From the April - June 2022 Jersey Sierran
In early January, Gov. Phil Murphy intervened with the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission (PVSC) to prevent a vote on construction of an 84-megawatt, backup, fossil fuel–powered generation plant. The move will force the PVSC to reflect more deeply on opportunities for renewable energy alternatives and pay greater heed to the state’s environmental justice commitments.
The PVSC processes sewage for four counties and is the state’s largest electricity user. The Newark sewage processing facility’s grid dependence became evident following Hurricane Sandy in 2012, when it lost power and allowed 840 million gallons of sewage to flood into waterways and Newark Bay. The backup plant would enable the PVSC to maintain operations during crises, although the backup plant itself would be a major polluter, generating up to 39,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year even on standby status.
For Newark’s Ironbound section, already gasping from smog and where one in four children have respiratory conditions, a solution that does not involve fossil-fuel consumption is needed. In addition, New Jersey will fall short of critical goals for emissions reduction if it continues to authorize the construction of fossil fuel–based infrastructure.
In his intervention with the PVSC, Murphy gave vital acknowledgement of the need to avoid dumping more smog upon an already overburdened section of New Jersey. It was just one year earlier that the Governor signed the state’s environmental justice law, which requires the Department of Environmental Protection to consider public health impacts of certain facilities when reviewing permit applications.
For its part, the PVSC says it cannot continue to rely on Public Service Electric & Gas for its power needs, given the risk of more outages and the dangers that sewage spills pose for public health. The authority has engaged four outside energy consultants to devise potential renewable energy solutions that are consistent with the goals of the state’s Energy Master Plan for emissions reduction and mitigation of climate change.
“This is an opportunity to find alternative, green, renewable solutions to otherwise dirty projects,” said Renée Pollard, Environmental and Social Justice Chair for the NJ Chapter of the Sierra Club. “We need to continue to protect the health and wellbeing of these communities, and environmental justice advocates will be watching to ensure that happens.