Waste & Hazardous Materials
Equinix Secaucus data center spills about 5,000 gallons of diesel into Sack Creek
Confirmed
- Date
- 2026-09-11
- Location
- Secaucus, Hudson County, New Jersey, United States
- Category
- Waste & Hazardous Materials
- POLLUTION
- Distance from data center
- Not stated in sources
Evidence
- Did the harm happen?
- Officially confirmed
- Did the data center cause it?
- Confirmed
- AI connection
- No verified AI connection
- What was affected
- Surface water
- Why
- NJDEP oversaw cleanup; Equinix incident report attributes overflow to debris lodged in two valves.
- Denials and outcomes
- Spill volume and cause verified. Equinix's incident report says debris became lodged in two valves, causing a diesel overflow that lasted about four hours from a storage tank kept on site. Patch reported approximately 5,500 gallons; Secaucus officials reported more than 5,000 gallons, with about 3,500 gallons recovered from the creek. The fuel entered a creek that feeds the Hackensack River; NJDEP referred to it as Anderson Creek while Patch named it Sack Creek. NJDEP said the diesel was contained in the creek and did not reach the river, and Secaucus council members said no damage to wildlife or vegetation had been identified. Because no ecological damage is established by the sources, the Severe damage flag is not applied.
More than 5,000 gallons of diesel fuel leaked from a storage tank at the expanding Equinix data center on Hartz Way in Secaucus into a creek that feeds the Hackensack River, reported on September 11, 2026 (NJDEP referred to Anderson Creek; Patch reported Sack Creek). NJDEP said the diesel was contained in the creek and did not reach the river, and cleanup continued for days. Equinix's incident report says debris lodged in two valves caused a fuel overflow that lasted about four hours.