NJ Still Among Nation’s Most Polluted

Jeff Tittel, Director, New Jersey Sierra Club

Each year the EPA releases pollution data to help inform the public on how to get that pollution reduced. In 2017, nearly 6 million pounds of toxins were released into the New Jersey air as the state’s 9 million residents breathed it in, keeping the state among the country’s worst polluters. This is especially dangerous to residents all across the state who are already overburdened by pollution and continue to choke on dirty air. Many of the toxic chemicals emitted into our air, water and land are carcinogens, damaging our health and environment.

The Total On-Site releases of toxins in 2017 were slightly less than the 2016 total, according to the EPA’s latest Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) National Analysis. That small a reduction doesn’t matter much to the people of Linden or Paulsboro or Newark living near large refineries. The amount of air, water, and land toxins is still too high.  The Phillips Bayway refinery is the biggest polluter in the state. Proposed new powerplants like one planned for the Meadowlands will make things worse. These facilities are not a clean bridge fuel as some people think and are causing serious health problems.

To make real progress reducing pollution, Gov. Murphy must enforce stricter regulations on current refineries and block any new fossil-fuel projects. The Trump Administration’s continuing rollbacks on air and water protections put even more pressure on the state to act in reducing toxic emissions. New Jersey’s air in many places is still too unhealthy to breathe. If this continues we will all need gas masks to breathe.