I-80 Sinkhole Closure Shows That Murphy Administration Can’t Protect Us From Risks From The 18th – 19th Century
(Source: NJ DEP “Natural And Working Lands Strategy” (March 2023)
With I-80 completely shut down due to a sink hole related to 18th – 19th century mining operations, perhaps its not the best time for the Governor and DEP to tout their plans to protect us from 21st century catastrophes.
I originally posted the above DEP graphic above back in April 2023:
In just one chart, DEP managed to illustrate the ridiculous bureaucratic shell game they’ve been playing for 6 years now under Governor Murphy’s “climate leadership”.
It’s a never ending series of plans and bureaucratic processes that produce absolutely zero substantive results. Revealingly, DEP’s own “milestones” ignore implementation!
And the Murphy DEP did it AGAIN today, with the release of this self congratulatory Report:
They’ve definitely cleaned up the ridiculous graphics, but I guess they couldn’t wait until Earth Day to brag about their “accomplishments”:
“Climate change poses unique threats to New Jersey’s families, infrastructure, and economy, including sea-level rise and extreme heat,” said Governor Murphy. “The Interagency Council’s report underscores our commitment to increasing the state’s resilience and taking action to protect future generations by planning for the impacts caused by climate change.”
Gov. Murphy’s “Interagency Council” – formed in 2019 via Gov. Murphy’s Executive Order #89 – was a bureaucratic move to consolidate and concentrate all climate policy in the Governor’s hands. One shop stopping.
While justified as an aggressive and comprehensive approach, the Council actually has served as a mechanism to control, delay and weaken any real State agency action, primarily “regulatory mandates” on climate and energy.
This was done by giving the Council a “coordinating” role – all state and regional agencies required the Council’s support before acting. All climate planning, policy, programs, and regulations were folded into the Council’s control. Of course, the Gov.’s Office was a member of the Council, giving the Gov. “unitary” control and wiping out any residual independence or the DEP.
For example, the Council derailed climate plans and policies pursued by the Pinelands Commission and the Highlands Council. The media could simply call Ben Spinelli, Ex. Director Highlands Council or Pinelands Commissioner Mark Lohbauer to confirm that, as I have.
Similarly, the State Plan – a land use plan – was converted into an economic development strategy by the Murphy administration.
The Council also put DEP on a short leash (that was not a difficult move, given that DEP Commissioner LaTourette is hostile to regulation, particularly land use regulation. That’s not unusual, given his prior role as a hired legal gun for developers and corporate polluters challenging DEP regulations.)
This was all done under the guise of the Administration’s political rhetoric that. went something like this:
“DEP can not do it alone or by relying on regulatory mandates – we need an “All of Government” approach (e.g. Go Slow and incremental), disclosure and market transparency (i.e. “buyer beware”) and incentives (i.e. corporate subsidies).”
That bureaucratic strategy is easy to understand now, with President Trump concentrating power by issuing daily edicts in the form of Executive Orders to implement his “Unitary Executive” theory and dismantle administrative agencies and repeal regulations.
Gov. Murphy has essentially done the same thing, except to put a brake on regulation and handcuffs on agencies. This was accompanied by better spin, progressive slogans, and cheerleading support from environmental groups and a lapdog press who write their stories off the DEP press releases, not the regulatory documents.
(Illustrative case in point: Trump calls climate change a “hoax” and the Trump EPA announced that they will repeal the “Endangerment finding”, which is the legal and scientific basis for EPA regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. In stunning contrast, the Murphy DEP recognizes climate science and NJ DEP regulations defined and have provided authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions for over a decade. Yet the NJ DEP simply refuses to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. Although the rhetoric and stated policies are diametrically opposed, the result is the same: No regulation!)
Before I review that latest Council Report in a future post, for today let me just lay out a few analyses of the DEP’s various “resilience” plans and policies:
News Reports On Gov. Murphy Climate Failure In The Pinelands Recalls My “Yes Men” Stunt A Decade Ago
Does This Look Like “Resilience” To You?
We’ll be back soon with a review of the latest installment.