Hackensack River already has a separate, longstanding pollution problem. An EPA community update describes the Lower Hackensack River Superfund site as approximately 22 river miles, extending from south of Oradell Dam to near Newark Bay in Bergen and Hudson counties.
Decades of industrial and sewage discharges contaminated the river and its sediment with substances including heavy metals and PCBs. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List in September 2022. Its April 2025 update described investigations into the extent of contamination and possible early cleanup actions. That work predates the Equinix spill and does not establish damage from the September release.
Pou’s Oct. 9 deadline is her requested date for DEP’s answers. Her letter separately asks when the agency expects to finish its investigation and release the final report.