Take a Look At NJ’s #1 Ranked “Sustainable” Town

What’s Wrong With Woodbridge?

Sewaren Sacrifice Zone

Mayor is “doing a heck of a job!”

Dead tree tellingly forms foreground of PSEG Sewaren plant on Arthur Kill, Woodbridge NJ

In reading the news coverage of the new PSEG gas power plant, I was stunned by Woodbridge Mayor McCormac’s remarks in support of the project, where he bragged about issuing local approvals for a project in just one hour of just one hearing: (mycentraljersey.com)

The approval process for the plant was simplified by the township’s Technical Review Committee, said Woodbridge Mayor John E. McCormac.

“We’ve really focused on economic development and companies know that they will save a lot of money and time dealing with Woodbridge government,” McCormac said. “There is typically  just one hearing before a board. You’re done in just over an hour.

“Woodbridge Township fully endorses PSE&G’s proposed project, and welcomes continued economic investment at the Sewaren site.”

McCormac’s love for PSEG is reciprocal:(from the NJ.com story)

It is a true win for Woodbridge and the state, not just adding to the reliability of the energy grid, but creating jobs, tax revenues and general economic activity to the region, “Rich Lopriore, president of PSEG Fossil, said in a statement. “We look forward to working with Woodbridge Township to move this project forward.”

Coincidentally, I just was reading Steve Fraser’s book “The Age of Acquiescence: The Life and Death of American Resistance to Organized Wealth and Power“. The book begins by reviewing how and why mass protest movements arose and waged a class war to challenge the abuses of the 19th Century Guilded Age robber barons and trusts, “envisioning a new world supplanting dog eat dog capitalism”.

But Fraser asks why today there is no such response to far worse abuses of corporate power and even deeper disparities in wealth and income.

Fraser argues that there was an across the board surrender by progressive forces in labor, politics, and government that betrayed the vision and values of the New Deal. Democrats betrayed labor and progressive values in favor of Wall Street finance and corporate money. Instead of seeking economic justice, progressives made peace with and affirmatively embraced capitalism, selfishly pursued individual careers over collective social interests, and worshipped corporate power and free market individualism.

Mayor McCormac, a McGreevey Democrat, sounded like a perfect example of the betrayals Fraser noted.

So, I took a ride up to Woodbridge on Tuesday to see for myself what kind of town would allow a Mayor with that kind of pro-corporate arrogant disregard for his community’s participation to remain in power for so long.

When I returned home, a reader must have read my mind because I got an email advising me of the fact that Woodbridge scored the highest of any NJ town in Sustainable NJ’s ranking – with 870 points! Yay! (read the full SNJ Report, it’s a hoot. And don’t miss the role of the politically connected consulting firm “Greener By Design”).

So, let’s take a look at NJ’s #1 sustainable town and see what kind of town they are:

The kind of town that puts an oil company advertisement on a rusty sign leaving town:

Motiva corporate logo

The kind of town that put a children’s playground in a “buffer” (the word “buffer” was on the park sign) between an oil tank farm and a residential neighborhood – I could smell the hydrocarbons, so I challenge Mayor McCormac to say this place is safe for kids:

thankfully, it appeared that parents and kids know enough to stay away from this park

The kind of town that allows young children and families to fish in waters where it is unsafe to eat fish and shellfish, but posts no warning signs or consumption advisories:

fishermen told me they eat bluefish and bass caught off this pier in a local park. No warning signs were posted.

The kind of town that puts a park next to a power plant (I previously thought the NJ DOT’s “scenic rest stop” along I-295 was bad!)

The kind of town that has power lines everywhere and zones land for residential “multifamily” housing development adjacent to power line ROW:

multifamily housing in powerline EMF field

The kind of town bisected by bomb trains, oil & gas pipelines, refineries, oil & gas tank farms, chemical plants, tanker truck depots, The NJ Turnpike and Garden State Parkway (is there another town with more VMT?), the massive “Port Reading Business Park” with housing built all along the “Industrial Highway” access road from the Turnpike, and countless other visual and chemical assaults:

The kind of town that shoehorns an elementary school between the NJ Turnpike and a power plant:

that’s the NJ Turnpike sound wall just a hundred feet away in background.

The kind of town that builds high density residential housing along a heavily truck trafficked “industrial highway” to it’s shiny new – and almost empty – corporate Port Reading distribution center. This is incredibly poor planning:

millions of square feet vacant in new 2.75 MSF distribution center

How anyone can call any of this “sustainable” is absurd.

While traveling along the “Industrial Highway”, you’all stay “fit and well” now! It would be hilarious if it weren’t so monstrously corrupt.