New Jersey
Environmental justice law won't bar Newark power plant plan • New Jersey Monitor
The Department of Environmental Protection found a recent environmental justice law that bars polluting projects in overburdened communities will not bar the construction of a controversial backup power plant in Newark’s Ironbound section.
The decision is a boon to the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission, which for a decade has urged the construction of backup power generation at a wastewater treatment plant to keep the facility running during severe storms, but it is a blow to community advocates who have opposed the project for nearly as long.
“Will some say this is too far? Sure. Will some say it’s not enough? Absolutely,” Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn LaTourette told reporters Thursday.
The department’s decision clears a path for the agency to issue draft permits for the project in mid-August that could see it win final permits in early 2025. A public comment period would come following the draft permits and is expected to run through the end of September.
Community advocates have opposed plans for a backup generation plant, charging it would further overburden a community already abutting three power plants and questioning officials’ claim that the plant would only operate during severe storms that disrupt electricity powering the existing facility.
Maria Lopez-Nuñez, deputy director of organizing and advocacy at the Ironbound Community Corporation, called the decision a “huge betrayal of environmental justice communities.”
“We know communities like ours are subject to political whims, so it’s very likely that this power plant will be built, and it will be built to run not just during emergencies,” she said.
LaTourette on Thursday reiterated the plant would only operate during severe storms but added officials could run it once a month to ensure it still works. Conditions in the decision bar the facility from selling power back to the grid or using the backup plant to cut costs for routine operations.
“This is not to be a revenue-generating function,” LaTourette said.
The conditions also require the facility to stand up at least 5 megawatts of solar generation and battery storage to jump-start power generation following a blackout.
Activists had called for the backup generation plant to draw all its power from renewable sources, but LaTourette said the review found renewable sources could not feasibly power wastewater treatment during severe storms.
Regulators at the Board of Public Utilities in 2022 rejected renewable energy for a since-abandoned NJ Transit backup power plant in Kearny, finding they would require more space than the site could provide and prove too unreliable to depend on during inclement weather.
The Ironbound project can proceed despite a 2020 environmental justice law that requires state environmental officials to deny applications for polluting projects in historically overburdened community, with officials arguing that parts of the agreement will require the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission to cut emissions from existing equipment.
Among other things, the decision requires the sewerage commission to remove aging boilers and generators and impose new air pollution controls on other existing equipment. The actions would reduce emissions from the plant to below existing levels even after the backup plant is complete, LaTourette said.
“Because of that, there is no disproportionate impact,” the commissioner said. “We have avoided that outcome, which is the purpose of the [environmental justice] law, and therefore the relief available for a compelling public interest needn’t be reached.”
The project will only proceed if the sewerage commission accepts the conditions, and LaTourette indicated it would. And it will require the commission to examine the feasibility of transitioning the plant to hydrogen or another renewable source.
That requirement did little to hearten Lopez-Nuñez, who warned residents would physically obstruct construction at the plant if the commission votes to begin building next year.
“If they vote to move a construction process, they will be met with bodies,” she said. “The community will resist this, so they will have to bulldoze over the residents of the Ironbound Community Corporation and Greater Newark [Conservancy] and all our friends. People have come out in the hundreds to oppose this plant.”
The backup plant is meant to ensure the facility operates during severe storms that could otherwise force it to divert sewage into waterways. Severe flooding and power outages during Hurricane Sandy forced the treatment plant to dump roughly 840 million gallons of raw sewage into the Passaic River and Newark Bay.
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Trump rolls out Freedom Fuel gas stations, what are they?
Trump’s Freedom Fuel is selling gas at $3.47/gal in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
President Donald Trump is touting a new fuel option for motorists: Freedom Fuel, advertising gas at a discount price to local consumers.
When the network was opened and announced on July 7, it advertised $3.47 per gallon regular gas at the pumps, a noticeable difference from national and state averages in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
But is the gas actually as cheap as the 47th President says?
According to some gas tracking platforms, it may not be.
On GasBuddy, a website tracking gas prices across the country with a pricing heat map based on user submissions, some of the Freedom Fuel locations’ pricing appeared to have risen.
Some still sporting the names of what appeared to be their previous sites, like a Gas N Go on Island Ave, the following addresses on GasBuddy match those listed as one of Trump’s 25 gas stations.
The pricing, however, varies:
- 2200 Island Ave, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – $3.57 as of July 8
- 400 Baltimore Pike, Springfield, Pennsylvania – $3.57 as of July 9
- 6243 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – $3.57 as of July 9
- 6800 E. Baltimore Ave, Lansdowne, Pennsylvania – $3.57 as of July 9
- 6801 Tilton Rd., Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey – $3.89 as of July 8
- 6501 Delilah Rd., Egg Harbor Township New Jersey – $3.57 as of July 9
Much about the gas station network remains unknown, like how long they’ll be operating or where stations could be popping up next.
