Eligibility of New Jersey Waste Incinerators in State Renewable Portfolio Standard and Request for Meeting

The Ironbound Community Corporation (ICC) and the New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance (NJEJA) argue that New Jersey waste incinerators are ineligible for Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) subsidies because they have consistently violated Clean Air Act permits. The authors claim that ratepayers have paid approximately $30 million in subsidies to these facilities between 2005 and 2019, despite legal requirements that eligible 'Class II renewable energy' sources must meet the 'highest environmental standards'. The document highlights that these incinerators are located in environmental justice communities and that the BPU and DEP have failed to provide the same level of oversight for in-state facilities as they do for out-of-state ones.

• New Jersey waste incinerators have generated approximately $30 million in retail sales of Class II RECs between energy years 2005 and 2019, with nearly 11 million RECs retired for RPS compliance.
• Under the Electric Discount and Energy Competition Act (EDECA), waste incinerators qualify for Class II RECs only if they meet the highest environmental standards and minimize impacts to the environment and local communities.
• BPU implementing rules specify that if a resource recovery facility violates its operating permit, the NJDEP should remove its Class II determination and the BPU should exclude it from RPS eligibility in the following reporting year.
• Five New Jersey waste incinerators—Covanta Essex County, Covanta Union County, Covanta Camden, Covanta Warren Energy, and Wheelabrator Gloucester LP—have been in violation of Clean Air Act operating permits nearly every year since 2004.
• Covanta Essex reported nearly 100 air permit violations from 2017 to 2020, including particulate matter (opacity) violations over 8 times the permit limit and carbon monoxide violations nearly 5 times the limit.
• Covanta Camden reported nearly 60 air permit violations between 2017 and 2020, while Covanta Union reported 19 oxygen (O2) violations and one opacity violation.
• Wheelabrator Gloucester reported 12 violations between 2017 and 2020, involving opacity, particulate matter stack testing, mercury emissions, and unpermitted fuel types.
• All operating New Jersey waste incinerators are located in environmental justice communities, with Covanta Essex and Covanta Camden situated in areas with the highest EPA EJ Screen indices.
• The BPU and DEP are accused of failing to review the RPS eligibility of in-state incinerators, creating a disparity compared to out-of-state facilities which must provide annual affidavits of compliance.
• A 2011 analysis by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) found that waste-to-energy facilities emit most air pollutants at higher rates per megawatt-hour than coal-fired power plants, specifically producing up to 14 times more mercury.

APA

Earthjustice (2020). Eligibility of New Jersey Waste Incinerators in State Renewable Portfolio Standard and Request for Meeting. https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2020-04-30_icc_njeja_letter_bpu_dep.pdf

Chicago

Earthjustice. Eligibility of New Jersey Waste Incinerators in State Renewable Portfolio Standard and Request for Meeting. 2020. https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2020-04-30_icc_njeja_letter_bpu_dep.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Earthjustice |title=Eligibility of New Jersey Waste Incinerators in State Renewable Portfolio Standard and Request for Meeting |date=30 April 2020 |url=https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2020-04-30_icc_njeja_letter_bpu_dep.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{earthjustice2020eligibility, author = {{Earthjustice}}, title = {{Eligibility of New Jersey Waste Incinerators in State Renewable Portfolio Standard and Request for Meeting}}, publisher = {Earthjustice}, year = {2020}, month = apr, url = {https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2020-04-30_icc_njeja_letter_bpu_dep.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }