Christie’s Last Day as Worst Governor Ever

As Gov. Chris Christie’ days in office are winding down, many in New Jersey say good riddance. Today, January 15, will be Christie’s last full day as governor. While our Governor has rolled back protections for the environment, he has threatened clean water and open space, while increasing New Jersey’s impact on climate change. Jeff Tittel, Director of New Jersey Sierra Club released the following statement:

“When you look at his record, he is clearly the worst governor for the environment in state history. From his first day in his office to his last day in office he has done more damage than any other Governor. In every area of the environment, climate change, clean water, clean energy, enforcement, and cleanups, he has been a disaster. This may be his last day but his actions will be affecting us for years after he’s gone. After eight years of destruction in New Jersey, it is not a surprise that Christie is one of the lowest rated Governors in state history.

“On his first day in office as he got sworn in, he signed an executive order to roll back environmental rules and standards in New Jersey. He sold New Jersey out to special interests, developers, and polluters. He has sacrificed New Jersey’s environment by attempting to roll back 45 years of environmental protections. At the same time, people are still homeless from Hurricane Sandy and those living at the shore are more vulnerable to the next storm because Christie denies climate change.

“Governor Christie has vetoed banning toxic fracking in NJ and banning fracking waste from entering New Jersey. He has tried to subsidize nuclear power plants and has settled deals to keep our nuclear plants open and put more people at risk. He took New jersey out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas initiative, loosing us 1,800 jobs. Instead of moving forward with clean energy, Christie crashing the solar market, cutting solar jobs in half. He then stole $1.6 billion from the Clean Energy Fund to plug holes in the budget, costing 4,000 jobs in energy efficiency and savings on energy bills for business and consumers.

“Under Christie, greenhouse gasses have increased in New Jersey. Before him, there were 11,000 solar jobs, but now there are only 6,000. As a result, New Jersey has dropped from and second to 8th in solar in the nation, and from 7th to 24th in energy efficiency. Since it passed, Offshore Wind Energy Development Act implementation projects like Fishermen’s Energy have been on hold because the Christie Administration has blocked the funding. The project would have placed six windmills about three miles off the coast and was projected to produce enough energy to power 15,000 homes.

“New Jersey has been impacted by climate change more than any other state in the nation. We have seen sea level rise on daily basis, causing flooding and roads to go under even during high tide, our coastal wetlands are disappearing; all while the Governor says there is not a crisis. He closed the office of Climate Change and ended DEP’s Coastal Program for Climate Mitigation and Adaptation. He has even made us vulnerable to the next storm by adding more loopholes for development in flood prone areas. Christie roll backed Coastal Area Facility Review Act (CAFRA) and Coastal Zone Management rules by adding more loopholes and waivers, weakening coastal protections. These weakenings, combined with his refusal to acknowledge climate change, has made our state more vulnerable to pollution and flooding.

“The Christie Administration has attacked clean water to protect developers and special interests. The Administration targeted the most environmentally sensitive Forest Preservation Area that helps protect our drinking water based on arbitrary science with the Highlands Septic rule. Thankfully the Legislature blocked these rules.

“Christie’s attack on clean water included rollbacks to wetland protections, flood hazard protections, water quality planning and stream encroachment rules. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has officially adopted their Freshwater Wetlands Rules. With these rules, the Christie Administration is rolling back the protections from the Act. They’re aligning the Wetlands Rules with the Flood Hazard and Stream Encroachment Rules and by doing so, they are substantially weakening them. These rules clearly violate the Freshwater Wetlands Act in many areas and will lead to the destruction of critical wetlands.

“Christie has continued the weakening of water protections with the release of a major overhaul of the Flood Hazard Area Control Act Rules, as well as the Water Quality Management Rules and the NJPDES rule proposal will increase permit violations of sewage treatment plants and reduce the number of plans required to correct deficiencies and protect water quality.  This is the latest in a series of policies that have opened up areas sensitive areas to development and undermined drinking water protections. One of his most extreme attacks on the environment was Christie’s waiver rule where the state Department of Environmental Protection would be able to bypass its own rules and regulations to approve development projects.

“Gov. Chris Christie’s administration gave $9 billion in corporate subsidies and tax breaks for the millionaires. Christie has used the Clean Energy Fund as an ATM and the Exxon the Passaic River settlement to balance the budget. Every year the budget has been used as an excuse to weaken and rollback more environmental protections. He spent hundreds of millions of dollars to bail out the out the Xanadu mall while taking money from renewable energy and schools. Christie stole $10 million a year for the state’s Lead Hazard Control Assistance Fund, effectively killing funding for the state program that helps protect children from lead poisoning caused by old paint and other substances.

“After eight years of Christie cuts, there is almost nothing left and now they are taking even more. He has sacrificed New Jersey’s environment for his national ambitions. He sold us out to the Koch Brothers and big polluters. While he has given tax cuts to the millionaires, he has stolen funding to make our air cleaner, our water safer to drink, and our state more resilient to climate change. Under Christie the DEP budget was cut by 1/3 and slashed 40 percent of the staff. Enforcement also decreased over 60%. Our Governor has failed to update the Water Supply Master Plan, hasn’t increased standards for toxic chemicals, nor cleaned-up our water supplies, which could cause a water crisis.

 “Our Governor is worst governor in state history for the environment and may even be the worst governor overall in New Jersey. Governor Byrne is known for the Pinelands Protections Act, Governor Whitman, for protecting open space, and Governor Kean for the Wetlands Law, and the list goes on. Governor Christie’s legacy may be undoing the environmental legacy of other governors.

“We are looking forward to working with the incoming Murphy Administration to make New Jersey an environmental and clean energy leader once more. We must reverse the dangerous rollbacks from the Christie Administration and change our policies on climate change and sea level rise. We must favor clean, renewable energy over dirty fossil fuels. Phil Murphy has a strong environmental and energy agenda, including a goal of 100% renewable energy by 2050. We are confident that under new leadership, New Jersey will be able to reverse the environmental damage from Christie and move forward,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.