A more traditional coal plant sits just across the river in Pennsylvania, a little farther north.
New Jersey officials say the Portland plant, in Northampton County, emitted nearly three times as much sulfur dioxide in 2009 as all of New Jersey's plants combined.
The emissions were wafting east, fouling the air in four North Jersey counties. Regulators want the plant to reduce sulfur dioxide 81 percent.
The two plants show the present and the promise of coal power. Burning coal is both common and dirty, and while some plants have cleaned up their act, others have hunkered down, betting they can squeeze out more energy before regulators clamp down.
A hearing in Philadelphia on Tuesday will help chart the course of coal, which provides 45 percent of the nation's electricity and is expected to remain dominant for the next quarter-century.
The Environmental Protection Agency wants public comment on a rule that would curb plant emissions of mercury, arsenic, lead, nickel, chromium, and acid gases.
Other rules in progress would limit ozone, particulates, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides.
All can harm people's lungs.
The issue resonates in this region because Pennsylvania is a coal powerhouse; the output of its 40 plants ranks it among the top coal-burning states.
Yet all breathe the emissions that can spread hundreds of miles downwind.
While four of New Jersey's five coal-fired plants have modernized to meet new standards (the fifth is considering a change to oil), officials estimate that half of Pennsylvania's geriatric fleet will have to make major investments.
That or switch to cleaner fuels, as PPL did with a 1950s-vintage plant in Northampton County, Martins Creek, which now burns natural gas.
Or shut down. Exelon Corp. has already announced the end for its aged plants in Eddystone and Phoenixville.
Some, such as Portland, got enmeshed in legal battles as they resisted installing more pollution controls.
