Enviro Bills Up in Assembly Committee Monday

The following bills are up in the Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee on Monday, July 20, 2020.

A2212 (McKeon)/S232 (Singleton): Concerns environmental permits in burdened communities.

“We are here in support of the people living in overburdened communities and their advocates who have fought for environmental justice for years. We stand with them, and we are here to support their struggle for clean air, clean water, and a clean environment. This legislation will help protect disadvantaged and minority communities that have been a dumping ground for facilities that no one wants. Most of our toxic sites, airports, incinerators, cement plants, and other major polluting facilities are located in low-income, minority, and overburdened communities. These communities are also affected most by the pandemic because there is a link between coronavirus risk and air pollution,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “It is time that we start giving these communities a voice when it comes to all permits, as well as getting renewable energy and energy efficiency benefits, toxic cleanups, and access to parks and open space.”

The bill requires DEP to adopt a list of burdened communities in the state, in consultation with the Secretary of State. Burdened communities designated under the bill will be required to designate a representative of the burdened community.

“The health emergency has changed our lives, but so have the recent events around racism and police brutality. NJ has it’s own history of brutality and racial profiling. We’re one of the most segregated states in the country because of discriminative housing patterns and highways deliberately segregating cities. That pattern of racial profiling continues when we put incinerators, power plants, and other polluting facilities in low-income, minority communities,” said Jeff Tittel. “We have been waiting for real implementation in New Jersey of President Clinton’s EO 12898 on Environmental Justice since he signed it over twenty years ago in 1996. There have been a lot of committees and studies and Executive Orders, like Governor Murphy’s EO 23, but EOs are either not enforced or don’t have any teeth. What we need is legislation and strong rules to protect these communities.”

According to a recent study by The New School in New York City, 80% of incinerators in the U.S are located in environmental justice communities. New Jersey has 3 incinerators, one in Camden, Rahway, Westville, and Rahway.

“We were upset when DEP weakened the legislation last year and sidelined it. Now we have it back again. This is a big step toward protecting the communities that bear the burden of facilities that no one else wants. However, this bill only deals with new facilities or expanding existing facilities. DEP needs to come up with programs to deal with existing facilities because places like Camden are choking on the fumes of multiple facilities. Waterfront South in Camden is home to an incinerator, a cement plant, a power plant, a sewage treatment plant, and two Superfund sites,” said Jeff Tittel. “We have been trying to get legislation like this passed for over 20 years, and meanwhile these communities keep getting dumped on. This legislation is more critical now than ever because recent studies have linked coronavirus risk to air pollution exposure.”

A2374 (Mukherji): Directs EDA to establish program for public or private financing of certain renewable energy, water, and storm resiliency projects through use by municipalities of voluntary special assessments for certain property owners. It would establish a “NJPACE” program, which stands for “property assessed clean energy.”

“This bill is important to help homeowners, builders, and others have more green energy and green building projects. This is a financing mechanism for resiliency projects and renewable energy projects. This allows people to use green building technologies, energy efficiency, cleaning up stormwater, and elevating buildings, which makes our communities more resilient and sustainable. It allows homeowners to get low-cost loans for resiliency projects and repay them with a small assessment on their property, almost like a second mortgage,” said Tittel. “This PACE bill will help the average New Jersey homeowner go green and make their homes energy efficient and flood resistant.  It will not only help residents to put solar panels on their homes and save money on energy bills, but will help communities become more sustainable and create thousands of jobs in New Jersey,”

ACR169 (Pinkin): Commemorates 50th anniversary of establishment of DEP.

“The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection started to operate fifty years ago, and it was a monumental undertaking. For the first time we had a government agency whose sole purpose was to protect the environment. In the past fifty years the DEP has been a national leader on important issues like clean water and toxic cleanups. They have worked to implement many important environmental laws, including the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Spill Act, Hazardous Waste Regulations, and many more. It is important to recognize that we still have much more to do,” said Jeff Tittel. “The DEP needs to move forward with making New Jersey more resilient to climate impacts and reducing greenhouse gases. We need to start regulating CO2 and methane, and create a Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Plan.”

AJR103 (McKeon): Designates April 22 each year as “Personal Carbon Footprint Awareness Day.”

“Designating a Personal Carbon Footprint Awareness Day is something we need to do to remind us that we have to work to lower our individual footprints. We are in a climate emergency, and it is more important than ever that we reduce our greenhouse gases by 45% by 2030, get to zero carbon by 2050, and move forward with clean energy and renewables. People can reduce their carbon footprints in many ways, from buying electric vehicles to making homes more energy efficient,” said Tittel. “Installing home solar systems, using reusable bags instead of single-use plastic bags, and composting food waste are other ways to reduce individual footprints.”

A1993 (Pinkin)/S349 (Smith): Requires developers to offer electric vehicle charging stations as option in certain new home construction.

“This legislation will save ratepayers and homeowners money by making sure new homes are wired to allow for electric vehicle charging stations to be installed. This will make it easier for people to access EV infrastructure, and will encourage more EV use in our state. Over 45% of our greenhouse gases in New Jersey come from automobiles, but these emissions can easily be cut by implementing EV technology. We also need to make EV technology available to people from all communities, and we need to address range anxiety by creating a statewide charging network,” said Jeff Tittel. “Making sure that new homes are wired for EV charging stations should be addressed by building codes, but since it isn’t the legislature has to step in.”

A3367 (Johnson): Concerns installation of electric vehicle charging stations in common interest communities.

“We support this bill because it will allow for people who live in common interest communities like condo associations or private developments to be able to access charging stations. This will prevent condo associations and homeowner associations from blocking people from requesting charging stations, and will encourage the use of EVs. People in these communities will even be able to promote public charging stations for the development itself. Electric vehicles are the technology of the future. This will help address range anxiety by creating a charging network that allows people to drive electric vehicles without worrying about finding a place to charge their vehicle,” said Tittel. “As the climate crisis worsens, it is more important than ever for New Jersey to take the lead in reducing greenhouse gases and switching to renewable energy sources.”

A2152 (Mukherji): Provides for priority consideration, by DCA, DEP, DOT, and municipalities, of permit applications for green building projects.

“This legislation will help make green buildings a reality through the permitting process. Making permits easier for green building will not only reduce greenhouse gasses in the state but will also help to stimulate New Jersey’s economy by promoting new industry and creating jobs. Jobs will be generated to produce the green building products and in construction,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.