What's up for Superfund site? Solar farm, if borough gives nod
NEWFIELD — Railcars will keep moving contaminated slag off the Shieldalloy Metallurgical Corp. property at least into this winter, but a new future as a light industrial operation is shaping up quickly now for the federal Superfund cleanup site.
A proposal for a solar power generating field is scheduled for a June public hearing before the borough Zoning Board.
The property at 35 South West Boulevard is about 67.7 acres, but the field would cover a smaller area.
An application puts the field capacity at 14.77 megawatts.
Shieldalloy owns the land, but the applicant is Vineland Newfield Solar Farm LLC.
It's affiliated with CEP Renewables, a Red Bank company that has turned “brownfield” properties around the state into solar power fields.
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According to its application, the solar power field should not need variances from local ordinances.
New Jersey law encourages this type of development, although the state has a lengthy certification process.
Vineland Newfield Solar Farm submitted the project in August 2021 for review at the state Board of Public Utilities. The BPU in December 2022 gave approval, with a condition it does not interfere with the cleanup.
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The federal Environmental Protection Agency published its first five-year status report on cleanup progress in July 2023. The state Department of Environmental Protection also is involved in the remediation, which also affects neighboring Vineland.
It made items like specialty steel and super alloy additives, aluminum master alloys, metal carbides, powdered metals, and other products.
It operated between 1995 and 2006.
Its closure left behind piles of processing waste with low levels of radioactivity, heavy metals in soils and sediments, and contaminated groundwater. Regular shipments of waste to a disposal facility in Michigan started in October 2019, after installation of a railroad spur.
To review the cleanup plan, visit www.epa.gov/superfund/shieldalloy.
Joe Smith is a N.E. Philly native transplanted to South Jersey 36 years ago, keeping an eye now on government in South Jersey. He is a former editor and current senior staff writer for The Daily Journal in Vineland, Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, and the Burlington County Times.
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This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Newfield Shieldalloy Superfund site draws solar power company
