NJ Sierra Club Now Supports More Shore Development, Including In “Inundation Risk Zones”, Barrier Islands, And Back Bays
New Director Reverses 30 Years Of Sierra Club’s Opposition To Coastal Development
“Ignorance is compounded with anarchy and greed to make the raddled face of the Jersey shore.” ~~~ Ian McHarg, “Design With Nature” (1967)
The New Jersey Shore is already recklessly over-developed, with billions of dollars of housing and infrastructure at extremely high and increasing risk of destruction by coastal storms and sea level rise – and even permanent inundation.
One would have thought that was obvious after Superstorm Sandy devastated the coast – or when toxic algae blooms, stinging jellyfish, and ecological collapse threatened Barnegat Bay.
It should have been even more obvious after Gov. Christie pursued an insane post-Sandy policy I dubbed “Rebuild Madness”.
It should have been obvious when a Rutgers professor aptly called back bay flooding the “Achilles heel” of coastal risk management. We offered constructive solutions:
The NJ Chapter of the Sierra Club was a long time critic of the lack of a sane State shore land use policy and an advocate of regional planning and strong regulatory restrictions, and not only based on the threats of climate change, but to protect natural resources and the ecological health of Barnegat Bay.
I’m proud to say that I was part of that effort for 7 years (1995 – 2002) and privileged to work with and support retired Director Jeff Tittel in those and other efforts.
So I was sickened to just now read this quote from Tittel’s replacement, Anjuli Ramos-Busot: (NJ.Com story)
“I know we love the Jersey Shore, I know the lifestyle of the Jersey Shore is incredibly important to the entire state and people in other states that come to visit us,” Ramos-Busot said. “We’re not saying don’t build. We’re saying build smarter so that you don’t put people in danger.”
Ramos-Busot is parroting the spin of DEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette, who has caved completely to the political power of the shore real estate and development lobby. As I noted:
LaTourette’s first remarks included this: “We are not saying: ‘You cannot build in a future flood-risk area.’” …
“We’re not at a point, nor do we think it’s our role, to tell people: ‘Don’t build here, you shouldn’t build there, you can’t do that,’” LaTourette said. …
He said the DEP wants to avoid being the “big, bad government” that imposes heavy-handed regulations.
She has become little more than the Commissioner’s puppet.
The Commissioner’s original spin was repeated in a recent legislative hearing by DEP manager: (NJ Spotlight)
Nick Angarone, chief resiliency officer for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, took exception to claims that the agency aims to stifle all development within flood-prone areas.
“There is no ‘no-build zone’ that stems from the regulations,” he testified. “If I’m going to vastly oversimplify, you have to build higher and you have to recognize that you’re vulnerable.”
How far Sierra Club has fallen. Like the NJ Shore, doomed.
[End Note: Just 2 days ago I wrote this, which perfectly describes the situation:
I assume that they [“environmental leaders”] mistakenly believe that holding the “friendly” State DEC accountable and criticizing their total failure would undermine public and political support for DEC and the climate law. Maybe their friends at DEC might not invite them to meetings and press events and distribute grant funding.