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DEP Lacks Authority To Deny Permits For Major Sources Of Greenhouse Gas Emissions

NJ Needs New Legislation To Enforce GHG Reduction Goals (like NY State law)

Existing Sources Must Deeply Reduce Emissions To Achieve Science Based Goals

DEP lacks authority to deny permits for the new GHG sources you are fighting. Your leaders are misleading you and your activist efforts are being wasted. …

For 15 years, NJ politicians, government officials, media, academics, and climate activists have misled the public about this fundamental flaw in NJ’ climate law.

This must end.

After what seems like a long hibernation – or perhaps as an attempt to pre-empt the Murphy DEP’s upcoming Earth Day Propaganda Blitz – NJ Spotlight reported today that climate activists had released a new Report, see:

• Environmentalists say new fossil fuel projects could derail NJ’s climate goals

The NJ Spotlight story did not include a link to the Report by the Empower NJ coalition and neither did the Empower NJ website, so it is impossible to verify the claims or understand if either the Spotlight coverage or the Report was misfocused.

Specifically, the story is focused exclusively on several proposed major new GHG emission sources. It fails to note that existing sources must deeply reduce current emissions to meet the the Gov.’s and GWRA goals.

It also is focused exclusively on Gov. Murphy (and presumably DEP and/or BPU).

But Dave Pringle and other Empower NJ leaders know that the greenhouse gas emission reduction goals of Gov. Murphy’s Executive Orders and the NJ Global Warming Response Act (GWRA) are aspirational and that DEP lacks regulatory authority to deny permits for major GHG emission sources.

I’ve documented that set of issues again recently in this post, see:

• Senate Environment Committee Chairman Smith Introduces Legislation To Put Regulatory Teeth In The Global Warming Response Act

(read the bill, S1602 (Smith/Greenstein)

My urgent message and appeal in that post apparently was ignored:

We hope it will spur media coverage and an aggressive campaign of support by climate activists and environmental groups.

Because the GWRA goals are aspirational and not enforceable (by DEP, BPU, DOT, DCA, or any other State agency), new legislation is required.

The Empower NJ Coalition and NJ Spotlight failed to even mention that reality or Senator Smith’s legislation (again, read the bill, S1602 (Smith/Greenstein).

So I posted this comment on Empower NJ’s Facebook page, in hopes of getting someone’s attention (curious, the comment seems to have disappeared already!):

The GHG emission reduction goals of Gov. Murphy’s Executive Orders and the NJ Global Warming Response Act are aspirational and not enforceable. DEP lacks authority to deny permits for the new GHG sources you are fighting. Your leaders are misleading you and your activist efforts are being wasted. In order to fix the problem, Senator Smith (Chairman of the Senate Environment Committee) has introduced legislation to authorize DEP to enforce the goals of the GWRA. That is the solution and DEP could also use that power to deny renewal of permits for EXISTING SOURCES. Reduction in emissions from EXISTING SORUCES will be required to meet the goals. Read about the Smith bill in this post:

Senate Environment Committee Chairman Smith Introduces Legislation To Put Regulatory Teeth In The Global Warming Response Act

For 15 years, NJ politicians, government officials, media, academics, and climate activists have misled the public about this fundamental flaw in NJ’ climate law.

This must end.