Two months after Gov. Phil Murphy temporarily stopped the project. However, a state agency that he controls is still moving forward with plans for a gas-fired power station along the Passaic River. This has led to opponents questioning the governor’s commitment towards clean energy.
Residents, environmentalists, doctors, and others pleaded with state Department of Environmental Protection to deny a crucial air permit to Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission. The commission claimed that the proposed power plant in Newark will add more pollution to an already-overburdened community.
“We were already suffering from pollution in the area so we don’t need another gas generator,” said Iveth Moquera of Kearny, whose children have asthma.
Commission members and their consultants stated Tuesday that the sewage plant will use more renewable energy sources to offset the emissions from the proposed power plant. This was in response to criticism. Three days of power outage at the sewage plant occurred after Superstorm Sandy 2012, which resulted in 840 million gallons (raw sewage) leaking into Newark Bay.
Greg Tramontozzi was the executive director of the commission. He stated Tuesday that the plant would only be on one day per month for testing and maintenance. He stated that the plant would be equipped with advanced emission controls to reduce air pollution.
Tramontozzi stated, “During the year when no emergencies occur, the power generator facility would be offline during 353 days.”
The hearing lasted more that three hours and was designed to assess the impact of the facility on an area of environmental justice that has a high concentration of pollution-generating plants and a large minority. The surrounding area is populated with factories. incineratorMultiple Power plantsPort Newark and the surrounding area is surrounded with highways.
According to a survey, while air quality has improved in recent years, New York City and North Jersey still rank 14th in the U.S. in terms of smog days. ReportReleased last week by American Lung Association
Opponents claimed the plant would emit greenhouse gases into our atmosphere and intensify storms like Sandy.
Murphy’s 2020 environmental justice law, which was signed by Murphy, is at the heart of this debate. It is designed to encourage communities of color to build fewer polluting buildings. It allows the DEPto refuse a permit if it determines that the cumulative environmental and public health impacts of a project will be greater in an area with high levels of overburdenness than in other New Jersey communities.
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The agency is still developing rules to implement the law. An interim order does not force the DEP into considering the cumulative historical effects of pollution on communities around the plant, including Newark’s Ironbound.
The project is well under way. The commission awarded Siemens a $51million contract for equipment. This includes three turbines, which have been built and are “ready” to be shipped to PVSC. AccordingSend a Commission Report.
Murphy stopped the Commission from voting on another part of the construction in January. Murphy believed that it needed a more thorough review to make sure “the project conforms to the administration’s core values on environment justice.”
Commission consultants responded Tuesday by saying that they plan to reduce the frequency of the powerplant’s operation, increase solar power for the sewage plants’ operations, and shut down other fossil-fuel turbines by 2030.
These moves “would reduce emission elsewhere on the site, to more than offset actual emission from the project,” said Cynthia Hibbard of engineering firm CDM Smith.
Opponents claim it isn’t enough. They also question the claims of the commission that the new power station and these green measures would reduce air pollutants.
“It should be giving Newark these reductions anyway unrelated the new plant,” said Nicky Sheats, director of the Center for the Urban Environment at Kean University. “The question is, why aren’t these reductions being made now?”
Scott Fallon has covered COVID-19 since it began in March 2020. Subscribe or activate your digital account to get unlimited access and the most recent news about the pandemic’s effect on New Jersey.
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