NJ Sued For Endangering Newark With New Gas Plant Approval

NEWARK, NJ — Community members and environmental advocates are sounding alarms over a controversial proposal to build a fourth fossil-fuel power plant near the Ironbound neighborhood, one of New Jersey’s most overburdened and heavily polluted areas. 

The plan, backed by the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission (PVSC), has sparked outrage from local organizers who say the move blatantly ignores the health and well-being of thousands of residents.

“Our community has said no, again and again, but PVSC continues to put our health at risk with a project we didn’t ask for and don’t need,” said Hazel Applewhite, CEO of Ironbound Community Corporation. “We’re fighting to protect our families, our elders, and especially our children, so they can grow up breathing clean air and living full, healthy lives. Newark residents are not disposable..”

The proposed natural gas facility would sit in close proximity to schools, homes, and parks, adding to a long list of polluting infrastructure already concentrated in the four-square-mile neighborhood. With more than 50,000 residents who are primarily low-income families and people of color, the Ironbound is home to three existing power plants, one of the country’s largest garbage incinerators, and constant diesel truck traffic tied to the nearby port and warehouse district.

Critics argue the power plant is not only environmentally harmful but also unnecessary. The wastewater treatment facility it is designed to support has already benefited from major resiliency investments following Superstorm Sandy. According to public records, nearly $5 billion has been spent to harden electrical infrastructure and elevate substations to protect against flooding and power outages. Those upgrades have kept the plant operational through recent extreme weather events, undermining the rationale for a new gas facility.

Despite this, PVSC has moved ahead with plans for the $280 million plant, drawing accusations of environmental racism and government disregard for community input. Advocates stress that safer, cleaner, and cheaper alternatives—like battery storage and renewable energy—have been presented, but largely ignored.

Alejandra Torres, the new Assistant Director of Advocacy and Organizing, said, “This lawsuit demonstrates that the fight against patterns of environmental racism targeting our community is far from over,” citing decades of pollution in the Ironbound.

The decision has reignited tensions between local residents and state agencies, many of whom feel that Newark continues to be treated as a dumping ground for toxic industry. Medical data already shows elevated rates of asthma, respiratory illness, and heart disease in the neighborhood. Parents and educators alike fear that further pollution will only worsen the public health crisis.

“This plant will only make Newark’s air quality worse,” said Jonathan Smith, senior attorney at Earthjustice. He noted that frequent startups and shutdowns, which are planned by PVSC, are when such plants emit the most pollution.

This is not the first time environmental justice groups have pushed back. The Ironbound Community Corporation (ICC), a grassroots organization that has been at the forefront of the fight, has joined forces with legal partners to challenge the project in court. The organization insists that the state must prioritize clean energy and the lives of its citizens over outdated fossil-fuel infrastructure.

In a separate legal action earlier this year, the ICC also sued the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for greenlighting the project without adequately assessing its environmental impact on vulnerable communities.

As legal battles unfold, residents vow to continue mobilizing. They say the fight is about more than just one plant: it’s about the future of their city, their children, and their right to breathe.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka emphasized the city’s intent to legally challenge the project and urged the state to pursue clean, renewable alternatives instead in a statement earlier this year. 

“Newark will not abide by any discriminatory energy project that inflicts further harm upon our residents,” he said.