Ironbound Community Corporation Joins Legal Fight Against
PVSC’s Fossil Fuel Power Plant

Lawsuit Challenges Violation of Environmental Justice Law and Disregard for Community Health

Newark, NJ — Yesterday, Ironbound Community Corporation (ICC) joined with environmental and legal partners outside the headquarters of the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission (PVSC) to announce legal action against the agency. ICC and its allies have taken their fight against PVSC’s proposed fossil gas power plant to the courts. Despite years of community protests, public testimony, and expert-backed alternatives, PVSC has voted to proceed with the construction of a fourth fossil fuel power plant in the Ironbound — one of Newark’s most overburdened and environmentally vulnerable neighborhoods.

“We are calling on Governor Murphy and state officials to honor their commitment to environmental justice,” added Hazel Applewhite, CEO of Ironbound Community Corporation. “We are not asking for special treatment — we are demanding equal protection under the law. The Ironbound community has spoken clearly for years: no more gas plants. No more pollution. We deserve a healthier, safer future.”

In response, ICC and coalition partners filed lawsuits against both the State of New Jersey and PVSC, citing violations of the state’s landmark Environmental Justice (EJ) Law, enacted in 2020 to prevent exactly this kind of environmental harm in communities like the Ironbound.

“These lawsuits demonstrate that the fight against environmental racism is far from over,” said Alejandra Torres, Assistant Director of Advocacy and Organizing at Ironbound Community Corporation. “The Ironbound’s low-wealth, immigrant, and Black community is clear: they do not need a fourth polluting gas plant in their neighborhood. They deserve to breathe clean air and benefit from renewable energy projects that increase their climate resilience without sacrificing their health.”

The legal complaints assert that PVSC and the State failed to comply with key provisions of the EJ Law, which requires agencies to thoroughly consider cumulative environmental impacts and prioritize community input when evaluating projects in overburdened areas.

“Five years ago, New Jersey passed an Environmental Justice Law with the promise that new polluting facilities cannot be built where there is already too much pollution. DEP and PVSC broke that promise by planning to build a new gas plant in the most over-polluted community in the state,” said Jonathan Smith, Senior Attorney at Earthjustice. “So now we’re asking the court to stop construction of the gas plant and uphold the promise of the EJ Law.”

The City of Newark added further pressure against PVSC by filing a separate lawsuit challenging the power plant in July 2025.

“The City of Newark filed our complaint in concert with ICC to defend the residents of this city against yet another fossil fuel power plant certain to cause deleterious harm to the health of our residents,” said Mayor Ras J. Baraka, Mayor of Newark. “This facility has already been upgraded, so the project is not about generating energy. It is about fueling corporate tycoons’ lifestyles with profits – at the expense of the lives and health of Black, Brown and working-class people. City Hall is going to stand with ICC and fight all the way to the end, in the court, the streets, the boardrooms and at protest rallies like this. Because what we’re doing here is right. And as Paul Robeson wrote, ‘We ask for nothing that is not right, and herein lies the great power of our demand.’” 

For more than a decade, ICC and Ironbound residents have been outspoken about the public health and environmental dangers they face from heavy industry, diesel truck traffic, and existing fossil fuel infrastructure. The addition of yet another polluting facility would further threaten public health, particularly for children, seniors, and individuals with respiratory conditions.

“The decision by PVSC to build a polluting natural gas plant in Newark shows a complete disregard for the health and well-being of our communities and basic common sense,” said Dr. Ana Isabel Baptista, Associate Professor at the Tishman Center, The New School University, and ICC Trustee. “As an environmental professor and someone who grew up a few blocks from this facility – where my elderly parents are daily subjected to the smells and emissions from this and many other plants – I can tell you that approving a 4th power plant is a betrayal of the EJ law passed in 2020 and the promise of environmental justice for all.”

Ironbound Community Corporation remains committed to defending the well-being and dignity of its residents. This lawsuit is not only about stopping a dangerous project — it is about demanding justice, enforcing the law, and protecting the future of Newark’s communities.

“The Ironbound is already blanketed in pollution — adding a fourth gas plant is unconscionable,” said Matthew Smith, New Jersey State Director at Food and Water Watch. “PVSC is ignoring cleaner, safer alternatives and bulldozing over years of community opposition. This project has no place in Newark and must be shut down.”

“PVSC has – time and again – disregarded the voices of community members. For years, technical experts, advocates, experienced community members, and residents have not only vocally opposed this project, but offered viable alternatives and solutions to the issues PVSC has raised. Newark does not want – or need – a fourth fossil-fuel burning power plant,” explained Brooke Helmick, Director of Policy at the New Jersey Environmental Justice. “NJEJA is resolute in our support of the Ironbound Community in this matter.”

On August 20, 2025, ICC, represented by its attorneys at Earthjustice, filed two motions—one in the lawsuit against DEP and the other in the suit against PVSC—to halt gas plant construction while the cases are pending.

“It is a terrible injustice that the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission majority, knowing that the community is already overburdened by pollution, voted to approve a fracked gas power plant in the Ironbound of Newark,” explained Paula Rogovin, Co-chair, Food and Water Watch, North Jersey Volunteer Team. “Their approval was despite the fact that 136 health care providers and scientists documented for the PVSC the health impacts of the existing pollution sources—3 power plants, the incinerator, trucks from the Port Newark, etc. They explained that it is not just the pollution from what would be the 4th gas power plant, but rather the combined impacts from that plant and existing pollution. PVSC approval was despite four years of testimony at PVSC Board meetings by hundreds of residents from Newark and beyond regarding health and climate impacts from a gas plant. PVSC’s vote was shameful and only serves to perpetuate environmental racism.”

About Ironbound Community Corporation (ICC)

Founded in 1969, ICC is a nonprofit organization committed to empowering residents of Newark’s Ironbound neighborhood through environmental justice advocacy, direct services, and community-led solutions. ICC has long stood at the forefront of the fight for clean air, healthy homes, and a just, sustainable future for all.

Contact:

Cali Woods, Development Writer

Ironbound Community Corporation

cwoods@ironboundcc.org | (973) 465-0555 Ext. 235

CEO, Hazel Applewhite, and the ICC Environmental Justice team are available for interviews to discuss what this project means to our residents and the local community.