Murphy DEP Denied A Request For a Public Hearing In Newark On Controversial PVSC Air Permits
Tammy Murphy Campaign Event In Newark IronBound Stokes Controversy
Gov. Murphy Could Have DEP Kill The Project Tomorrow
PVSC air pollution permit, Source NJ DEP
The Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission’s (PVSC) plans to build a gas fired backup power plant at their Newark sewage treatment plant got revived press attention when Tammy Murphy, Gov. Murphy’s wife, appeared with environmental justice advocates in Newark Ironbound to criticize the project.
The First Lady tweeted out her opposition to the plant:
I spent the morning with the @IronboundCC, @SouthWardEA and concerned families to stand together to oppose the new gas-fired power plant in the heart of Newark.
The PVSC project is now before the Murphy DEP seeking final permits.
Associated Press reporter Wayne Parry covered the political dimension of the controversy and made hay of the husband wife angle. But his reporting included some information on the pending DEP permits, but he missed a lot, see:
Specifically, long before all this political controversy hit the fan today, I recently wrote about serious flaws in the DEP’s review and approval of air permits for the existing PVSC sewage treatment plant.
The plant is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, including toxic hazardous air pollutants that negatively impact the health of the Newark community. The sewer plant is literally a poster child for abuses known as “environmental justice”, yet the DEP major air permits were exempt under the recent Murphy Environmental Justice law, see:
In written comments I submitted on flaws in DEP’s draft permit, I requested that DEP hold a public hearing in Newark so the community could understand these flaws and work to fix them, instead of being duped by spin and Gov. Murphy’s green cheerleaders.
The Murphy DEP ignored my criticism and they took an unprecedented step and even denied my request for a public hearing! I am not aware that DEP has ever denied a written request for a public hearing – once a request is made, it is almost automatic that it is approved.
Read the DEP’s response to public comment – including how they evade responding to specific flaws in the environmental justice law and explain why they denied the public hearing request. I think we can all agree that these are substantive and very serious flaws, and I backed them up with evidence:
COMMENT 1
The commenter requested that the Department conduct a public hearing in Newark on the draft permit based on the following concerns:
1) public health risk assessment from HAP and VOC emissions
2) failure to conduct an environmental justice review
3) failure to conduct a climate review or regulate greenhouse gas emissions
4) failure to impose “State of the Art” emissions controls pursuant to NJ’s Air Pollution Control Act
5) failure to fully mandate air pollution emissions fees, including for greenhouse gas emissions
6) failure to comply with NJ law that governs the 20-year time horizon for conversion of methane to CO2 equivalents.
DEP issued the permit and dismissed the public hearing request thusly – a denial I have never heard before in over 39 years of work at and on DEP:
The Department will not be holding a public hearing since the issues raised are not relevant to the draft permit under review, as outlined below:
Read their excuse – it is obviously made in bad faith in an effort to deny the people of Newark accurate information on DEP permit review practices, defects in those practices, and massive loopholes in the environmental justice law and DEP’s EJ program.
Now, only if we could get the media to focus on this substance, instead of campaign horserace political stunts. Maybe if I give them a picture?
