By Denise Brush • offshorewind@newjersey.sierraclub.org
Several members of the NJ Chapter of the Sierra Club attended the June 23 March for Clean Air and Climate Justice in Trenton, including Chapter Director Anjuli Ramos-Busot, Newsletter Editor Tony Hagen, Central Jersey Chair Joanne Pannone, Sindhu Pasricha, Leona Fluck, and me. The march was organized by the staff of Food & Water Watch of New Jersey on behalf of the Empower NJ coalition, to which the NJ Chapter belongs.
Matt Smith, NJ director of Food & Water Watch, led the activities during the three-hour event. We began by gathering in front of Patriots Theater at the War Memorial for a performance and sing-along by the Solidarity Singers. Following that we marched several blocks to the courtyard of the State House. Food & Water Watch had a permit for the march and rally, which was targeted at Gov. Phil Murphy. According to reporter Wayne Parry, there were hundreds of protestors, but Murphy was out of town—in a meeting about offshore wind policy.
In addition to a variety of handheld signs about the need for clean air, climate justice, and getting off fossil fuels, participants from various parts of the state carried banners opposing the seven fossil fuel projects that are still under consideration in New Jersey. As Matt Smith stated in his opinion piece published prior to the rally, “If all seven projects were to be approved, they could increase the state’s overall emissions by up to 38%.”
The Seven Deadly Fossil Fuel Projects
The seven fossil fuel projects and their annual greenhouse gas impacts in millions of metric tons (MMT), if completed, are:
• Regional Energy Access Expansion Project (18 MMT)—expands the Williams Transco gas pipeline to include a new compressor station in West Deptford and expands compressor stations in Branchburg and Old Bridge.
• Gibbstown Logistics Center liquid natural gas export terminal (12.56 MMT)—would enable exports of fracked gas from Pennsylvania using a new deep-water port to be built on the Delaware River.
• NJ Turnpike and Garden State Parkway expansion (1.4 MMT)—calls for widening 60 miles of the Turnpike and 64 miles of the Parkway, which will generate 1.8 billion additional vehicle miles traveled per year.
• Tennessee Gas Pipeline compressors (2.8 MMT)—expands the Wantage compressor station and adds a new compressor station in West Milford to support load expansion of 115 million cubic feet of gas per day.
• Keasbey Energy Center (CPV2) power plant (2.36 MMT)—630 MW gas power plant in Woodbridge, which would be the third major fossil fuel plant sited in the overburdened Keasbey section of Woodbridge.
• NJ Transit Microgrid power plant (0.6 MMT)—new 140 MW gas power plant in Kearny to operate trains during loss of commercial power. Expected to go into service in 2028.
• Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission (PVSC) fracked gas power plant (0.039 MMT)—new 84 MW gas plant in Newark to power sewer operations when commercial power is lost.
After the crowd gathered in a circle around the State House courtyard, there was a spoken word performance, and then activists from groups opposing each fossil fuel project spoke. The event ended with an energizing performance by Pace and the Trumpet Chicks, a brass band.