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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In New Jersey, Mercer County officials have enacted new policies limiting the ability of federal immigration agents to access and use county property to conduct immigration enforcement operations.
Mercer County Executive Dan Benson issued an executive order and the Board of County Commissioners passed a resolution Friday that bans U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol from using any nonpublic area on county property to enforce immigration law, unless they have obtained a judicial warrant or judicial order.
“From Minneapolis to Delaney Hall, ICE has repeatedly shown a total disregard for the law and for the constitutional rights of citizens and non-citizens alike,” Benson said in a statement. “We respect the Federal Government’s authority to enforce immigration law, but we will not allow them to use County properties to harass our families.”
“With this resolution, we’re sending a clear message that everyone in our community can safely interact with County government, and access County services, without fear,” said Board of Commissioners Chair Terrance Stokes in a statement. “ICE’s actions threaten the fabric of our community, and we will take whatever steps we can, within the bounds of the law, to protect our residents.”
New Jersey and New York City commuters are facing extensive delays in and out of New York Penn Station Friday, with intensifying ripple effects, after an Amtrak work train car on one of the hub’s tracks caught fire.
The FDNY says it was called to the Midtown scene on 31st Street, between Seventh and Eighth avenues, around 1:30 a.m. Nearly 100 personnel responded. Five civilians were evaluated at the scene by EMS, officials say.
It’s not clear what sparked the fire involving Amtrak’s contractor maintenance vehicles in one of the Hudson River Tunnels. It was knocked down well before 6 a.m., but service on New Jersey Transit, Amtrak, Long Island Rail Road and more was expected to see heavy impacts well into the morning rush, with Hudson River trains operating at reduced capacity. Amtrak said it didn’t expect to lift its suspension until at least noon.
Travel Advisory: Due to unforeseen track and signal maintenance resulting from a now extinguished fire in the New York area, all services traveling south of New York (NYP) are temporarily suspended. This suspension is anticipated to be in place until noon at a minimum. Services…
— Amtrak Northeast (@AmtrakNECAlerts) May 29, 2026
New Jersey Transit and LIRR also announced delays and cancellations. Cross-honoring and diversion programs were in effect as the situation developed. Complete LIRR service at NY Penn had resumed by around 7 a.m., Friday said, though equipment issues were causing cancellations. Get the latest transit information here.
Video from outside Penn Station showed smoke billowing in the pre-dawn hours, as emergency personnel stood by with stretchers awaiting any potential victims.
Amtrak is investigating the cause of the fire.
“We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this may cause,” the agency’s latest announcement said, pledging to provide updates as new information becomes available.
How are detainees at Delaney Hall being treated?
A statement issued by DHS said detainees receive comprehensive medical care and all are treated well.
“They are provided with 3 meals a day, clean water, clothing, bedding, showers, soap, and toiletries. Illegal aliens also have access to phones to communicate with their family members and lawyers. Certified dieticians evaluate meals,” the department wrote.
The release accused Sherrill, Booker and U.S. Sen Andy Kim, as well as U.S. Reps. Rob Menendez, Nellie Pou, LaMonica McIver, Frank Pallone and Analilia Majia, of continuing “to peddle falsehoods about ICE facilities,” and “spreading smears about ICE law enforcement and the Delaney Hall ICE facility in New Jersey.”
Sinha said the assertion that individuals being arrested and taken to Delaney Hall are dangerous criminals is false.
“This is an administration that has repeatedly lied to us about what’s going on in immigration enforcement and immigration detention facilities,” Sinha said.
He added while Sherrill does not have the legal authority to enter Delaney Hall unannounced, that fact that she was denied entry is concerning.
“The federal government has denied her repeatedly, and it makes you question, ‘What is the federal government trying to hide?’” he asked. “They have no allegiance to any rule of law or semblance of democracy; they’re trying to rewrite the Constitution for people who are noncitizens.”
On Thursday, Sherrill issued a statement saying the New Jersey Department of Health attempted to conduct a inspection of Delaney Hall, but officials were only allowed to inspect only a limited part of the facility.
“We will review and share the department’s findings from the limited portion it was allowed to inspect, and we will continue to pursue all appropriate avenues for demanding transparency and ensuring humane conditions for the individuals being held at the facility,” she said in the statement. “As I’ve said repeatedly, refusing to provide full access raises serious questions about what ICE is trying to hide from public view.”
Sinha said a hunger strike among those inside the facility is continuing because they are being given spoiled food and inadequate medical care in deplorable conditions.
“People shouldn’t have to starve themselves to make their dignity known; people shouldn’t have to starve themselves to have their rights protected, but that’s what’s happening here,” he said.
Reports of escalating violence
Late Thursday afternoon there were reports of violence escalating within Delaney Hall.
Nedia Morsy, the director of Make the Road New Jersey, an immigration advocacy group, issued a statement saying multiple sources within the facility reported ICE agents attacking detainees and causing serious injuries.
“Right now there are ICE agents inside of Delaney Hall violently beating the hunger strikers,” Morsy said in the statement. “Someone will be killed if no one intervenes and shuts this down. These masked agents are acting as if they’re above the law. This is a modern-day concentration camp, and history will not forgive silence in this moment. We need to shut down Delaney Hall and free everyone inside.”
Resistencia en Accion, another immigrant rights group, also released a statement, calling for violence against detainees to end.
“We express our utmost disgust with the violence perpetrated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents today, May 28. Reports at approximately 1:40 p.m. reveal that ICE agents attacked the hunger strikers inside with batons and tear gas. Family members outside received calls from inside, confirming that there were people screaming, and according to their loved ones inside, unconscious detainees and blood on surfaces. ICE is the sole responsible actor for the escalation that has led to several wounded people inside and outside this week,” the statement reads.
WHYY News reached out to DHS late Thursday seeking comment about the reports of violence at Delaney Hall. A written statement was emailed to WHYY that said ICE agents had responded to a physical altercation involving detainees.
“In accordance with established ICE policies and their training, staff used the minimum amount of force to safely deescalate the situation,” DHS wrote. “Following the incident, all affected detainees were promptly evaluated by on-site medical personnel and were cleared with no serious injuries.”
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