NJ Activists Hope For 'Turning Point' With Environmental Justice Law

NEWARK, NJ — New Jersey’s landmark “environmental justice” law took a final step on Monday to the cheers of supporters and the objections of critics. But it remains to be seen what the milestone will mean for several controversial projects across the state that have come under fire from activists, including a proposed power plant in Newark.

In 2020, Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill that requires the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to carefully scrutinize any proposed incinerator, sewage treatment plant, landfill, gas-fired power plant or several other types of facility if it would harm an “overburdened community” – where 35 percent of the households qualify as low-income according to the U.S. Census, 40 percent of households are minority, or 40 percent of households have limited English proficiency.

Advocates had called for state officials to tackle the issue for years, alleging that urban neighborhoods across New Jersey are suffering under “environmental racism.” Read More: NJ Bill Would Give Urban Areas A Powerful Tool To Fight Polluters

Final adoption of the regulations rolled out Monday, on the first day of Earth Week. See a FAQ sheet from state officials here.

Here’s how it works, according to a statement from Gov. Murphy’s office:

“Under the environmental justice (EJ) rules, when proposing to locate certain pollution-generating facilities in an overburdened community, an applicant must prepare an environmental justice impact statement and engage directly with members of their proposed host community by hosting a public hearing. The applicant must collect all public comments and respond to them in writing. The NJDEP will then evaluate whether pollution from the proposed facility would cause or contribute to environmental and public health stressors at levels disproportionate to those in less burdened communities. The EJ Rules require permit applicants to avoid and minimize such stressors, including through the use of added pollution control technology. Where disproportionate impacts are not avoidable, certain new facilities could be limited, or existing facilities could be subject to additional permit conditions that reduce environmental and public health stressors affecting the community.”

Murphy said the final adoption of the rules will reduce health risks among “already vulnerable communities.” But critics of Monday’s announcement – including the New Jersey Business & Industry Association (NJBIA) – say they will do little to improve the lives of the people they intend to protect.

According to the NJBIA, the rules that took effect Monday go well beyond the scope of what the 2020 law intended.

“These rules will essentially lock out any new manufacturing from coming into the state and significantly prevent the expansion of existing businesses,” the group charged. “Even existing New Jersey manufacturers, seeking a permit renewal, may be forced to relocate out of state. The clear message is that New Jersey is not open to manufacturing and the good-paying jobs they deliver.”

The NJBIA continued:

“These rules also prohibit new recycling facilities and even make it hard to expand these facilities. While the Legislature passes new laws intended to increase recycling rates, these rules move in the opposite direction. The rules even limit the ability to do environmentally beneficial public works projects. At a time when the state has received billions of federal dollars to do public works infrastructure projects to improve the environment, the EJ rule will make it decidedly more difficult to get the money out the door. The NJBIA supports smart environmental laws that seek to improve the lives of the people in disadvantaged communities. Unfortunately, these rules do little to improve the lives of the people they intend to protect, while ensuring New Jersey will be extremely challenged to define itself as a manufacturing state.”

‘A LEGACY OF TOXIC INDUSTRIES’

In the past few years, environmental activists and community groups throughout the state have been criticizing the long delay in the EJ law’s adoption, which allowed several new “polluting facilities” to submit applications before the legislation went into effect, according to Earthjustice.

“I hope that today will be a turning point in New Jersey’s treatment of overburdened communities, and that moving forward, our state leaders will use the full force of the law to protect EJ communities by denying industrial polluters with permits that we all know will exacerbate harm,” said Jonathan Smith, a senior attorney in the nonprofit’s Community Partnerships Program.

According to Maria Lopez-Nuñez of the Ironbound Community Corporation – one of the groups fighting to put the brakes on the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission’s proposed power plant in Newark – people are depending on the law to end “a legacy of siting toxic industries in low-wealth communities of color.”

“The EJ law has been dreamed up and fought for by frontline communities historically excluded from the environmental protections that allow the rest of our state to be a garden,” Lopez-Nuñez said.

Kim Gaddy, national environmental justice director for Clean Water Action was also among those who cheered the new regulations on Monday.

“The city of Newark and all the environmental justice communities in New Jersey have been waiting with bated breath a long time for the implementation of the Environmental Justice law,” Gaddy said. “These rules are an important part of the process to protect communities impacted by cumulative impacts of pollution from unwanted facilities in their neighborhood. They must be applied right away especially to dirty gas plants currently being considered in overburdened communities to ensure healthier neighborhoods for the future generation to live and thrive.”

• Read More: NJ Activists Want 7 Controversial Fossil Fuel Projects Shut Down

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