Activists’ Challenge To Newark Waste Facility Will Proceed

NEWARK, NJ — Newark’s zoning board is allowing a challenge to a proposed waste treatment facility in the Ironbound section of the city to continue, setting the stage for a potential showdown this fall.

Groups including the Ironbound Community Corporation (ICC) and Earthjustice have been pushing back against Aries Clean Energy’s plan to build its new treatment plant in Newark near the Passaic River. If it gets approval from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the city's planning and zoning boards, the facility at 400 Doremus Avenue will process up to 430 tons of wastewater-treated "biosolids" a day from New Jersey and New York, including human feces. The poop-laden payloads will be heated at 1,500 degrees, turned into a substance known as "biochar."

Aries Energy says there won'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, its plan has been raising an outcry among some residents in the Ironbound section of the city, who say the neighborhood has long been plagued by an overabundance of waste processing facilities and other environmental hazards.

• See related article: The Big Poop Debate: Proposed Waste Plant Causes Outcry

The ICC has launched an effort to stop the new facility with the Newark Zoning Board of Adjustment, arguing that it would be producing “sludge” – which is prohibited under city code. Aries has defended their proposal, alleging that activists are inaccurately portraying the “class B biosolids” that would be produced as “sludge.”

A city zoning officer previously agreed with Aries and referred the matter to the planning board, a move that the ICC appealed. But the appeal was temporarily put into limbo as the board considered whether it was filed in a “timely manner,” as required.

During their public meeting last week, the zoning board ruled the ICC’s appeal was timely, allowing it to move forward. The board is expected to revisit the issue on Oct. 21.

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