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U.S. Rep Donald Payne, Jr., D-10th, joined a dozen other officials asking the Port Authority to stop “secret” negotiations with Amazon to locate an air freight hub at Newark Airport that opponents contend has been fast tracked.
The letter sent Tuesday comes on the heels of letters sent earlier in the year by Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and Elizabeth Mayor J. Christian Bollwage, asking the Port Authority to meet with city officials and community groups to address concerns about traffic, air pollution and jet noise from the proposed air freight center.
The June 20 letter, signed by Payne, State Sen. Joseph Cryan, D-Union, Assemblywoman Annette Quijano D-Union, Assemblywoman Angela V. McKnight, D-Hudson, and municipal officials from East Orange, Hillside and Jersey City, had similar concerns. In the June 20 letter, the officials said they’re “alarmed that the Port Authority is moving forward with the Amazon Air Hub at Newark International Airport without guaranteeing consultation with, and investment in, the communities” that would be affected most.
“Residents and workers should have a say in how corporations are allowed to come into our communities – to make sure they don’t pollute our air or cause excessive noise or traffic or make global warming worse,” it was stated in the letter. “We should have a say, so that we ensure local workers are hired, have a voice on the job and are paid living wages with good benefits.”
The Port Authority Board of Commissioners approved negotiating a lease on Aug. 5, 2021, with Amazon for a 250,000-square-foot air cargo campus on the airport’s north side. The facility, which could open during the first quarter of 2023, is expected to employee 1,000 people.
The proposal quickly came under fire for being fast tracked because it was a last minute add on to the board’s August agenda and didn’t give opponents advance opportunity to voice concerns. When asked by officials, a Port Authority lawyer said the action didn’t violate the open public meetings act.
Officials also said in March that the authority has a variety of regulations in place, from the highest minimum wage policies at airports to multiple OSHA protections in the operations of the facility itself.
Opponents, including community organizations, said they never got an opportunity to ask questions about how additional air pollution from trucks and planes will be mitigated and how the effects of increased traffic will be handled. Unions also raised concerns that union jobs at the existing facilities on the site to be leased to Amazon will be replaced with non-union jobs offering lower pay and benefits.
“The Port Authority is committed to being a good partner to the communities in which our facilities operate,” said Scott Ladd, an authority spokesman. “Since the Board voted to authorize negotiations with Amazon following a public procurement process, we have participated in outreach meetings with public and private stakeholders in order to listen to and address their concerns and we will continue to do so moving forward.”
Opponents have demonstrated against the lease when the Port Authority resumed in person board meetings this spring, and workers and community group representatives have continued to ask question of the board this year.
The latest letter reiterates some of those concerns and said “working class Black and Brown communities in and around Newark and Elizabeth need good, family-supporting jobs, and clean air. Our communities disproportionately experience the effects of air pollution and have been breathing dirty air for decades – air that causes asthma, cancer, premature deaths, and climate change.”
The Port Authority board of commissioners meets on Thursday.
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Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com.
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