New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration has green-lighted a controversial plan to build a fourth electric-generating plant in Newark’s Ironbound neighborhood, despite objections from local advocates who say it will exacerbate pollution in the community.
Murphy had faced pressure from community activists and environmentalists to stop the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission plant, which will serve as a source of backup electricity during a power outage. During Hurricane Sandy in 2012, large amounts of raw sewage spilled into Newark’s and New York’s harbors.
The compromise struck by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection would allow PSVC to build the power plant in the Ironbound, but only for use during a power outage.
The project is the first approved through the state’s environmental justice law, which is intended to protect communities that have historically borne the brunt of polluting infrastructure.
“We believe that this is the kind of result that our environmental justice law was intended to achieve,” New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn LaTourette said. “It’s one that not only avoids casting more pollution upon an overburdened community but also improves upon the existing conditions by reducing pollution that our neighbors are already experiencing.”
LaTourette said the project will not only prevent but also reduce pollution because it requires PVSC to take other actions to cut air pollution at its other power plants.
“The PVSC would not, and I cannot underscore this enough, be allowed to utilize the power station as a regular power source for its routine operations or to reduce its energy usage, demand or costs,” said LaTourette.
One in four children in the Ironbound has asthma. The community has long fought the high number of power plants and heavy truck traffic that travels in and out of the Port of New York and New Jersey, the country’s second largest port.
“I’m amused that their characterization calls it a great compromise,” Maria Lopez-Nuñez of the Ironbound Community Corporation said. “I think it’s a racist compromise. The green remediation stuff that they’re doing, it should be done anyway.”
The environmental justice law, which Murphy signed in 2023, is the first of its kind in the nation and was intended to address communities of color, like the Ironbound, that have high levels of pollution. Murphy had said he supported the new power plant because it was needed to prevent sewage spills.
The first indication that activists were having an impact on the governor came earlier this year when first lady Tammy Murphy, who was running for U.S. Senate, announced her opposition to the power plant. It is the only policy position she has taken that contradicted her husband. She later dropped out of the race.
Lopez-Nuñez, who stood with Tammy Murphy during her announcement, said she was not happy with the administration’s decision. She noted that the neighborhood already has three power plants, a garbage incinerator, a sewage treatment facility and a Superfund site.
“You’re going to give us a fourth power plant — we’re only four square miles,” she said. “What else is the Murphy administration going to give us? The intention was to protect communities that have been overburdened.”