A hazardous waste processor will not be able to quickly reopen in Salem County after Gov. Phil Murphy conditionally vetoed a bill that would have exempted it from new permit requirements.

The move delighted environmental groups last week, even though they would have preferred a total veto.

Senate Bill 879, sponsored by state Senate President Steve Sweeney, D-Salem, Gloucester, Cumberland, and other Democrats from southwestern New Jersey, passed the Senate in February and the Assembly in April. It would have allowed the Chemours Chambers Works Facility in the Deepwater section of Pennsville Township to reopen for processing a variety of hazardous waste under old permits and standards. The treated wastewater would have been discharged into the Delaware River.

The changes Gov. Phil Murphy is demanding in his conditional veto would require the facility to obtain new permits under current environmental laws.

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“The improvements the Governor made to the bill in his conditional veto will safeguard our clean drinking water, the Delaware River, and the fishing industries that rely on its health,” said Ed Potosnak, executive director of New Jersey League of Conservation Voters.

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