Waste Processing Plant Off The Table In Newark; Aries Nixes Plan

NEWARK, NJ — Aries Clean Energy has abandoned its plan to build a waste treatment plant in Newark, advocates reported Thursday.

An environmental standoff has been building over the past two years in New Jersey's largest city, where the company’s proposed waste treatment facility has been drawing fire from local residents. Read More: The Big Poop Debate: Proposed Waste Plant Causes Outcry In Newark

If it got approval from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) and the city’s planning board, Aries’ proposed facility at 400 Doremus Avenue would have processed up to 430 tons of wastewater-treated “biosolids” a day from New Jersey and New York, including human feces. The poop-laden payloads would have been heated at 1,500 degrees, turned into a substance known as “biochar” and sold as a concrete thickener to nearby construction companies.

Aries Energy said there wouldn’t be any odors, and that any emissions from the facility would be well below state and federal standards. But despite the company's assurances, the plan has been raising an outcry among residents in the Ironbound section of the city, which they say has long been plagued by an overabundance of waste processing facilities and other environmental hazards.

See the project’s specifications and other supporting materials here.

The project was scheduled to be heard at the Newark Zoning Board of Adjustment meeting on Thursday evening. But just before the hearing, Aries decided to pull the plug on the project and withdraw their application, according to the Ironbound Community Corporation (ICC), a local nonprofit that has been leading the charge against the proposed biochar facility.

“[Aries] won’t be able to submit the same application again (they are dismissing it with prejudice),” the group said.

“Newark will not be home to a sludge processing facility,” the ICC added, using a phrase that Aries has disputed in the past. “We showed up for one another to declare that Newark absolutely refuses to be dumped on any longer. Tonight, we breathe just a bit easier.”

A spokesperson with Aries confirmed Friday that the company has withdrawn its application for the proposed plant with the Newark zoning board.

“Aries Clean Technologies evaluated the current cost of construction and operating at this location and determined it was no longer a viable option to proceed with,” said Ron Hudson, director of environmental and permitting.

Christian Rodriguez of the ICC, a community farm manager for its Down Bottom Farms, said Aries’ decision to pull their application was the right thing to do.

“It was hard for the community, especially the kids and their families who come around to visit or volunteer at the farm to have this looming over our heads all this time,” Rodriguez said. “It was simply unacceptable.”

After news of the latest development in the Aries proposal broke, several other Garden State environmental justice advocates issued statements of support for the ICC.

“Their victory demonstrates the power of consistent engagement and fearless action,” said Melissa Miles, executive director of the New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance.

“We are in a struggle to transition our local economies from dependence on toxic industries to businesses that bring both economic benefits and a better quality of life for residents,” Miles said. “I am heartened to see that so many Newarkers and allies are articulating the same vision of a better future.”

Cynthia Mellon, co-chair of the City of Newark Environmental Commission and NJ Latino Action Network, said that for decades, Newark’s Ironbound district has been the “epicenter of air pollution in northern New Jersey,” with several plants releasing “toxic, health-harming emissions” – sometimes around the clock.

“I’m proud of all our neighbors who stood up against this plant,” Mellon said. “I believe we’ve reached a turning point.”

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