EMR seeks permit for port site

The Camden Iron & Metal subsidiary of scrap processing firm EMR Ltd. has applied for a preconstruction air permit with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The permit is tied to airborne emissions generated from material handling operations at the firm’s waterfront site in Camden, New Jersey.

According to the DEP, EMR submitted the application for the preconstruction air permit in April of 2021 and subsequently updated the application twice in 2022.

The DEP says EMR submitted the application following a compliance advisory the agency issued in 2021 related to material handling activities at scrap metal handling and recycling facilities.

“The pending application includes the pier facility’s existing material handling activities, which consist primarily of the loading of ferrous metals onto ships/vessels for further transport," the agency says.

The application is pending while DEP holds a public comment period that runs through May 16.

A report from Tap Into Camden says the application also is tied to “a notice of violation” EMR received in June 2020 that followed DEP inspections of the site on the Delaware River waterfront.

That report also indicates EMR “does not agree with the DEP that the operation requires an air permit.”

In the permit application, EMR says its port facility handles at least three ferrous grades: shred, plate and structural and No. 1 heavy melting steel.