Is It Ever Too Late To Join The Right Side?

Editor’s Note: This article is part of an ongoing column called Camden Front and Center, analyzing the city’s politics, development, and power structures. It reflects the author’s examination and perspective on how decisions by political, business, and civic leaders impact the city’s Black and Latino residents.

There’s a saying that goes, better late than never. In some cases, this is true. An example is trying a renowned restaurant after folks have raved over it. Another example is learning a new piece of information well after it became available. But over time, I’ve learned that better than late is being on time–if not being early. 

In the saga of EMR’s lithium battery fires in Camden, councilman Arthur Barclay announced Monday evening that the city would be revoking EMR’s business license, as reported by April Saul. Policymakers now calling for EMR to shut down its recycling plant operations for good are late to the party. For its part, EMR has decided to pause operations to complete an investigation.

This is a start, but only a start.

The truth is that had they been earlier to this announcement, or even on time with the will of the people, this close-to-a-year-and-a-half ordeal could have been avoided. 

What changed for these policymakers? This recent fire, it was said, was contained and wasn’t as bad as the previous. What consensus was reached whereby members of Camden’s city and county government, and the state legislature, who represent Camden residents and received campaign donations from EMR, have flipped a switch? It seems like the fires last year should have elicited such a response.

In late May, EMR USA announced its new fire-suppressing system, created as part of its agreement with the city of Camden following numerous fires at the EMR facility in 2025 and 2026. This was an action step under the MOU EMR signed with the city of Camden. 

According to the EMR USA CEO, Joe Balzano, the system will “allow us to dramatically control anything that could happen, so we [won’t] have the issues that we’ve had. You wouldn’t get to that scale.” More important than any of that, Mr. Balzano said, the system wouldn’t prevent fires on the facility. He was right. 

After that announcement, a fire broke out at the facility. According to the Camden Fire Department, while the suppression system malfunctioned and took time to activate, it contained the fire and prevented it from spreading as it had previously. So, in theory, the suppression system worked, if not perfectly. 

However, residents were left to deal with the smoke. It was concerning enough that Camden advised residents to remain indoors. While a fire-suppression system is good, it doesn’t get rid of smoke, and smoke in a city whose children (Black and Latine) display higher rates of asthma at a rate three times higher than anywhere else in New Jersey isn’t good.

The residents never asked for the particular deal struck by the city government and EMR USA. Residents protested the deal, which provided only a paltry $3.25 million for their trouble and meager citizen representation in deciding how the money would be spent. It’s because this deal isn’t what the residents need. What the residents need is an end to the fires and the smoke. The residents need the recycling facility to be removed from the city. The first of these fires last year should have been enough cause for city officials to demand that EMR remove its facility from the city. Sadly, it wasn’t.  

Residents see through the smoke and mirrors. They recognize that Camden’s officials were late with this, and unfortunately, because being late ruined any opportunity to increase trust within the community, their calls for EMR to cease operations come off a bit disingenuous. However, there is something city officials can do to build goodwill with the community: Use this event as a catalyst for moving toward environmental justice in the city. 

Removing EMR’s recycling facility from Camden should be the start of an environmental justice initiative for the city, particularly the Waterfront South neighborhood, in which corporate polluters are required to leave the city, either by request, under public and political pressure, or by legal force.

The Waterfront South neighborhood houses the Covanta trash incinerator, which, according to Camden For Clean Air, is “the largest air polluter in the city, and in all of Camden County, responsible for half of the industrial air pollution in the county.” The neighborhood also houses the Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority’s sewage treatment facility, which contributes to pollution, and the Heidelberg Cement Plant. 

Cement is one of the most problematic man-made materials, as it releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere during production.

These are the realities as a result of previous deals made due to “budget realities” of the past to compensate for white flight and deindustrialization, aka white corporate flight to the suburbs. Left to hold the bag are Camden residents who have dealt with pollution, on top of takeovers of its municipal government, its schools, and its police. Maybe we were all too naive to think an entity would actually take over Camden’s air. 

Maybe the smoke wafting into the suburbs compelled Camden City officials to act on EMR and the overall pollution problems in the Waterfront South neighborhood. But it shouldn’t take for people in the surrounding suburbs to issue air quality warnings for city officials to make long-overdue changes. The complaints from city residents should have been enough for their representatives to act on their behalf. 

There is no shortage of irony that, on the week of announcing a fire-suppression system, the facility catches on fire, and that stakeholders pat themselves on the back when the remaining smoke is as deadly as the fire itself. Now, city officials and representatives pat themselves on the back for standing with the people they didn’t stand with previously. 

Meanwhile, the racial capitalism of it all has placed residents at odds with each other: those fighting for clean air and those fighting to hold on to their jobs. Because a corporate polluter was allowed in a Black and Brown city to pollute for profit, they were able to protect themselves with hired labor from within the city to counter calls for the plant’s closure with their own protest, to preserve their paychecks. 

To be clear, I don’t blame workers. I blame the capitalists and those in their pockets.

Clearly, these stakeholders were frustrated; certainly, with the criticism of them, possibly with the efforts of EMR. Maybe they’re frustrated with themselves for looking foolish, if not looking outright paternalistic. But this fiasco is a reminder that sometimes a bad idea doesn’t need protestors to derail it; it can derail itself. 

It may not seem like city and state officials are guilty of derailing themselves here. They’d likely argue that their “late” is better than never. But calling for clean air—being on time, at least—is better than being late. But you can learn from this and build momentum to be on time for a fight for environmental justice. Because those who arrive late to justice don’t get to call it a rescue.