Comments on Bayonne Energy Center Title V Operating Permit Renewal

The PEAK Coalition (UPROSE, THE POINT CDC, New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, Clean Energy Group) submitted comments urging the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to impose modifications on the Title V Operating Permit Renewal for Bayonne Energy Center (BEC), a gas-fired peaker power plant. They recommend that BEC use combined-cycle turbines as opposed to the existing simple-cycle gas-fired turbines, as combined-cycle turbines are much more efficient. The PEAK Coalition also notes that NJDEP not only has the authority, but the obligation, to require BEC to install battery storage as a condition of its Title V permit renewal under New Jersey’s Environmental Justice Law, and points to the impacts of BEC’s pollution on the health, wellbeing, and satisfaction of the surrounding community. PEAK’s technical feasibility evaluation and considerations for New York State laws conclude that hybridization and long-term phase-out is the best outcome for BEC and the community.