Articles 7.14.26.pdf

(3) Developing Strong Statewide Standards for Community Benefits Agreements: State standards and resources would be used to increase the negotiating power of municipalities when it comes to addressing data center impacts, such as light, noise, and pollution, and incentivizing investment in local communities. (4) Creating Jobs Related to Local Trades: Data centers would be incentivized to invest in jobs leveraging local trades. Sherrill's Plan follows the introduction of Bill S731/A796 in the New Jersey Legislature on January 13, 2026. In its current form, the Bill would require New Jersey public electric utilities to develop and submit a tariff to the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) for large load data centers, i.e., data centers with a peak electricity demand of 100 megawatts or more. The Bill has passed the New Jersey Assembly and currently awaits Senate approval. Through her Comprehensive Plan, Governor Sherrill aims to hold data centers accountable without driving business away from the state. Whether the goals of her plan will be achieved remains to be seen. In the meantime, data centers can take proactive measures, including actively monitoring local legislative dockets, engaging with the Public Utility Commission, optimizing water consumption, implementing community benefit agreements, and diversifying power sources. Saul Ewing's Energy, Environmental, and Data Center Practices will track developments on the regulation of data centers in New Jersey and other states as they arise. Please do not hesitate to contact the authors of this alert, or your regular Saul Ewing point(s) of contact, with any questions about the substance of this alert. [1] Pinelands Alliance. Petition to the Governor of New Jersey: A Three-Year Moratorium on New Data Centers. https://engage.pinelandsalliance.org/datacentersnj [2] Nate Beck. NJ, Pa. Move For New Data Center Development Standards, Law 360 (May 27, 2026), https:/Awww.law360,com/articles/2482434/nj-pa-move-for-new-data-center-development-standards [3] Nyah Marshall. This N.J. farming town is fighting back against one of the East Coast’s largest Al data centers, bttus:/feeww. saul. com/insights/alar neve jerseys-first-nation-co... cehensive-plan-regulate-data-ceniers?ulm_sourceschatgpt.com 6/28/26, 11:45 PM Page 3 al S