Camden City Council rejects settlement with scrapyard operator EMR

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An embattled scrap metal shredder in Camden must remain paused under a cease operations order, after Camden City Council rejected a settlement agreement with EMR, the multinational scrap metal recycling company that runs the facility and four others in the city.

Council unanimously voted against the proposed settlement that would have resolved a lawsuit EMR filed against the city last month, after it suspended the company’s junkyard license in response to a two-alarm fire at the metal shredding facility in the Waterfront South neighborhood. The settlement agreement would have outlined a phased reopening for the shredder, starting as early as this week.

Councilmember Sheila Davis apologized to residents of Waterfront South and said EMR has had more than “three strikes.”

“I stand with the residents,” she said. “Environmental injustice has been done on this city for far too long, not only with EMR, but with other facilities in this city.”

EMR’s five facilities in Camden purchase, disassemble, shred and ship out scrap metal for remelting into steel. The sites, located in the predominantly Black and Hispanic Waterfront South neighborhood, have had over a dozen fires since 2020, according to the New Jersey  Office of the Attorney General. Some of these fires have driven nearby residents to evacuate their homes, caused acute health symptoms and left some residents with lingering psychological impacts. A potential class action lawsuit by three Camden residents accuses the company of “noxious emissions” that interfere with residents’ use of their properties.

After the latest fire at the shredder facility May 29, Camden city leaders called for county, state and federal agencies to shut down the facility. Days later, the city suspended the site’s junkyard license and ordered it to cease operations.

EMR then sued the city, calling the license suspension “groundless” and saying it had occurred “without notice, a hearing, an opportunity [for the company] to be heard.” The company argued the suspension had cost it $10 million in lost revenue over the span of less than two weeks and would necessitate layoffs. EMR employs over 500 people in Camden, including at its U.S. corporate headquarters. Close to 200 of these employees live in Camden.