ENGLEWOOD, N.J.—On Jan. 7, a group of avid environmentalists—with the moniker, “Don’t Gas the Meadowlands”—held a demonstration outside of the Englewood Court House during the City Council’s annual reorganization meeting.
Led by author and activist Paula Rogovin of Teaneck, over a dozen people from various environmental organizations—such as the Sierra Club and Hackensack Riverkeeper, as well as concerned citizens throughout Bergen County—carried posters and stop signs urging Gov. Phil Murphy to reject permits for a proposed 17-acre power plant in the Meadowlands. The activists also want Murphy to issue a moratorium on all fossil fuel infrastructure permits in New Jersey, including pipelines.
As visitors to the City Council reorganization meeting began to assemble, the demonstrators made their way into the courthouse in a non-disruptive manner. They stood along one end of the room holding their signs, and they remained silent and respectful as Murphy swore in Mayor Michael Wildes. After the meeting ended, they disbursed and spoke privately to people who had questions about the power plant.
“Our coalition began about a year ago when we found out that a subsidiary of Mitsubishi was planning to build a fracked gas-fired power plant in the Meadowlands, and we have demonstrated against this at several events,” said Rogovin. “In November, we held a ‘Climate Fast’ in front of the governor’s office for two weeks and we put up a billboard in Fairview and Ridgefield, stating the issue and urging people to call the governor.
“When I phoned the governor’s office, they confirmed that they were receiving a lot of calls. Now, we are planning to put a billboard on the New Jersey Turnpike, where it will be seen by an estimated 400,000 people a week,” Rogovin said.
Buddy Jensen, chairman of the North Jersey Sierra Club, is a scuba diver and a conservationist. “I’ve seen so much destruction both in the water and on land,” Jensen said. “The Meadowlands is a vital wetlands habitat that supports fish and wildlife, and serves as a buffer zone to prevent flooding during storms.”
The proposed power plant, The North Bergen Liberty Generating Project, would generate 1,200 megawatts of power, making it one of the largest electricity generators in the state. Ironically, most of that electricity provided by New Jersey would be transported to the Con Edison plant on the West Side of Manhattan to power households in New York City, with little benefit to the Garden State.
Rogovin warns that the power plant is not just an intrusion on an environmentally critical area, but it can also become the scene of a mass disaster.
“There are CSX trains carrying fuel that pass right near that site. When it rains, the tracks become slippery and there can be a train derailment, which has happened in several areas of the US and Canada,” Rogovin said. “The derailment can cause the fuel to explode, and if that explosion reaches the power plant, the effect would be exacerbated many times over.”
Further, the toxic fumes generated by such an explosion would be devastating to the health of humans as well as endemic species, activists say.
“This project is contrary to Murphy’s stated commitment to clean energy, i.e. lowering carbon emissions and promoting renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power,” said Jensen.
Last December Murphy was quoted as saying, “I remain and we remain committed to a new energy master plan, one that we have not had in a long time in this state that would see our state achieve 100 percent clean energy by the year 2050.”
Rogovin is optimistic that Don’t Gas the Meadowlands will obtain a solution to the problem.
“Forty-five environmental groups and the mayors of 24 towns have already voted to oppose the power plant, including Paul Tomasko, Alpine mayor and president of the Bergen County League of Municipalities,” Rogovin said. “We are also speaking with Bergen County freeholders and [state] Sen. Loretta Weinberg and [state] Assemblyman Gordon Johnson. This fight is too important to lose, so we will continue until we win!”
— Photo by Hillary Viders