On Monday, the Sayreville Borough Council voted in favor of a resolution opposing a plan to build a second gas-fired power plant in Woodbridge. 

Sayreville became the sixth municipality to call on the Murphy administration to reject the proposal by Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) to build a new gas-fired power plant in Woodbridge. Similar resolutions have passed in Edison, Highland Park, Hoboken, Perth Amboy, and Franklin.

“We support environmental cleanliness and the safety of our residents,” said Mayor Victoria Kilpatrick, who enthusiastically supported the measure, which enjoyed bipartisan support.

“I think it’s way beyond time for any plants considered to be clean, renewable energy,” said Alexandria Haris, a member of the Sayreville Environmental Commission. “This proposed plant would negatively impact the health and well-being of young children.”

“There are four fossil fuel plants here and we don’t need another one that will not benefit the residents of Sayreville,” said Arthur DeSarno, a Sayreville resident and Food & Water Watch volunteer.

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 proposed plant has become the focus of sustained community opposition, most notably as part of a climate march across the state last month urging Governor Murphy to reject permits for new fossil fuel infrastructure projects.  One of the community events along the march route saw more than 75 people come out to oppose the plant at a rally outside Woodbridge Town Hall on August 17.