New Jersey State Senator John McKeon (D-27) and Assemblywoman Andrea Katz (D-8) today introduced a bill that requires warehouses, ports and other high-traffic facilities to take necessary steps to reduce health-harming pollution.

Warehouse and Port Pollution Reduction Act (S3546/A4679) comes at a time when roughly one in three New Jerseyans live near a mega-warehouse, as detailed in a recent EDF report. The trucks that serve these facilities are mainly diesel powered, and their emissions have been clearly linked to health issues including asthma, cardiovascular disease and premature death.

This bill would provide cleaner air for everyone in New Jersey especially in Black, Latino and Indigenous communities and communities with low wealth where most warehouses are located in NJ. These communities once again bear an enormous and unequal burden of chronic exposure to air pollution and other impacts of goods movement.

“Current business operations at our warehouses and ports should not be at the expense of workers and nearby impacted communities. A transition to zero emissions at our ports and warehouses is long overdue, technologies are readily available and gaining momentum across the country. We thank NJ Senator Mckeon and Assemblywoman Katz for taking on this issue by serving as prime sponsors of this legislation,” said Tolani Taylor, Zero Emissions & Warehouse Organizer, Clean Water Action.

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Clean Water Action is a national 501(c)(4) environmental organization with nearly one million members nationwide. Since our founding during the campaign to pass the landmark Clean Water Act in 1972, Clean Water Action has worked to win strong health and environmental protections by bringing issue expertise, solution-oriented thinking and people power to the table. Clean Water Action leads the Coalition for Healthy Ports (CHP) and the national Moving Forward Network. Learn more at cleanwater.org.