On Thursday, July 18, 2024, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (“NJDEP”) issued an environmental justice approval to the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission (“PVSC”) authorizing the construction and operation of an on-site emergency standby power generating facility (“SPGF”) (a natural gas-fired power plant) at the PVSC’s wastewater treatment plant in Newark, New Jersey. PVSC sought this approval in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy where rolling power outages resulted in the release of roughly 840 million gallons of raw sewage from the PVSC facility into the Passaic River and Newark Bay. PVSC’s efforts since Superstorm Sandy have been devoted to developing a viable back-up power system which would prevent similar releases during future storms. However, the prospective addition of a gas-fired power plant to the PVSC facility has brought the application under the purview of New Jersey’s environmental justice rules and regulations where the benefit of such an installation must be weighed against its environmental impacts.

The approval is subject to a host of special conditions limiting the operations of the treatment plant and predicated upon avoiding and otherwise mitigating potentially adverse impacts to the overburdened community in which the treatment plant is sited.

Among other requirements, these specials conditions include:

• That PVSC only operate the SPGF as a backup in the event of a power outage.
• That PVSC install a certain minimum megawattage of solar power and battery storage at the SPGF.
• That PVSC replace certain aging boilers and generators in the facility.
• That PVSC initiate the transition from natural gas to a renewable energy alternative as means of powering the SPGF within 120 days of the SPGF’s commissioning.

In justification for the imposition of these restrictions NJDEP highlighted that in its review of PVSC’s application it found that the SPGF would increase the emission of air pollutants from the facility and that such increased emissions could exacerbate adverse cumulative environmental and public health stressors affecting the surrounding overburdened community – a predominantly minority and low-income area already impacted by emissions from three nearby power plants. However, NJDEP also noted that the avoidance and minimization efforts proposed by PVSC, in conjunction with the special conditions imposed by the Department would result in a net overall reduction in facility-wide emissions of air pollutants during normal operation of the facility. Further, the Department stipulated that the SPGF would operate only in the event of emergencies and as needed for general monthly testing and maintenance, not as a profit generating mechanism.

A full copy of the decision is publicly available through NJDEP’s website.