Vote On Newark Power Plant Nixed After Gov. Murphy Intervenes – Patch.com

NEWARK, NJ — NOTE: This article has been updated with a statement from the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission.

A controversial plan to build a new, $180 million power plant in the Ironbound section of Newark has been temporarily put on ice, advocates say.

The Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission (PVSC) has been planning to build a natural gas power plant at its existing wastewater treatment facility at 600 Wilson Avenue in Newark. The long-running proposal is part of a resiliency blueprint that sprang up in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

During the infamous storm, the PVSC wastewater facility in Newark was flooded, spilling billions of gallons of raw or partially-treated sewage into the Passaic River. Since then, the PVSC has rolled out a sweeping series of renovations to avoid future calamities. Part of that plan includes building a plant which would provide backup power to their wastewater treatment plant if the grid goes down.

According to the PVSC, the Newark Bay Wastewater Treatment Plant serves more than more than 1.5 million residential users, 5,000 commercial users, and 200 “significant industrial users” in 48 municipalities throughout Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Passaic and Union counties. The Newark plant also receives liquid waste from customers all along the East Coast – about 300 trucks per day – as well as two barges and two ships per week.

The PVSC was scheduled to vote Thursday on a contract to begin building the new power plant. But according to WNYC/Gothamist, a spokesperson for Gov. Phil Murphy said he asked the PVSC to postpone the vote. Read the full article.

“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.

Passaic Valley Sewage Commission Chairman Thomas Tucci told Patch that the board is delaying the vote because its members want to have a dialogue with the public and the community about the project.

“We’re going to move forward in a realistic and environmentally responsible way,” Tucci said Friday.

Local environmental groups and residents in the Ironbound have been pushing Murphy to put a halt to the proposed plant, alleging that it will add yet another source of pollution to an already overburdened neighborhood.

A PVSC spokesperson previously told Patch that the facility would be powered by “the same natural gas that people all across Newark and New Jersey in general use to heat their homes and from which they also obtain electrical power.”

“The plant will use state-of-the-art emission controls with negligible impact to the community,” he said.

However, some residents and environmental activists allege that, as currently planned, the plant would be bad news for the people who live nearby. They repeated that call on Thursday.

“Gov. Murphy has reaffirmed his commitment to environmental justice by canceling today’s vote,” said Maria Lopez-Nunez of the Ironbound Community Corporation, a Newark nonprofit that has been leading the charge against the plant.

“Our community needs a real process to evaluate alternatives to the power plant like the one NJ Transit has initiated for their resiliency project right next door in Kearny,” Lopez-Nunez said. “We need to bring in real resources and experts to find a solution that does not hurt the lungs of our children and in no way contributes to climate change.”

Advocates said that approving the project would undermine Murphy’s stated commitment to phase out fossil fuels. It would also defy the spirit of a new state law intended to protect environmental justice communities from new sources of pollution, they said.

“Today’s decision to cancel the vote is a critical first step towards fulfilling Gov. Murphy’s commitments to protect clean air for all New Jerseyans,” said Matt Smith, state director of Food & Water Watch.

But that’s not enough, he added.

“We need a strong public commitment from Gov. Murphy that he will not issue the air permit for the polluting power plant, and instead order the PVSC to re-design the resiliency project in a way that brings no further pollution to Newark and neighboring communities,” Smith said.

Other advocates who offered statements about the proposed plant included:

Cynthia Mellon (co-chair, City of Newark Environmental Commission) – “Delaying this project is the right thing to do because new facilities should serve and protect overburdened communities, not increase harm and pollution. We need a real process that centers robust community engagement to achieve a solution that protects public health today and a safe environment for future generations.”

Kim Gaddy (Clean Water Action national environmental justice director/founder of Newark’s South Ward Environmental Alliance) – “Gov. Murphy this morning has demonstrated real environmental justice leadership, thank you! Newark residents have been heard. We have had enough. We cannot afford any new industrial smokestacks. Whatever their other intentions, they unavoidably poison our already too poisoned lungs and add to the climate emergency. There are better options out there for our lungs, our jobs, and our Newark Bay. We look forward to working with the PVSC, the Murphy administration and appreciate this pause to ensure we have the right process and get to the right result. Today’s meeting shows we still have a long way to go.”

Ed Potosnak (executive director, New Jersey League of Conservation Voters) – “We want to thank Gov. Murphy for agreeing with us that this is the last thing the residents of the Ironbound community need is another polluting fracked-gas power plant. Ironbound residents have been organizing and fighting back against environmental racism and toxic projects for decades, and we stand with Black and Brown families and businesses in opposition to this project. The New Jersey LCV looks forward to working with local stakeholders, the PVSC, and the administration to ensure the project is aligned with our clean energy goals and won’t add to the burden of carbon pollutants and co-pollutants that cause higher rates of cancer and asthma for people of color in the Ironbound community.”

Renée Pollard (environmental and social justice chair, Sierra Club New Jersey Chapter) – “I’d like to thank Gov. Murphy for honoring his commitment to protecting environmental justice communities, especially the Ironbound community. We now have the law S232 and the executive order that is supposed to protect these communities from hazardous and toxic new and pending projects from moving forward. This is an opportunity to find alternate green renewable solutions to otherwise dirty projects.”

PVSC: ‘HERE ARE THE DETAILS’

On Friday, the PVSC provided Patch with a list of “frequently asked questions” about the proposed standby power generation facility (SPGF). They included:

POWER – “Once complete, the facility will generate enough electrical power to sustain all of PVSC’s operations in the event that PVSC’s regular power feeds from Public Service Enterprise Group (PSE&G) are interrupted for any reason. PVSC is the largest single-site consumer of electrical power in the state of New Jersey. The SPGF will be capable of generating 34 MW of power.”

NECESSITY – “As PVSC has demonstrated through computer modeling, a loss of power of any significant length of time coupled with heavy rains will result in raw sewage backups in basements and street level flooding throughout Newark, Jersey City, and Bayonne. Further, PVSC plays a critical role in the processing of drinking water treatment. Finally, protection of the environment and public health cannot be jeopardized by a loss of power.”

COST – “The cost for the entire FEMA Hazard Mitigation Program project is approximately $600 million. The SPGF portion is approximately $180 million. Contingent upon all contractual and other legal procedures being followed, FEMA reimburses PVSC for 90 percent of the costs and PVSC anticipates that the remaining 10 percent will be financed through low-interest loans provided through the New Jersey Infrastructure Bank’s Environmental Infrastructure Financing Program.”

PERMITS – “PVSC has already obtained all necessary permits for most parts of the project; the sole remaining permit relates to the operation of the SPGF. PVSC has applied to NJDEP for that permit and the application has already been deemed by NJDEP to be administratively complete, meaning that only a review of the technical specifications remains. PVSC previously received authorization from NJDEP to purchase the SPGF equipment and received authorization from NJDEP to advertise and receive bids for construction of the SPGF building.”

FREQUENCY – “Without an event necessitating its actual use, the SPGF will be run during a single day each month for testing, maintenance, and demand response. Actual use will, of course, be dependent on the number and length of any necessitating events. The SPGF will not be run on a daily basis, nor was it ever contemplated that the SPGF would be run on a daily basis.”

ENVIRONMENT – “The SPGF is designed to use state-of-the-art technology for both air quality protection and operating efficiency. While it was originally anticipated that the SPGF would run initially on 100% natural gas, PVSC announced at a public stakeholders meeting held on December 16, 2021, that it will accelerate its pre-existing plans to convert the SPGF to run on alternative green renewable fuels either in conjunction with natural gas, or, as the technology becomes available, as a complete replacement.”

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