NEWARK, New Jersey — One of New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s most controversial projects — a gas-fired power plant inside the state’s largest city — has a new critic: his wife.
Tammy Murphy, who is running to replace Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez , came out against a new plant planned for Newark to provide backup power to a state-run sewer agency that serves much of North Jersey.
She said Newark already has three gas-fired power plants, plus an incinerator and lots of diesel truck traffic, so the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission should not build a new plant there.
“I oppose the PVSC plant,” she said at a Tuesday morning press conference where she joined others against the project.
But her opposition may end up raising more questions than it answers about her role in her husband’s administration and as a candidate of her own.
Murphy said the remarks on Tuesday were her first public comments about the plant and she declined to say whether she had discussed the matter with the governor.