The Diamond Generating Corp. is looking for approval to build the North Bergen Liberty Generating Project. This $1.5 billion project would be one of the largest power plants in the state, sending electricity to New York City. The plant is proposed to go on a 15-acre parcel near Railroad Avenue on the banks of Bellman's Creek in an industrial section of the town. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has already granted the power plant permits for Waterfront Development, Flood Hazard, Wetlands, and a Water Quality Certificate.
Click here to ask Governor Murphy to sign an Executive Order to block all new gas-fired power plants
We’re here to educate and include the public in our fight against this Monster in the Meadowlands. The last thing the Meadowlands needs during our quest to clean it up is a power plant. This massive natural gas plant would be either the largest or second largest source of air pollution and greenhouse gases in north Jersey, generating almost 2.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide a year. These types of plants emit heavy metals and chemicals such as ammonia and nitrogen oxide. The safety and environmental risks of this plant are enormous.
This plant would be a major blow to air quality, in a region that already has some of the worst air pollution in the entire country. Natural gas plants are not clean and only a bridge to more asthma and health problems, especially into our environmental justice communities. Almost every county in New Jersey that conducts monitoring has a failing grade for ozone. Bergen and Hudson Counties already have an F rating by the American Lung Association for ozone pollution. Our ozone levels are so high that it may put sensitive individuals at risk, including children, the elderly and people suffering from asthma, heart disease and other lung ailments.
The power plant would use an estimated 8.6 million gallons of sewage discharge wastewater a day. This is equivalent of what 85,000 people would use a day. This mean there will be even more chemicals that will be evaporated off as chemical drift. This can have significant health impacts on the environment. That steam can contain heavy metals like lead, algaecides, fungicides, and volatile organic compounds that will cool and end up on land, in our water, and killing plant life near the cooling towers. Not only would this massive plant spew poisons into the air, but it could infect our water, agriculture, and environment as well.
On cold days and other times of the year there will be a shortage of natural gas, which means the power plant will have will have to store over a million gallons of oil upslope from the Meadowlands for backup. There is a means there could be leaks and a chance of an oil spill. Despite our state having an oversupply of natural gas, they are continuing to push for more gas pipelines and infrastructure which will mean more fracking and greenhouse gas emissions. There could be hundreds of trucks coming into site that will add to more pollution if this plant were to be built.
The Meadowlands is an environmentally sensitive area that is flood-prone and in the process of being cleaned up. Why add pollution to an area that already has a lot of pollution? The Meadowlands is an oasis of nature, an environmentally sensitive area in one of the most developed places anywhere in the country. Its resources are important for flood control, fisheries, and migratory birds. Even though it has its toxic legacy the contaminated sites and landfills are being cleaned up and it is getting better, but now overdevelopment is a big threat. This proposal goes against the Meadowlands plan. There should be a process for an environmental review with the Meadowlands Commission. Union City and Ridgefield have passed resolutions opposing the construction of this power plant.
New Jersey must say NO to this unneeded and dangerous gas power plant. With this proposal, the company makes the money, New York gets the gas, and New Jersey gets stuck with the pollution, climate and health impacts. The Sierra Club has been fighting gas-fired power plants in New Jersey for a quarter of a century and we’ve stopped at least ten of them. In the Meadowlands, we’ve forced the Ridgefield generating plant to clean up, closed the Jersey City Hudson generating coal plant, and stopped PSE&G from building a new plant right here. We’re calling on Governor Murphy to sign an Executive Order to block all new gas-fired power plants, especially this one!
Click here to ask Governor Murphy to sign an Executive Order to block all new gas-fired power plants
More information in media reports:
- State issues initial permits for controversial new power plant in Meadowlands [northjersey.com July 6, 2018]
- Permits issued for controversial power plant [nj.com July 8, 2018]
- Opposition mounts against proposed gas-fired power plant in the Meadowlands [NJTV News July 11, 2018]