Coal Blooded: Putting Profits Before People

PSEGPSEG has the fourth-worst CEJP score of all 59 companies examined in this report. Thecompany owns three coal-fired power plants, all three of which earned environmentaljustice performance grades of F, and all three of which are located within 50 miles ofManhattan; two of these three plants, Hudson and Bridgeport, are among the Top 12 EJOffenders. The Bridgeport plant, located in downtown Bridgeport, Connecticut, is one ofonly eight coal-fired power plants still currently operating in New England, where coalhas largely been phased out.In 2002, the U.S. EPA charged PSEG with failing to provide adequate pollution controlsat its Hudson and Mercer plants in New Jersey. The EPA, the U.S. Department of Justice,and the State of New Jersey then sued PSEG to force the company to comply withregulations. In November 2006, PSEG settled the suit by agreeing to introduce pollutioncontrols at the Mercer plant earlier than required; in exchange, PSEG was allowed todelay installation of pollution controls at the Hudson plant until the end of 2010.(Hudson is currently the third-worst coal plant in the country on our environmentaljustice performance ranking.) 81At the same time, PSEG’s CEO, Ralph Izzo, has been a leading proponent ofCongressional action on climate change: in July 2010, Izzo publicly castigated Congressfor having failed to pass national energy legislation, arguing that the Senate’s failure“means… that we're going to see energy regulation by the courts.” 82 In its 100-page2010 Sustainability Report, PSEG states that its “vision is about excellence in providingenergy in an environmentally responsible way.” The company’s Environmental Healthand Safety Policy states that PSEG strives to “assess and manage the environmental,health, and safety risks and hazards associated with all aspects of our business, toprotect our employees, our customers, [and] the communities in which we operate.” 83However, residents of the communities in which PSEG operates its three coal-firedpower plants offer a different view on the company’s attitude toward environmentalresponsibility. Robert Harper, a resident of Jersey City (where Hudson is located), statedin an interview for this report that he believes that, “residents are deliberately beingkept in the dark as to the toxic exposures” resulting from the presence of the plant intheir community.Craig Kelly, a resident of Bridgeport, stated in an interview that he believes that PSEGruns their Bridgeport plant at night in order to hide its true impact:Page | 35