Advocates Urged To Withdraw Support For Flawed Environmental Justice Bill Now On NJ Gov. Murphy’s Desk

Calling On Gov. Murphy To Veto The Bill

As I’ve written many times, the “environmental justice” bill that has passed both houses of the NJ legislature and is now on Gov. Murphy’s desk  (read it (S 232 [2R]) is seriously flawed.

It also totally ignores the climate emergency (e.g. there is no regulation of greenhouse gas emissions, no requirements to quantify a project’s lifecycle carbon footprint, no GHG emissions offsets, no energy efficiency or renewable energy standards, and no climate mitigation requirements to address urban heat island and increased air pollution etc):

• Greenhouse gas emissions are exempt. This ignores the climate emergency and the fact that EJ communities suffer disproportionately from climate impacts, especially from air pollution and extreme heat & urban heat island effects. This is an unforgivable missed opportunity to reduce GHG emissions as well at mitigate climate impacts in urban NJ.

Given these fatal flaws and failure to even address the climate emergency, I am calling on the NJ EJ advocates and environmental groups that have supported the bill to withdraw your support and urge Gov. Murphy to veto the bill.

The bill is not an acceptable compromise.

I understand that a 12th hour U-Turn is an extraordinarily heavy lift, but your credibility is on the line and we will name names.