Ignores Science On Forestry And Common Sense Limits On New Development
Unfunded State Mandates Curiously Praised By Local Officials
[Update: 2/21/25 – Wow. Check this out:
[Update: Wow. I knew the NJ media would be duped, but NJ Spotlight’s typical lapdog stenography of DEP press releases goes beyond the pale. ~~~ end update]
According to a joint press release today (2/13/25) by Gov. Murphy’s Office and NJ DEP:
BURLINGTON COUNTY – Governor Murphy and Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn LaTourette today announced a series of actions that emphasize the importance of wildfire safety, mitigation, awareness, response, and training – known as NJ Wildfire SMART – and reduce wildfire spread as New Jersey heads into the spring wildfire season amid continued dry conditions statewide.
Surprisingly, the announcement was praised by several local officials, despite the fact that DEP is abdicating State management responsibilities and deferring to local government, while not providing sufficient State funding. That approach is usually denounced by local officials as an “unfunded State mandate”.
I issued the following Statement to the NJ media in response – but of course, they will be spun by DEP and ignore it:
Press Statement
The DEP is using wildfire risks to expand logging (fuel reduction & forest thinning), burning (prescribed burns), and roads (firebreaks).
All these techniques either increase wildfire risks and/or harm forest ecosystems, and do little or nothing to reduce wildfire risks.
The DEP SMART program ignores LAND USE – limiting development in high wildfire hazard areas and retrofitting existing development there.
The DEP ignores scores of Pinelands wildfires started by the US Air Force training missions.
So it really is not based on best available SCIENCE and DESTRUCTIVE and WON’T WORK.
I also need to repost this January 16, 2025 post in light of today’s “Wildfire Roundtable” held by Governor Murphy and DEP with local officials
Different Maps Of NJ Wildfire Risks Tell Very Different Stories And Illustrate Major Policy And Market Failures
Posted on January 16, 2025 by Bill Wolfe
DEP Wildfire Map Exposes DEP Regulatory Failure
Insurance Industry Wildfire Map Shows How Much Market Forces Have Displaced DEP Regulation
NJ Is Making Exactly The Same Tragic Mistakes As California
(Source: NJ DEP)
The California wildfire catastrophe has forced NJ wildfire issues back in the media.
Those major issues include: 1) the climate emergency, 2) forest management, 3) poorly planned and unregulated development in high wildfire hazard areas, 4) the lack of emergency planning and preparation; and 5) lack of funding, staffing and legal authority.
I recently wrote a brief note to remind people that DEP was mismanaging NJ’s forests with respect to both climate and wildfire; had explicitly refused to regulate new and existing development in DEP mapped “High Hazard” areas; and had abdicated implementation of prevention and management programs to reduce risks identified in NJ Hazard Mitigation Plan (which include wildfire) to local government, see:
DEP explicitly stated that they lacked legislative authority to regulate based on wildfire risks. Instead, to address wildfire risks, the DEP relies on other indirect regulatory protections of natural resources, not the explicit risks of wildfire. The DEP wrote:
While the Department has considerable authority to regulate certain activities in particular environmentally sensitive areas, the Department does not possess the sort of master land use planning or regulatory authority alluded to by Petitioner. In the particular areas over which the Department has regulatory authority, the development of many land areas that may be susceptible to wildfire is already minimized under the Department’s regulation of impacts to natural resources such as wetlands, threatened and endangered species habitat, coastal areas, riparian areas, and certain forested areas.
I made key NJ Legislators – including the Senate Environment Committee Chair Bob Smith and members of his Committee – aware of this huge gap in DEP’s authority. No legislator even replied.
In contrast, California regulators issued a Report warning of wildfire risks:
Back in 2019, a California state climate task force issued a stark warning: endless development in the state’s high-risk wildfire zones was magnifying wildfires and putting more people in their path.
Based on that Report, Legislators introduced a bill, back in 2021, that would regulate development in high wildfire hazard lands, see:
In 2021, Stern’s bill would have barred development in “very high risk” zones, with exceptions for cases in which local fire agencies adopted a comprehensive plan for wildfire risk management. Without such limitations, development in these areas was likely to continue to boom; one 2014 study estimated that by 2050, a million additional houses would be built in very-high-risk wildlife zones in California. Already, there are two million homes in high and very-high-risk wildfire zones in the state.
The real estate and development industries opposed and killed that bill.
Tragically, as a result, thousands of new homes were built in high wildfire hazard lands, including some burnt by current LA wildfires.
I again brought the lack of DEP authority and the California bill to the attention of NJ Legislators and DEP Commissioner LaTourette and urged them not to make the same mistakes as California legislators did. And Again, none replied.
Equally bad, not one aspect of this science and irresponsible planning, regulation, reckless development, and DEP mismanagement has been reported by the NJ press corps or exposed by NJ environmental groups.
It’s as if DEP were invisible and had no role whatsoever in wildfire and land use issues.
Instead of the DEP mapping of risk and regulatory issues regarding development and wildfire risks, we get the insurance industry’ perspective in today’s NJ Spotlight:
Even the so called “environmental leaders” are focussed on property values, money, and insurance and also totally ignore the science and DEP planning and regulatory issues.
And that is why DEP and NJ legislators ignore and dodge the tough issues, virtually guaranteeing a repeat of the LA disaster here.