DEP Exempts Musky Power Plant from Highlands Rules

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has granted Phoenix Energy Center LLC approval for a redevelopment exemption from the Highlands Rules for their proposed 663 MW power plant. The electricity-generating power plant would be located on the Musconetcong River. This project still needs multiple reviews and permits. This includes a review by the PJM, the regional grid operators. They would also need approval by the NJDEP as well as the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC). Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, released the following statement:

“The DEP has sided with putting a major polluting power plant in the Highlands Preservation Area over protecting the Highlands. They’ve granted this exemption for this massive project even though it’s on the banks of the Musconetcong River in the middle of the Highlands Preservation Area. They did so without examining the effects this project would have on the River and the region’s water supply. They also failed to look at secondary and cumulative ones from connecting pipelines or power lines including air pollution. DEP narrowly and irresponsible granted this exemption of an unneeded project. The point of allowing exemptions was for small developments that benefit the area without threatening the ecosystem, not to build a polluting plant that puts the entire area at risk. The whole purpose of passing the Highlands Act was to prevent massive projects like this and the DEP has put the entire region at risk by supporting it.

“This power plant would be a dagger into the heart of the Highlands. It would threaten drinking water in the entire Delaware Watershed and pollute a Category 1 stream. The 25-acre site is of a former paper mill and plays an important role for trout production but is in the Highlands Preservation Area. This plant would also be an excuse to build the devastating PennEast pipeline and other fossil fuel infrastructure. The company Phoenix Energy Center LLC met with the town’s Planning Board but have not yet filed for permits. We need Holland Twp. and the Highlands Council, and the DEP must reject this dangerous proposal to put a 663 MW plant in their town. We will fight any attempt to gas the Highlands!

“This gas power plant does not belong in the Highlands or anywhere else in New Jersey. It would mean more fracking and more pipelines to bring fracked gas across the region. It would threaten dozens of culturally significant historical and archeological resources as well as important fisheries including the brown trout. It will also create a giant eyesore surrounded by the Wild and Scenic River designated by the USDOI with smokestacks and cooling towers impacting the views. It would create water pollution and air pollution, leading to health effects and contaminated drinking water.

“This project would directly threaten the drinking water of millions of people in the region, especially since its planned to be right on the riverbank. They want to withdraw up to 5.4 million gallons a day of water from the Musconetcong River. The River does not have this much available water, meaning this would have major impacts on flows, especially in the summer. This could kill fish and fish larvae as well as other species. They then want to dump back in between 1.5 and 1.8 million gallons of superheated water that contains all types of chemicals. This will reduce water quality and create thermal pollution in Category 1 streams. These are the highest quality streams that cannot be degraded by law.

“The gas for the power plant would come through Elizabethtown and PennEast. This means there will be another pipeline cutting through the environmentally sensitive valley to supply this mega-power plant. This could become a justification by PennEast to build their unneeded pipeline that doesn’t serve the area. The PennEast Pipeline would threaten the entire Valley including 91 acres of wetlands and over 44 miles of forest; over 1,600 acres’ total. This plant would undercut arguments against PennEast and give the company more reason to argue for their pipeline to be built. This could then lead to even more proposed pipelines in the region.

“This plant would be a major source of air pollution and could generate almost 1.25 million metric tons of carbon dioxide a year. These types of plants are monsters, emitting heavy metals and chemicals like ammonia and nitrogen oxide. Natural gas from fracking could generate if not more greenhouses gases than coal. There will be even more chemicals that will be evaporated off as chemical drift. The superheated water goes through the cooling towers and evaporates as chemical drift. This creates a witches brew of chemicals that is released into the environment, possibly with significant health impacts. 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.

“Governor Murphy must put a stop to this unneeded power plant that threatened the Highlands and would be a major roadblock for his own renewable energy goals. The expansion of natural gas projects in New Jersey will only create more climate effects and hinder efforts to have a green economy. We must reject this proposal, and any others, to put more dirty fossil fuel infrastructure in our state. Instead, we should be focusing on promoting renewable energy such as wind and solar. We’ve asked Governor Murphy to put a moratorium on new gas plants in New Jersey because we need to stop the proliferation of dirty fossil fuels across our state. We do not need any more natural gas in New jersey and we definitely don’t need any of the pollution, habitat loss, or health effects that come with them.”