NJ Transit Natural Gas Plant in Kearny Gets Green Light

SEATTLE (Oil Monster): NJ Transit is moving forward with the construction of a natural gas power plant in Kearny after the project passed an environmental review Friday. 

The 140 megawatt generator is part of the larger NJ TransitGrid Traction Power System, a $546 million project that would provide electricity to Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, the Morris and Essex lines of NJ Transit commuter rail and the Hudson-Bergen light rail in case of a power outage.

Construction for the main facility, which will include the power plant, office space, and a four-acre installation of solar panels, is slated to begin in early 2021 on 20 acres on county-owned land in the former Koppers Koke site in Kearny. The project also includes the construction of new substations in Kearny and Hoboken, a two-megawatt gas-powered generator in Jersey City, and electrical lines connecting the power plant to railways.

Officials say the system will help avoid the kind of shutdowns that occurred during Superstorm Sandy in 2012, when transportation in New York and northern New Jersey was paralyzed. A $410 million federal disaster relief grant will provide 75 percent of the project’s funding, with the rest coming from NJ Transit’s trust fund.

The project aims to “enhance the resiliency of the electricity supply to NJ TRANSIT and Amtrak infrastructure” and to “minimize public transportation service disruptions and facilitate emergency transportation,” according to public agency documents. “The region’s public transportation infrastructure is vulnerable to power outages due to the nature of the existing centralized power distribution system and the intensity and frequency of severe weather events.”

But the plan to build a natural gas plant has drawn criticism. In an emailed statement, New Jersey Sierra Club Director Jeff Tittel called the plans for a natural gas plant “fossil foolishness” and said the agency’s approval of the plan is “outrageous.”

"South Kearny and the areas around the plant already have some of the worst air quality in the nation, and this project will add hundreds of thousands of tons of pollution,” he said, noting that recent studies had shown a link between air pollution and severe coronavirus symptoms.

In the project’s environmental impact statement, released Friday, officials wrote that the agencies had considered using renewable energy sources instead of natural gas, but had determined that they were “not practical or feasible" because of the cost, location and the ability to fulfill “rapidly fluctuating” demands for electricity.

Kearny Mayor Al Santos welcomed the possibility that the plant will lead to improvements in infrastructure along the Hackensack River, which he hopes will aid development there, but he noted that the town of Kearny was not involved in the planning process of the site and would not receive property taxes.

But he expressed confusion about NJ Transit’s decision to build a gas-powered plant instead of using more sustainable energy sources.

“It doesn’t make sense because of our state’s policy goals to reduce carbon emissions,” he said. “I would have opted for a power source based on renewables.”

Courtesy: www.masstransitmag.com