Advocates Address Burden Of Fossil Fuel Pollution In Low-Income Communities In NJ

NEW JERSEY — Environmental justice organizations throughout New Jersey are organizing to prevent the expansion of fossil fuel industries in low-income neighborhoods, which are disproportionately impacted by industrial pollution.

EJ Communities Against Incineration hosted a workshop in Camden in August called "Liberation From Incineration," where residents could learn about the harmful health effects of incinerators and other facilities like fossil fuel power plants and superfund sites.

Following the passage of an environmental justice law in New Jersey in 2020, predominantly Black and Hispanic cities such as Camden, Newark, Trenton and Atlantic City were designated as environmentally overburdened communities (OBCs).

The environmental justice law is the first of its kind, requiring applicants who want to build or operate certain facilities to go through an environmental justice impact process that includes evaluating current and potential environmental stressors.

Industrial facilities, for example, that want to apply for new or expanded permits, or permit renewal, in an OBC must first file an environmental health impact statement with the state, which "assesses the potential environmental and public health stressors associated with a proposed new or expanded" project, according to the Legislature.

The DEP would have to refuse permits for new facilities that would pose a significant health risk to already overburdened communities.

Essentially, the state would have more authority to prevent new facilities from being built in areas where there are already too many pollutants.

Low-income and minority communities in New Jersey have historically been subjected to a disproportionately high number of environmental and public health stressors, according to the Department of Environmental Protection.

To worsen this inequity, New Jersey's OBCs frequently lack important environmental benefits such as quality green and open spaces, adequate tree canopy, or adequate stormwater management.

“The South Ward community of Newark just wants to breathe clean air and enjoy their quality of life free from additional toxic facilities impacting the health of the neighborhood,” said Kim Gaddy, Environmental Justice Director of Clean Water Action.

“If you live in New Jersey, the amount of pollution in your neighborhood is connected to race and income – the color of your skin, the amount of money in your pocket,” said Dr. Nicky Sheats, director of the Center for the Urban Environment at the John S. Watson Institute for Urban Policy and Research at Kean University.

Sheats is one of a group of activists in New Jersey whose efforts resulted in the passage of the state's groundbreaking 2020 Environmental Justice Law.

New Jersey environmental officials stated earlier this year that they have until the end of the year to fully implement the new law's rules and regulations.

"We will longer allow Black and brown communities in our state to be dumping grounds, where access to clean air and clean water are overlooked,” Murphy previously said.

New Jersey’s adoption of the environmental justice law and rules is being watched by other states, and could ultimately serve as a model. “New Jersey is the first state in the entire country to wrestle meaningfully with addressing the cumulative impacts of pollution that are disproportionately experienced by low-income, Black, brown and indigenous communities,” said DEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette.

Last week, President Joe Biden signed a law, which Democrats named the Inflation Reduction Act, that includes $360 billion to address climate change and cut emissions by 40% by 2030.

"President Biden has signed one of the most significant pieces of legislation in our lifetimes. It will literally help save the planet," said Ed Potosnak, executive director of the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters.

The Inflation Reduction Act authorizes hundreds of billions of dollars in investments to build a 21st-century economy powered by clean energy, creating millions of good-paying union jobs while investing $60 billion to address our nation's legacy of environmental racism, Potosnak said.

Officials expect the state to receive $10 billion to invest in clean energy alternatives, which will help boost the state's offshore wind economy.