New Jersey power plant smokestack implosion on April 21

The distinctive outline of the B.L. England power plant, seen here from the Route 52 Causeway, will soon disappear from the horizon. Plans are to remove the smokestack and largest building in an implosion April 21.

UPPER TOWNSHIP — A Cape May County landmark is set to go away soon, with the coming demolition of the smokestack and the boiler structure at the former B.L. England power plant on the banks of the Great Egg Harbor Bay.

Plans are to demolish the structures by implosion at 9:30 a.m. on April 21.

"Great care, preparation and notification has been taken leading up to the event to assure local and state compliance as well as safety of the community," reads a statement released Tuesday from the Beesely's Point Development Group LLC, which plans to develop the site of the former coal fired plant.

In September, hundreds gathered at the end of North Shore Road to view the implosion of the former cooling tower at the site. That will not be an option this time, with road access set to be closed at the Clay Avenue entrance to the plant on April 21.

There also will be an exclusion zone for boat access around the plant, for those hoping to watch from the water.

Officials with the development group expect the pedestrian access from the Somers Point side of the Garden State Parkway bridge to be open for onlookers. For the September implosion, that access was closed, and State Troopers shooed away drivers who pulled over to the shoulder to watch from the bridge.

That explosion could be heard throughout the Beesleys Point section of the township. This one is set to be bigger. Much bigger, according to Chad Parks, an executive vice president with the development group.

Controlled Demolition Inc. will perform the implosion. Officials with the demolition company described it as an internationally recognized company.

Asbestos abatement has been completed at the site, according to the development company, and emergency responders will be on site, including police and firefighters. According to a statement from the company, state officials and the Upper Township School District have also been notified. State and local permits are in place, the developers said.

Children already will be in class when the implosion takes place, the developers said. Many in the region will hear the explosion, but the company does not expect vibrations to be felt beyond the site.

Parks said Tuesday once those two structures are down, there will not be much left at the site. The few remain buildings will be removed through less dramatic, mechanical means. So no more big booms are in the plans after April 21.

"It should be a real interesting day," said David Kreutz, also with the development group, in a Tuesday interview.

Some locals have advocated for keeping the landmark smokestack in place. The 475-foot structure was installed in 1987, with the top said to be designed to resemble a lighthouse. It is several times taller than the Cape May Lighthouse.

As Kreutz pointed out, the smokestack was a source of concern for years, with soot ending up on cars and through open windows through the life of the plant, and several instances of citations against the plant while it was in operation under the federal Clean Air Act.

The developers did consider ways of keeping the tower in place, Kreutz said.

"Nobody wanted to come up with the multiple millions of dollars that would be required to keep it," Kreutz said. "At the end of the day, it made no sense to keep the stack."

He said most people who have reached out are glad to see it go.

Chris Wilson and Tim Niedzwiecki are principals with Beesley's Point Development Group LLC. Wilson is the company president. Niedzwiecki is the owner of the environmental and demolition firm ERSI in Syracuse, New York.

So far, the development company has not brought plans for the site to the township, but Kreutz said that would happen soon. He said he could not give a specific timeline, though.

After the implosion, he said, the remediation and demolition work at the site will be nearing completion.

"This is kind of the last big push," he said.

Once that phase of the work is completed, he said the site would be "clean and flat."

The Upper Township Committee named the site an area in need of redevelopment in 2021, approving special zoning for the spot. Township officials have discussed the potential for a marina and 100-room hotel at the bayside site, which includes more than 300 acres, including sections that are wetlands and cannot be developed.

One area where plans have been made public are for the site of the coal pile for the plant, where there are plans for a substation to accept power from the proposed Ocean Wind 1 offshore wind energy development. Several residents spoke against the wind power project as Township Committee approve an amendment allowing the substation to be moved away from the waterfront to the former coal site.

Built in 1961, the power plant ran on coal and diesel turbines for decades. A proposal to move to natural gas fell apart during a protracted fight over plans to bring a gas pipeline through the Pinelands.

The plant shut down in May 2019.

The cooling tower of the B.L. England power plant, as seen on Wednesday evening. By Thursday morning, it was gone.

The B.L. England power plant, silhouetted on a September 2022 evening.

Cars parked along the Garden State Parkway on Thursday morning, as drivers hoped to get a glimpse of an implosion, but police soon told them to move on.

Some photographers went to great lengths to get a good view of the implosion in Beesleys Point Thursday.

Hundreds lined the roads and beaches in Beesleys Point on Thursday to watch the implosion of the cooling tower of the former B.L. England power plant.

The cooling tower of the former B.L. England power plant collapses Thursday morning in the Beesleys Point section of Upper Township.

Hundreds lined the roads and beaches in Beesleys Point on Thursday to watch the implosion of the cooling tower of the former B.L. England power plant.

After the cooling tower of the former B.L. England power plant was down on Thursday, there was a line of cars making their way from the site, looking much like the traffic after the fireworks but in daylight.

Ed Schiffler, of Upper Township, with his grandson, Andrew Newsome, 3, watched the implosion from a little less than a mile away Thursday.

Carol Jones wanted to watch the implosion of the cooling tower of the former B.L. England power plant in Upper Township on Thursday.

Hundreds lined the roads and beaches in Beesleys Point on Thursday to watch the implosion of the cooling tower of the former B.L. England power plant.

Contact Bill Barlow:

609-272-7290

[email protected]

Twitter @jerseynews_bill

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