New Jersey First Lady Tammy Murphy, who is running for the U.S. Senate, said Tuesday she opposes building gas-fired standby power plants in already heavily polluted minority areas.
But she would not say whether she had discussed her idea with her husband, Gov. Phil Murphy, the only person who could stop the project in its tracks.
In response to questions from reporters afterwards, she declined to say whether she planned to lobby to block the proposal.
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“I’m not speaking for the governor,” she said. “I’m talking to others about this. I’m not here to stand up and speak on behalf of the administration. That’s not my role here today. With all due respect. Well, that’s the end of the conversation.”
Tammy Murphy said she opposes construction of a backup power system at the Passaic Valley Sewer Commission in Newark’s Ironbound neighborhood.
This is the district where her husband signed New Jersey’s Environmental Justice Act into law in 2020. The measure aims to ensure that communities already overburdened with pollution are not forced to accept additional sources of pollution.
“Families living in Newark are already overly exposed to pollution and will be exposed to even more serious health risks because of this new gas-fired power plant,” she said. “For all Newark residents, this plant is a step in the wrong direction and is extremely unacceptable and dangerous, especially for mothers and babies.”
He said New Jersey has significantly improved the resiliency of its power grid, which will make other options more viable.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy (left) and First Lady Tammy Murphy attend the National Governors Association Summer Conference on July 15, 2022 in Portland, Maine. Murphy, who is running for the U.S. Senate, said Tuesday he opposes building gas-fired standby power plants in already heavily polluted minority areas. But she did not say whether she had discussed her idea with her husband, Gov. Phil Murphy, the only person who could stop her project in its tracks. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bucati, File) (AP Photo/Robert F. Bucati, File)
The proposal has been pending for several years and is under review by state environmental regulators.
In January 2022, Governor Murphy directed the Commission to suspend voting on the project to allow for a more thorough evaluation of whether the project violates the Environmental Justice Act. But just three months later, the committee moved forward with the project.
Tammy Murphy is seeking the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Democrat Robert Menendez.
Menendez is facing federal corruption charges but has not announced whether he will seek re-election.
Democratic Rep. Andy Kim, who is also seeking his party’s nomination for the Senate seat, also opposes the plan.
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“If renewable energy solutions were possible, there would be no need to build more gas power plants in the city of Newark, especially since so many residents in the area already have some of the worst air pollution in the country. Especially in the times we live in now,” he said in an email to The Associated Press.
Kim also said that such pollution “disproportionately impacts communities of color, who are already at risk from existing environmental disasters, and that could be remediated with the help of federal funds like the Inflation Control Act.” We must work towards a transition to energy solutions.”
The Sewerage Commission has proposed a $180 million backup power project that would be activated in the event of a severe storm, power outage, or cyber attack. The facility is designed to avoid a repeat of what happened after 2012’s Superstorm Sandy. When the storm knocked out power, the plant shut down and nearly a billion gallons of raw sewage spilled into local waterways.
A coalition of environmental and community groups is asking the governor to reject the plan and order the commission to redesign it to avoid increasing pollution burdens on nearby communities.
The Passaic Valley Sewer Authority Power Plant in Newark, New Jersey The proposal for a standby power plant at this facility came after residents said the neighborhood was already overburdened with polluting facilities, including two other power plants. It has provoked fierce opposition. February 20, 2024 New Jersey’s first lady and U.S. Senate candidate Tammy Murphy opposed the plan, but she tried to influence her husband, Gov. Phil Murphy, to stop it. He did not say whether he had done so. . (AP Photo/Wayne Parry, File)
Kim Gaddy, an environmental activist and member of the Governor’s Council on a Green Economy, chaired emeritus by Tammy Murphy, said the state’s transit agency canceled a similar project in Kearney, near Newark, last month. It pointed out.
“I’m tired of black and brown lungs,” she says. “If the Murphy administration and the New Jersey Department of Transportation can turn off the tap on a dirty gas plant just a few miles away, why can’t we do it here in Newark, as they did? Governor Murphy and PVSC, are you listening?”
The standby power plant was originally proposed to run solely on natural gas, but residents argue that using natural gas would further worsen the neighborhood’s already poor air quality. The commission revised its plan to incorporate the use of “alternative green renewable fuels” in conjunction with the combustion of natural gas, and to replace such fuels entirely with natural gas if technology advances to that point. It is said that it has been incorporated to be used as an alternative.
A spokeswoman for the commission declined to comment on Tammy Murphy’s opposition. The governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Without backup power, heavy rains combined with a loss of power could cause raw sewage to back up into homes and flood roads in surrounding cities like Newark, Jersey City and Bayonne, the commission said. That’s what it means.
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The company previously said it had received nearly all the approvals needed for the project, and only needed a review of the technical specifications by the state Department of Environmental Protection.
