NJ Fines Existing Woodbridge Power Plant For Pollution Violations

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — On Wednesday of this week, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection sent Patch $69,000 in violations it levied against Competitive Power Ventures, the energy company currently trying to open a second natural gas power plant in Woodbridge.

The violations date back to 2015 at CPV's existing power plant in Keasbey. The Newark Star Ledger/NJ.com published the violations as well. Patch never requested to see the violations; a DEP media spokeswoman sent them to us unprompted.

The DEP notified CPV of the violations in a letter dated March 2, and levied a $69,000 total fine.

Then, less than 24 hours later, a DEP spokeswoman said Thursday the natural gas company has resolved all these violations, and is "working toward a resolution of the fines."

"Woodbridge Energy Center has rectified the violation(s) found during an inspection of its facility and is in compliance with DEP regulations," said DEP spokeswoman Caryn Shinske. "At this time, DEP and Woodbridge Energy Center are working toward resolution of the fines."

It remains unclear why CPV was only notified this week of violations the state found in 2015.

Shinske said the DEP is not issuing any further comment on this topic.

Matthew Litchfield is a spokesman for Competitive Power Ventures. Patch asked him if these violations will have any bearing on whether or not the NJ DEP approves their current air permit applications to open the second plant. He replied:

"We expect that the pending applications will continue to be considered based on their own merits."

Since 2016, CPV has operated the Woodbridge Energy Center, a 725-megawatt natural gas power plant in the Keasbey section of Woodbridge. It is located at 1070 Riverside Drive.

Their second proposed natural gas power plant — which is still awaiting key air quality permit approvals from the state of New Jersey — would be built adjacent to the existing.

Many residents are opposed to the second natural gas power plant opening in Woodbridge, specifically citing air pollution from the plant. Some Middlesex County residents say they and their children have asthma and are concerned about a second fossil fuel power plant opening in the area.

Gov. Murphy has not publicly spoken about the plant, although he did announce a goal to move New Jersey to entirely renewable energy by 2035. Both CPV plants — the existing and the proposed second one — do not use renewable energy; they use natural gas obtained by fracking methods elsewhere in the U.S.

However, CPV is also in the wind and solar energy business.

Murphy is pushing a plan to build up to 3,400 wind turbines off the Jersey Shore, and it remains unknown if the two CPV plans could process that wind energy once it comes ashore.

According to the DEP, compliance checks in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2021 at the plant found multiple violations, some of them having to do with air quality emissions: Exceeding the sulfur content in a diesel pump; operating beyond acceptable pH ranges; running a diesel pump engine on "ozone action days" and failing to continuously monitor water in a cooling tower.

These violations violated New Jersey's Air Pollution Control Act, the state says.

Litchfield said the company actually self-reported some of the issues in 2019. He also said the issues with the cooling tower were in the plant's first few years of operation, and have since been fixed.

“CPV is in receipt of the communications from the NJDEP concerning the penalties assessed generally due to operating permit deviations related to the cooling tower during the first few years of operations at CPV Woodbridge," he told Patch Thursday. "CPV holds itself to a high standard, which led to the self-reporting of the issue to the NJDEP in 2019. Successful corrective actions were taken back then and there have been no further issues with the cooling tower since. We continue to work closely with the NJDEP and all regulatory agencies."

Prior: Stop Woodbridge's 2nd Natural Gas Power Plant, NJ Residents Beg Murphy (March 7)

Woodbridge Residents Speak For And Against 2nd Natural Gas Power Plant (Feb. 27, 2023)