A contentious plan to build a fourth power plant in the Ironbound neighborhood of Newark, New Jersey, has been approved by the administration of Governor Phil Murphy, despite opposition from community groups who claim the project would worsen pollution in the area.
Environmentalists and community activists have put pressure on Murphy to halt construction of the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission facility, which will provide backup electricity in the event of a power outage. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s compromise would permit PSVC to construct the Ironbound power plant, but only if it could be used in the event of a power outage.
Shawn LaTourette, commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, claimed that the project will not only prevent pollution but also lessen it since PVSC will need to take further steps to minimize air pollution at its other power facilities.
The project is the first allowed under the state’s environmental justice law, which aims to safeguard communities that have historically bore the burden 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 stated. “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.”
Asthma affects one in four kids in Ironbound. The second-largest port in the nation, the Port of New York and New Jersey, is frequented by a huge number of power plants and heavy truck traffic, which the neighborhood has long opposed.