Administration officials told USA TODAY on July 8 that the federal government has no role in the Freedom Fuel Network, nor is it providing it with funding.
The White House also said that “no other entity or person” is subsidizing the cost of gasoline.
Contributing: Michelle Del Rey USA TODAY NETWORK
Kaitlyn McCormick is a Philadelphia-based reporter writing all things trending, breaking and city-related for USA TODAY’s Philadelphia Metro Connect Team.
JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Mile marker 113.3 on the eastern spur of the New Jersey Turnpike in Secaucus will forever be an incredible memory for one family, who scrambled to deliver their baby boy right on the side of the road.
Kristen Fast was in labor last week, with her husband driving her to the hospital on the turnpike, but when they got to the mile marker, baby Archer couldn’t wait any longer and had to be delivered on the highway.
Archer insisted on arriving three days before he was due, and maybe it was because his lovely big sister, 4-year-old Zelda, was waiting for him.
He was in such a hurry, he didn’t even let mom and dad get to the hospital for him to be born, although they tried.
“The doula said, ‘pull over, hang up, call 911.’ So we did that. We called 911. The operator started walking him through what to do,” said Archer’s mother, Kristen Fast.
“Next thing I know, I get in the back seat, and we’re making sure she’s comfortable, and I look down, and that baby is ready to go,” said Archer’s dad, Alex Fast.
New Jersey State Trooper Freddie Guacamaya responded to Alex’s 911 call.
“Cop comes, puts on his gloves, and he was fantastic,” Alex Fast said.
“I said, ‘Are you the EMT?’ And he didn’t answer. So I said, ‘You are not an EMT. I’m in danger.’ But he was fine, he was being very calm,” Kristen Fast said.
“They said, ‘you got to clamp that cord right away. If you have anything, if you have a string.’ So I panicked and just looked in the front and we just had an iPhone cable. So we just clamped the cord with an iPhone cable,” Alex Fast said.
“The EMTs came, and they said, ‘What is this?’” Kristen Fast said.
The loving, kind courtesies extended to the family just continued, helping to make their emergency experience flawless.
“There were three policemen who showed up. I said, ‘I’d love to be with her in the ambulance.’ And they were amazing. They drove our car to the hospital for us, which was so nice. They paid for our valet,” Alex and Kristen Fast said.
They were all welcomed to Hackensack University Medical Center with a healthy baby and a hearty story, backed by Archer’s exact birthplace, recorded accurately: New Jersey Turnpike I-95, mile marker 113.
“Archer’s healthy. He’s thriving. He’s a Jersey boy through and through. I don’t think you get more Jersey than being born on the New Jersey Turnpike,” Kristen Fast said.
New Jersey
What to know about Freedom Fuel Network as Trump urges cheaper gas prices in Pennsylvania, NJ
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — There are 25 new Freedom Fuel Network gas stations opening across the Philadelphia area and South Jersey as Americans closely watch gas prices.
This comes after President Trump announced the privately-owned network on social media last week, saying it will help drivers save money at the pump.
There are 25 new Freedom Fuel gas stations opening across the Philadelphia area and South Jersey as Americans closely watch gas prices.
The first location in Dresher, Montgomery County, opened on Friday, with the price of $3.47 per gallon.
This cost was a nod to President Trump serving as the nation’s 47th president.
However, that price has already started to rise after the president announced new U.S. strikes, sending oil and gas prices higher.
Some of those locations with gas stations participating in the Freedom Fuel Network include Lansdowne, Bensalem and Pottstown in Pennsylvania; and Marlton in New Jersey.
Gas Calculator: Find out how much it costs to fill your tank
A White House official told ABC News the administration is not involved with the company and is not providing any funding or subsidies.
Instead, the company says it is cutting its own profit margins to offer lower prices.
Some drivers are applauding this move while others, including gas analysts, are skeptical.
“$3.47 a gallon is a Godsend, honestly,” said one consumer. “Great price because this was a Sunoco before and prices were a lot higher.”
“I want Americans to be asking, ‘Where is that money coming from? Why are corporations and businesses willing to subsidize gas 50-cents a gallon for people, to make President Trump look good,” said another consumer.
Trump is also encouraging other gas retailers to lower their prices. He has not identified the company behind Freedom Fuel, saying only that it’s a private retailer.
Action News is still working to learn how long these lower prices will last and whether more stations will open.
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