Stop Riverbank Sparta

Concerns of many who would be impacted by the Riverbank Sparta project include:

• Health and safety concerns, particularly the possible risks associated with electromagnetic fields (EMF) from high voltage power transmission lines, including increased risk of childhood leukemia, adult brain cancer, ALS, and miscarriage.  Current proposed routing of transmission lines runs directly though established neighborhoods where hundreds of children live and play.

• Environmental concerns including possible damage to ground water aquifers which could affect far reaching public and private wells, possible impact on the Paulinskill River, possible impact on other nearby rivers and streams, possible impact on wetlands, and possible impact on wildlife including protected species.

• Potential to create seismic activity causing land shifts, possibly resulting in personal safety and property and infrastructure damage.

• Concerns over the lowering and raising of water levels proposed with this project and its potential to cause sink holes in surrounding areas, possibly endangering people and causing property and infrastructure damage.

• Concerns about possible asbestos contamination from contact, waterborne, and airborne particulate.  According to the NJ Sierra Club website: The giant chambers - each will be the size of a Rockaway Square Mall - will cause all of the groundwater to move towards the chambers, lowering the water table and destroying the Germany Flats aquifer. The rock formations that will be quarried are primarily limestone and believed by the EPA to contain asbestos. "Since a lot of the rock in the area is limestone, it will lead to groundwater contamination because limestone allows pollutants to travel right through it," cautions NJ Sierra Club Director, Jeff Tittle.

• Concerns over how such large volumes of rock and aggregate will be removed from the property.

• Concerns about degradation of area roads and lands, and pollution concerns during construction from construction vehicles.  According to the NJ Sierra Club website:  A tremendous amount of energy will be used just in the development process of quarrying out the chambers, which will result in greenhouse gas and air pollution. "Remember, the trucks come in empty and go back out full. A project of this scope will generate more than 7,000 truck trips a day, adding significant pollution and traffic gridlock," states NJ Sierra Club Director, Jeff Tittel.
  

• Concerns regarding proximity of the project and construction vehicle activity to an elementary school and residential neighborhoods.

• Noise level concerns during construction and during operation.  According to Riverbank, construction would last approximately four years.

• Land aesthetic concerns over proposed towers with high voltage transmission lines bisecting existing neighborhoods and open spaces with current proposed routing of transmission lines in our opinion is not practical, reasonable or acceptable.

• Concerns about property devaluations created in surrounding communities.

• Concerns over misleading and non-forthright communication by Sparta Township and Riverbank Power officials regarding the project.  The project has been positioned by Sparta Township Council and Riverbank Power Corporation as "green" and low impact.  It is not green.  It is not low impact.

• The project may rely on non-renewable power sources such as coal burning and therefore would not  be green or consistent with popular environmental goals.  There currently are no proposals to use wind, solar or other forms of renewable or sustainable energy that we are aware of.

• Concerns that the proposed project uses more power than it generates.

• In their application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Riverbank Power states that the 500kVAC line "will either be buried or overhead on compact structures..." Questions remain whether such transmission lines could, or would be buried.

• Questions exist whether such a power storage facility is justified or needed.

• We are concerned that no options for alternative interconnecting routes have been proposed to date to contain the impact to the benefiting municipality- Sparta, according Riverbank Power's FERC permit filings.  

• We believe the current proposed routing of power interconnection Right of Way (ROW) for this project is not suitable and would require significant widening possibly resulting in condemnation of numerous families homes and properties.

• To our knowledge, Riverbank Power has never constructed or operated a power plant of this size and scope before.

• We believe Riverbank Power's qualifications, capabilities, and resources for such a large undertaking should be carefully examined.

• We believe that questions regarding financing of this project should be asked.

• We have questions about the lease agreements between Sparta Township, NJ, Riverbank Power Corporation, and Limecrest Quarry Inc. involving proposed property.

• We believe Sparta Township's use of "open space" funds contributing to the purchase of the property to be used for this proposed project may limit its uses.  We feel this should be investigated prior to any drilling or testing.

• We believe that fully understanding the environmental impacts of this proposed power project is absolutely necessary.  If the environmental studies find any potential for ecosystem damage, the project should not proceed.