NJ DEP Clean Air Act Permit In Newark Is A Test
US EPA Region 2 Did Not Raise Objections To The NJ DEP Permit
EPA Headquarters Approval Would Violate Trump Executive Orders And Set National Precedents On Environmental Justice And Renewable Energy
Last week, EPA Region 2 failed to object to a Clean Air Act permit issued to the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission.
I had urged them to object to that permit under their supervisory powers under federal Clean Air Act regulations. Region 2 ignored my objections.
With no EPA Region 2 objections, NJ DEP issued the final permit one day later, On April 2, 2025. DEP can do some things very fast.
But the game ain’t over.
Under federal Clean Air Act regulations, any person may petition the EPA Administrator to object to the permit. For this permit, the 60-day period to petition EPA commenced on 4/1/2025 and will end on 5/31/2025.
I plan on filing such a petition (see below). I will provide the EPA petition regulations and content and formatting guidance in a future post after I do additional research.
However, in order to prevail, I will have to make policy arguments that I strongly disagree with.
I’ve been able to reconcile this contradiction on two grounds.
First, my bad policy arguments can not set damaging federal EPA precedents, because Trump has already issued Executive Orders and EPA has announced regulatory rollbacks far broader in scope and effect than my petition arguments.
Second, and perhaps more importantly, EPA’s rejection of the NJ DEP’s permit would explicitly expose the fatal flaws in the NJ Environmental Justice law and the outrageous manipulative gaslighting by DEP Commissioner LaTourette on that law, the DEP EJ regulations, and EJ issues in general.
We will never get real environmental justice via magical thinking and reliance on the current NJ EJ law and DEP regulations (and DEP’s toothless “stressor Guidance”).
[Note: PVSC openly admits that the only reason they did not issue the construction contract was a request by the Governor, not any DEP regulations:
Per the request of the Governor’s Office, PVSC has not, to date, awarded the construction contract. (see page 13) ~~~ end Note]
Commissioner LaTourette has abused his power and violated the law (he could never get away with imposing real EJ permit conditions on a major private sector polluter, like a refinery or chemical plant. Their lawyers would sue and NJ Courts would dismiss DEP permits immediately).
He would never get away with issuing an Order and using that Order to retroactively impose permit review requirements and conditions. Ditto.
LaTourette would never use DEP air permit regulations to impose renewable energy requirements, operating hour limitations, or GHG emissions mitigation requirements on a private sector regulated facility. Never. Yet he knows that the PVSC won’t object to that because the money that is paying for them is federal FEMA funds and PVSC needs the permit.
LaTourette KNOWS this and he KNOWS that his “EJ review” process and Order are toothless shams, yet he gaslights the public and parades around as some kind of EJ warrior!
EPA needs to call him on this bullshit.
So, I pushed all the Trump red meat buttons. The bureaucrats in EPA Region 2 are terrified. AND this has national significance.
Instead of filing the formal petition today, I first wanted to try an informal path and see is any Trump EPA “anti-Woke warriors” bite on the red meat.
Of course, regulated polluters like the Chemistry Council, the Petroleum Council, and Big Pharma have huge interests at stake should the NJ DEP EJ permit approach be allowed to stand by US EPA. Maybe they will object and file petitions too. See below for why:
———- Original Message ———-
To: “Zeldin.lee@epa.gov” <Zeldin.lee@epa.gov>
Date: 04/07/2025 9:14 AM EDT
Subject: EPA must kill Woke NJ EJ Clean Air Permit
Dear Administrator Zeldin:
I write to provide an informal heads up and advance Notice of Intent to file a Public petition pursuant to Clean Air Act regulations 40 CFR 70.8 regarding EPA Region 2’s failure to object to a Title V permit issued by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission (link to the permit:
https://dep.nj.gov/wp-content/uploads/boss/public-notices/07349-bop210002-proposedpermit.pdf
As summarized below, the State DEP Title V permit violates the federal Clean Air Act (CAA), Administrative Procedure Act (APA), a federal District Court decision, and is not authorized under NJ State law.
Importantly, the permit contradicts President Trump’s Executive Orders on energy policy, climate, DEI, and renewable energy.
EPA must block this permit because failure to do so would set national precedents under the Clean Air Act regarding environmental justice reviews and imposition of renewable energy requirements via mandatory permit conditions.
1. The State of NJ is using a federal Clean Air Act Title V permit to mandate the installation of renewable energy systems (solar panels and battery storage) at an industrial facility.
If States (and EPA) are allowed to mandate renewable energy systems as conditions of Clean Air Act Title V permits, then thousands of facilities may be subject to billions of dollars of new regulatory mandates. Such an expansive view of Clean Air Act regulatory authority goes well beyond the Obama Administration’s Clean Power Plan which was struck down by the Supreme Court in West Virginia v. EPA.
2. The NJ DEP renewable energy mandates are based upon a State “environmental justice” administrative policy and permit review process (not the federal Clean Air Act, OR NJ State law or NJ State regulations). The basis for the NJDEP permit condition mandates is solely via a unilateral “Administrative Order” of the NJ DEP Commissioner.
3. A federal District Court Judge found that Congress did not authorize EPA to implement “environmental justice” program mandates under the federal Clean Air Act, see: U.S. District Court Judge Cain, Judgment pursuant to the ruling in State of Louisiana v. EPA, No. 2:23-cv-00692, W.D. La. Jan. 23, 2024, Aug. 22, 2024.
4. The State “environmental justice” review process was fundamentally flawed and violated both federal and NJ State Administrative Procedure Acts and basic due process.
The NJDEP permit approval documents admit that the NJ Environmental Justice law and NJDEP environmental justice regulations do NOT APPLY to the PVSC facility, because the PVSC submitted and NJDEP deemed complete permit application prior to the effective date of the law and NJDEP regulations.
To “remedy” this legal reality, the NJ DEP issued a unilateral “ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 2021-25”, see:
https://dep.nj.gov/wp-content/uploads/ej/docs/njdep-ao-2021-25-environmental-justice.pdf
Pursuant to the AO, the NJDEP mandated an “environmental justice review” process. Based solely upon that review, the NJDEP mandated permit conditions regarding renewable energy system (installation of solar panels and battery storage).
5. The PVSC permit is for a back up power system, which is part of a $600 million FEMA funded “climate resilience” initiative (for technical background, see:
https://dep.nj.gov/wp-content/uploads/ej/spgf-position-statement.pdf
By approving this NJDEP Title V permit, EPA would be endorsing not only expensive “climate resilience” policies and programs, but also their implementation via State regulatory mandates under delegated federal programs.
The deadline to file a formal Public petition is May 31, 2025. But perhaps your Office can intervene and reject the Region 2 approval without formal triggering the formal petition process.
I urge your attention to this matter and look forward to your timely favorable reply. I would be glad to provide addition supporting information upon request.
Bill Wolfe