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Advocate urges emissions cuts as Siegfried seeks Title V permit renewal; NJDEP filing says no new emissions
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Summary
At a Pennsville public meeting on Siegfried’s Title V operating permit renewal, presenters said the renewal will not change operations or add emissions; Brooke Helmick of the New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance urged the company to pursue measures such as boiler electrification and on-site battery storage to reduce pollution.
Pennsville — Officials presenting Siegfried’s environmental justice impact statement told a March public meeting that the company’s pending Title V operating permit renewal does not change current operations or add emissions, while an environmental-justice advocate urged the firm to pursue additional emission-reduction measures.
Rob Fissler, a program manager with Haley & Aldrich who said he helped Siegfried prepare the EJ impact statement, described the facility at 33 Industrial Park Road as a 144-acre pharmaceutical manufacturing site operating since about 1970. He said Siegfried’s Title V permit renewal application was submitted in August 2023 and that, per the transcript, the company submitted its EJ impact statement to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) in September 2025. "There are no changes to operations — this is just a renewal," Fissler said, noting the company employs emission-control technologies.
Why it matters: Under New Jersey’s environmental-justice regulation, major-source Title V renewals that fall within an overburdened block group must prepare an EJ impact statement and hold public outreach. Fissler said the block group that contains the Siegfried site meets the state’s overburdened-community criteria; the transcript states the block group’s combined stressor total is 12 out of 26 potential stressors identified by the NJDEP mapping tool.
Key findings presented - Emissions: Fissler reported 2024 actual emissions of roughly 9 tons per year of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and about 11 tons per year of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). He said the Title V permit has higher allowable limits (transcript cited roughly 26.2 tons/year of NOx and nearly 99 tons/year of VOCs), and that the facility’s actual emissions have been significantly lower than permit limits. - Particulate matter: The presenters described Siegfried as a minor source of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), reporting about 2 tons/year of PM2.5 in recent years (well below the 100 tons/year threshold New Jersey uses to identify significant PM sources). - Other stressors: The EJ screening results listed a mix of 12 stressors in the block group, including fine particulates, heavy truck traffic, soil and groundwater contamination indicators in the block group (not necessarily at the Siegfried site), surface-water and drinking-water impacts, lack of recreational open space, and unemployment. - Permits and controls: The presentation said the site holds the Title V air permit, several stormwater permits, an industrial-wastewater discharge permit, sewer and sludge permits, water allocation and water-use registration permits, hazardous-waste-generator status, and a small X-ray/radiation permit for quality-control lab work. Presenters said routine inspection, monitoring and pollution-prevention plans are in place and that the renewal will not increase discharges or change emergency planning or permit conditions.
Public comment and advocate recommendations Brooke Helmick, director of policy at the New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance, thanked presenters and said NJEJA welcomes that the renewal itself does not add emissions but urged Siegfried to "not only maintain but to reduce their level of emissions." Helmick suggested two concrete steps: electrify boilers at the facility and install on-site battery storage to reduce reliance on emergency generators. She cited an American Lung Association study (the transcript reference described nationwide benefits), saying boiler electrification coupled with efficiency measures can yield large public-health benefits at scale; Helmick acknowledged the study’s national scope but said the measures could benefit Pennsville and Salem County residents.
What happens next Fissler said comments will be accepted at the meeting and in writing through 03/12/2026 (as stated in the presentation). He provided a mail address (33 Industrial Park Road, Pennsville, NJ) and an email contact shown in the presentation for written input. The presenters said the meeting recording and transcript will be posted on the NJDEP website and that NJDEP will review the renewal application and the EJ impact statement as part of its permit evaluation.
Context and limitations The presentation repeatedly emphasized that the renewal application does not authorize operational changes or new emissions. Several names and agency references in the transcript appeared inconsistently spelled; this article uses standardized spellings (for example, "Siegfried" and "NJDEP") when referring to the company and the department. Claims about national public-health benefits from boiler electrification cited by an advocate were presented as national findings in the transcript and were not tied to a facility-specific modeling analysis presented at the meeting.
Next procedural step: NJDEP review of the Title V renewal and the EJ impact statement, with a public record of meeting materials and a written comment deadline (03/12/2026) noted by presenters.
