NEWARK PAUSES PVSC’S EFFORT TO BUILD GAS-FIRED PLANT IN IRONBOUND

Mayor Ras J. Baraka announced today that the City of Newark's Law Department secured a stay in the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission's (PVSC) efforts to construct a gas-fired power plant adjacent to their 600 Wilson Avenue headquarters in the East Ward. The City has been working with the Ironbound Community Corporation (ICC) to oppose this construction due to the negative impact it will have on the environment and Newark residents' health.

The PVSC sought to construct this facility in the face of fierce community and municipal opposition. In July, both the City and ICC filed lawsuits against PVSC challenging that decision as arbitrary and capricious. In August, both then filed a motion to stay the construction pending the litigation and PVSC filed a motion to dismiss in response. Today, the motions on the City's case were heard in Essex County Superior Court. Judge Robert H. Gardner denied the PVSC's efforts to dismiss the City's case and granted the City's motion, ordering that the construction must be halted while this case is pending. ICC's case is set to be heard next week.

"I'm encouraged to learn today that Judge Gardner sees the merit in the City's argument that PVSC has steamrolled the preliminary stages of construction of this fossil-fueled power plant as though this assault on the health of our residents did not warrant thorough evaluation and consideration of viable alternatives," said Mayor Baraka. "Hopefully, this case will arrive at a final decision that shows respect and care for a community already overburdened by environmental injustice, and suffering adverse health effects from an inordinate amount of pollution. Newarkers don't deserve to be treated with such abject disregard and I look forward to the day we can celebrate the end of this travesty."

"I applaud Litigation Section Chief Vanessa Craveiro for her advocacy on the City's behalf. It would be hard for any judge to defy the common sense and rational foundation of our argument that anything built at PVSC in the middle of litigation can't be unbuilt," said Corporation Counsel Kenyatta Stewart. "After 10 years of making preparations for the main construction, another couple of months of talking is inconsequential to PVSC, while failure to further expound on our argument and succumb to yet another fossil fuel plant to choke our air would undoubtedly do irreparable harm to the community."

If built, the facility would be the fourth fossil-fuel plant constructed in the Ironbound, a neighborhood that already suffers serious space and environmental issues.

For more than a decade, ICC and Ironbound residents have been outspoken about the public health and environmental dangers they face from heavy industry, diesel truck traffic, and existing fossil fuel infrastructure. The addition of yet another polluting facility would further threaten public health, particularly for children, seniors, and individuals with respiratory conditions.

The plant was approved despite the fact that 136 health care providers and scientists documented for the PVSC the health impacts of the existing pollution sources- three power plants, the incinerator, and trucks from the Port Newark. PVSC's approval was despite four years of testimony at PVSC Board meetings by hundreds of residents from Newark and beyond regarding health and climate impacts from a gas plant.

The City's case is scheduled to return to court for a case management conference on October 27, at 9 a.m.