Gov. Christie: Climate Change An “Esoteric” Issue that “People Don’t Give a Damn About”

0. New Jersey Sea Grant College Program prepared a thorough manual that provides valuable guidance for addressing coastal hazards. “The Manual for Coastal Hazard Mitigation”* (PDF) is,”… intended to serve as a resource for individuals, and federal, state, and local officials with which to form the basis of informed coastal hazard mitigation decisions.”

0. Preparing for Climate Change: A Guidebook for Local, Regional, and State Governments, provides a process designed to guide regions and communities in preparing for the effects of climate change. In addition, The Heinz Center has prepared a report on human vulnerability to coastal disasters.

Three core measures form the backbone of New Jersey’s plan to meet its statewide 2020 GHG limit. The core measures implement the:

• New Jersey Energy Master Plan (EMP);
• New Jersey Low Emission Vehicle (LEV) program; and,
• Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) program.

Here’s is how those 3 core measures have fared under Gov. Christie, who

1) weakened the renewable portfolio standards of the EMP;

2) shifted the EMP’s focus from conservation and efficiency to expanding in state power production and  pipeline construction;

3) diverted $680 million in Clean Energy Funds to implement the EMP to close State budget shortfalls and pay for tax cuts;

4) unilaterally pulled NJ out of RGGI.

5) Christie was unable to destroy the LEV program because he couldn’t – it was a federally approved program.

B) Long term emission reduction goals

The DEP GWRA Report recommends specific steps required to meet the Act’s 80% reduction goal by 205o:

Here are some of the most significant recommendations that Christie killed outright, ignored, or defunded, including land use, transportation and direct regulation of additional sources of GHG emissions:

• Recommendation #1: Establish standards for fossil fuel EGUs  
• Recommendation #2: Implement requirements for non-EGU industrial sources
• Recommendation #3: Develop and facilitate the use of State Green Building Guidelines for all New Residential and Commercial Buildings
• Recommendation #4: Develop and facilitate State Green Building Remodeling, Operations and Maintenance Programs for all Existing Residential and Commercial Buildings
• Recommendation #14: Develop Agricultural Best Management Practices to address energy efficiency, renewable energy and the release of GHGs in agricultural operations and structures
• Recommendation #18: Establish a carbon footprint standard for transportation projects
• Recommendation #21: The State will work in partnership with local and regional entities to conduct an infrastructure capacity assessment of the 113 municipalities that will benefit from the ARC tunnel  

II)  Adaptation – Coastal Climate Change Vulnerability and Risks Ignored

Governor Christie has: 1) gutted NJ climate change programs, 2) ignored,suppressed, and denied “extreme weather” and other infrastructure  vulnerability warnings; 3) outsourced climate change adaptation planning; 4) diverted over $680 millionin clean energy funding; and 5) his DEP actually deregulated rebuilding of public infrastructure and private rebuilding in the same highly vulnerable locations and elevations.

We previously explained all this in depth. We:

• identified expert warnings that were ignored by DEP
• criticized the Gov. Rebuild approach and Czar
• explained previous efforts to respond to climate change and catastrophic storm risks
• recommended benchmarks to judge Christie’s Sandy rebuild plans
• compared Christie to President Obama’s Sandy Rebuild policy
• compared Christie to NY Governor Cuomo’s Sandy response

In all that, we failed to highlight 2 extremely revealing things:

1) The Christie DEP managed to delete all the climate change related findings from the Section 309 Coastal Hazard Assessment Report.

DEP’s 309 Coastal Hazard Assessment Reports have long explicitly recognized  that “strategic retreat” policy option- a finding and a policy that has changed under Gov. Christie – the most recent 309 Report excluded the “strategic retreat” concept. Here are the prior DEP findings that have been eliminated:

Many parts of New Jersey’s densely populated coastal area are highly susceptible to the effects of the following coastal hazards: flooding, storm surge, episodic erosion, chronic erosion, sea level rise, and extra-tropical storms. Reconstruction of residential development and the conversion of single family dwellings into multi-unit dwellings continues in hazardous areas… the value of property at risk is increasing significantly. With anticipated accelerating sea level rise and increasing storm frequency and intensity, vulnerability to the risks of coastal hazards will not abate; it will only become more costly.

Development in areas suited to the inland migration of coastal wetlands serves to preclude this adaptation and the wetlands will either diminish in extent or will be lost to inundation. 

All of the impediments to meeting this 309 programmatic objective that appeared in the last New Jersey Coastal Zone Section 309 Assessment and Strategy remain. These include lobbying efforts of special interest groups, legal challenges to DEP permit decisions, provision of flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program, and public perception that large-scale beach nourishment projects eliminate vulnerability to coastal hazards.

Titus demonstrates (link) that in certain instances, structural engineering solutions will not be practical or economically feasible. In these cases future public and private development and redevelopment must be directed away from the hazardous areas. While some derogatorily refer to this option as “retreat,” from the perspective of sound planning based on the best available science, the concept actually involves “strategic adjustment.” Prudent planning requires that we expand upon the existing studies of the societal, economic, and environmental costs of possible mitigative actions while the greatest number of alternatives exist.

[Read full 2006 DEP 309 Report]

Those DEP expert findings are now gone – deleted – down Orwell’s memory hole. Why was that done?

Instead Gov. Christie has championed Rebuild Madness and flat out lied about “engineered beaches” (watch the video).

2) The DEP downgraded the priority of coastal hazards in that 309 Report from “high” to “moderate”.

Just as NJ faced Irene and Sandy, it was downplaying the priority for coastal storm risks.

Right.

To avoid any discussion of all this that documents this outrageously bad record, Christie has gone into attack mode, against FEMA and all critics.

In addition to going into attack mode, the Governor has lied repeatdly to the public and the press. Here are just a few of his more egreegious lies:

Gov. Christie's routine scripted campaign event cum orchestrated press conference was derailed by questions on climate change. The Gov. bragged he was clueless.