May Day Protesters Rally In Newark To ‘Make Polluters Pay’

NEWARK, NJ — Environmental advocates joined hundreds of union members, faith leaders and local residents for a “May Day” rally outside the Essex County Courthouse in downtown Newark on Friday.

The local demonstration in Newark kicked off a week of action in support of the Polluters Pay Act. Formerly known as the Climate Superfund Act, the bill would apply to companies that have “engaged in the trade or business of extracting fossil fuel or refining crude oil” since 1995, and have been responsible for more than one billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

The legislation would generate $2.5 billion annually from an estimated 82 fossil fuel corporations, its sponsors say.

The money collected from companies liable under the law would be earmarked for flood protection, stormwater and sewage system upgrades, extreme weather preparation, health care related to climate change, upgrades to the electrical grid and energy-efficiency projects.

• Related: NJ Fossil Fuel Companies Could Pay Billions Under Proposed Law

Protesters say that New Jersey residents are the ones currently bearing the costs of climate change through higher property taxes, insurance premiums and utility bills – and it’s time to put that burden back on the shoulders of polluters.

On Friday, demonstrators kicked off a 50-mile march in Newark to push for the bill. They plan to visit Jersey City, New Brunswick, Princeton and Trenton over the next week before reaching the Statehouse on May 7.

Supporters included New Jersey Assemblyman Chigozie Onyema, who represents towns in the 28^th district (Hillside, Irvington, Maplewood, Newark, South Orange).

“Newark has every reason to lead this fight,” Onyema said. “Our residents have lived next to the pollution for generations and paid the price with our health and our wallets.”

“The Polluters Pay Act makes the companies responsible help fix what they broke,” he added.

X Braithwaite, lead environmental justice organizer at the Ironbound Community Corporation, said the Ironbound neighborhood knows the costs of pollution firsthand because residents “have been paying it for generations.”

“Our neighborhoods flood, our kids get sick, and people work two jobs to keep up with rising costs,” Braithwaite said. “Big Oil made billions of dollars polluting our planet, the least they can do is pay for some of the damages.”

“Environmental justice and economic justice are the same fight – it comes down to who pays and who profits,” said Larry Hamm, founder of the People's Organization for Progress.

“Right now, it’s working-class families in Newark paying the price for climate change while big corporations pay nothing,” Hamm said. “We have to change that.”

The May Day rally in Newark was part of a nationwide “Workers Over Billionaires” mass mobilization event, held in solidarity with other actions across the nation.

• Related: May Day In Newark: Labor Activists Will Hold Protests, Marches, ‘Workers Assembly’
• Related: These 88 Large Corporations Paid Zero Federal Income Taxes Last Year, Report Says

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