‘Bomb trains’ of liquefied natural gas could threaten Camden

The train derailment disaster in East Palestine, Ohio, might seem like a long way from Camden. But that incident has focused more attention on a plan to bring similarly dangerous chemical trains near our city. It is a risk to our health and safety that we must stop.

Camden already deals with massive sources of pollution, which is part of the reason our asthma hospitalization rate is roughly three times the state average. But a plan to build a massive gas terminal in Gibbstown, N.J. — just 30 minutes away from Camden — elevates threats to our air and water even more.

A company called New Fortress is seeking approval to liquefy fracked gas at a new facility in Pennsylvania. From there, the gas would travel hundreds of miles to the Gibbstown liquefied natural gas terminal. This would require sending “bomb trains” and trucks carrying explosive materials right through the already overburdened community of Camden, and potentially parts of North Philadelphia as well. A derailment of these trains carrying explosive material through Camden — a much larger community than East Palestine — would have even more catastrophic effects than what we saw in Ohio.

Even without a catastrophic derailment, the toxic emissions from additional diesel-burning trains and trucks coming through Camden every day would further harm public health. Camden cannot bear the brunt of this project. Bringing volatile liquefied natural gas through our community to be exported abroad would be an egregious and blatant contradiction of Gov. Phil Murphy’s commitment to environmental justice.

Nearly 300 Rutgers faculty, students, and staff members have come out in opposition to this project for this exact reason. We come to school to grow our individual and collective knowledge, not have our health and safety threatened by an unnecessary fossil fuel export scheme.

In fact, Camden City Fire Chief Michael L. Harper recently urged City Council to join the 18 other towns that have passed resolutions opposing this project. We are working alongside longtime residents and local environmental justice advocates who have fought for decades to improve conditions in the city. We cannot continue to allow our air and water to be polluted, and the risk of an explosion even worse than what happened in East Palestine is intolerable. The Gibbstown export terminal cannot be allowed to go forward.

As communities across South Jersey unite in opposition to the dangerous New Fortress fracking plan, we, alongside other student and community leaders, rallied at City Council on March 7. We demanded that our elected officials on the county, state, and federal levels oppose this project. After that rally, the Murphy administration released a statement: “Due to the safety and public health risks posed by the transportation and storage of liquified natural gas (LNG), Governor Murphy remains opposed both to rail transport of LNG and the use of the Gibbstown facility as an LNG terminal.” This reiterates Murphy’s previous position opposing the transport of liquefied natural gas.

But we need more than words.

The same goes for the Biden administration, which has not taken appropriate actions to stop these dangerous trains. A policy change during the Trump administration allowed the transport of liquefied natural gas by rail — a reckless move that drew lawsuits from several states, including New Jersey. But for some reason, the Biden administration continues to delay a decision on changing that Trump-era policy.

The East Palestine disaster was a wake-up call that no one needed, and yet lawmakers are still moving too slowly. New Fortress has given word that it intends to reapply for permits at its fracking site in Pennsylvania, signaling its continued interest in developing this export scheme. That is why we will continue to call on Camden City Council to pass a resolution holding Gov. Murphy to his commitments to stop this project from endangering our community.

Political leaders at every level — from Camden City Council all the way to the White House — must stop this project from moving forward before it’s too late.

Kinjal Mody, an incoming student at the Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine, is president of the Rutgers University-Camden Green Thumbs. Minister Roy L. Jones is a longtime Camden resident and the founder of the National Institute for Healthy Human Spaces.