Sophia Schmidt

The Monroe Energy refinery in Trainer processes an average of 185,000 barrels per day, including jet fuel, gasoline and diesel.

City officials cut a deal meant to protect residents with the scrap metal company. It didn't. “We let them down,” EMR USA CEO Joe Balzano said.

The lawsuit, filed by three Camden residents, claimed “noxious emissions” from EMR interfered with the use of their properties.

Amid a backdrop of steadily rising temperatures, the city's average from March through May tied a record set in 1921.

The company said the order to pause its scrap metal shredder has cost it around $10 million and will lead to layoffs if it continues.

The city suspended EMR’s junkyard license for the facility where the latest fire occurred, and will reevaluate the suspension next month.

The May fire was the latest of over a dozen at facilities run by EMR in Camden since 2020. The suspension will be reevaluated in early July.

The order comes after city, county and state elected officials called on government agencies to shut EMR’s Camden operations.

A spokesperson for Camden’s mayor said the city is “undertaking all necessary legal research to move forward” with revoking EMR’s city licensure.

The statement comes days after a fire at one of EMR’s scrap metal facilities — one of more than a dozen over the past five years.

The company’s statement came after city and county officials called on EMR to “fully cease” operating due to the latest fire.

The increase comes as rising demand and infrastructure costs continue pushing electricity bills higher.