Last week, the Somerset County Somerset County Board of County Commissioners became the eighth elected government body to pass a resolution calling on the Murphy administration to reject the proposal by Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) to build a new gas-fired power plant in Woodbridge.

CPV has proposed building a new 630-megawatt gas power plant in the Keasbey section of Woodbridge, a community already overburdened with pollution. If approved, this new facility – which would be adjacent to an existing CPV plant – could emit nearly 2.3 million tons of greenhouse gasses each year, along with hundreds of tons of toxic air pollutants – including carbon monoxide, ammonia, sulfur dioxide, volatile organic compounds, sulfuric acid, and lead.

The dirty power scheme has generated strong community opposition. Resolutions opposing the power plant have passed in Sayreville, Edison, Highland Park, Hoboken, Perth Amboy, Franklin, and Rahway.

“We don’t need more floods, we don’t need more cancer, lung disease, heart disease, autism, or Alzheimer’s,” said Linda Powell, a Franklin Township resident and Food & Water Watch volunteer.  Earlier this year, Franklin Township became the fifth municipal government to oppose the CPV plan.

“It’s no wonder that towns are increasingly showing support through this resolution against the unnecessary dirty gas plant,” said Rachel Dawn Davis, a Public Policy and Justice Organizer with Waterspirit, a non-profit center of ecology and spirituality.

“As we mark the tenth anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, we see that we have not done enough to avert the catastrophic effects of climate change. The last thing we need here in New Jersey is to be dumping millions more tons of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere,” said Charlie Kratovil, Central Jersey Organizer at Food & Water Watch.

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