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NJ Wastewater Facility Pulls Power Plant Contract After Local Uproar
By
Karen Yi
Published Jan 13, 2022
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Karen Yi/Gothamist
By
Karen Yi
Published Jan 13, 2022
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New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has stopped a controversial vote to OK construction on a new power plant in Newark, after residents rallied against another polluting facility in their neighborhood.
As WNYC/Gothamist reported Wednesday, the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission was scheduled to vote Thursday at noon on a contract to begin building a $180 million natural gas power plant in the city’s East Ward. The 84-megawatt plant would provide emergency back-up power during storms to prevent the kind of catastrophic sewage spill that occurred during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. But community leaders and environmental activists objected to siting another power plant in a community that already endures heavy pollution.
Alex Altman, a spokeswoman for Murphy, said the governor asked the PVSC to postpone today’s vote.
“The pause will allow the project to undergo a more thorough environmental justice review and robust public engagement process, ensuring that the voices of the community are heard,” she said.
"Since taking office in 2018, Governor Murphy has made clear that New Jersey’s overburdened communities will no longer be a dumping ground for harmful pollutants. While the proposed back up generation put forth by the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission is meant to provide a critical climate resilience solution, it is imperative that the project adheres to the administration’s core values on environmental justice.”
Local residents and environmental activists had for months pushed back against the project and said it conflicted with landmark legislation passed in 2020 meant to prevent the over-contamination of places already burdened with pollutants — like Newark. Rules for the new law are still being written meaning the project was likely to escape additional scrutiny under the measure.
Murphy signed the environmental justice law in 2020 in Newark against the backdrop of industrial East Ward that already boasts two power plants, a fat rendering facility and a trash incinerator. He had remained silent on the issue until Thursday.
“I think we cut it very close, but I'm so thankful that the governor came through and delivered on his environmental justice promises,” said Maria Lopez Nuñez, deputy director of organizing and advocacy at the Ironbound Community Corporation, an environmental advocacy group in Newark. “There's more fight left. Now, we need to make sure that after a meaningful public process that we end up with a solution that's doable. We need to follow it all the way through and make sure that we don't end up with a fossil fuel plant at the end of this.”
During Thursday’s meeting, PVSC chairman Thomas Tucci said commissioners agreed to pull the contract from the agenda in order to “move forward in a realistic, responsible and environmental way. We’ve always been a leader in environmental technology.”
More than 100 people joined the virtual meeting, mostly to speak against the power plant and thank Murphy for intervening.
“I have a 9-month-old son,” said Newark resident Michael Habib. “It’s honestly scary to me to see more of this coming in. We already have dirty water and dirty air and it doesn’t make sense to me … we’re already overburdened so putting more on this community doesn’t make sense.”
This story has been updated with additional information from Thursday's PVSC meeting.
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Newark NJ
environment
new jersey
phil murphy
Karen Yi
Karen Yi covers homelessness and poverty. She joined the WNYC and Gothamist newsroom in 2020. Before that, Karen covered Newark for the Star-Ledger and spent almost a decade working for newspapers in New Jersey and Florida. She grew up in Miami and has a dog named Cashew. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 917-589-1460.
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