NJSC Proposes Green Reopening Plan to Murphy Administration

The New Jersey Sierra Club has sent a green reopening proposal to Governor Murphy’s Restart and Recovery Commission. The plan highlights that New Jersey needs to expand mass transit, expand renewable energy like wind and solar, create green jobs, and reduce pollution. The blueprint must include smart growth, and cross cutting environmental, labor, and equity standards. New Jersey Sierra Club urges the need to use this pandemic as a way for major changes on dealing with how we do business and how we protect our environment even more.

“Over 1 million people in New Jersey are unemployed while businesses are in shutter. This is the reality of the economic crisis spurred by COVID-19. As we slowly transition to re-open our state, it is important for Governor Murphy and his Restart and Recovery Commission to push for a green agenda. We have seen the benefits of people driving less and cleaner air. Murphy’s road back plan needs to be green and include mass transit, renewable energy, electric vehicles, energy efficiency, green jobs, and rebuilding solar. We also need to do a much better job on reducing pollution, cleaning up our water, and adapting to climate change,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “As New Jersey reopens, we need to have a very strong equity component during its reopening. This state has a long history of putting polluting facilities that no one wants in low income and minority communities. That needs to change, now.”

New Jersey’s blueprint for re-opening should get rid of Murphy’s EO’s that block public participation for major state and local projects. EO 136 pauses or delays timeframes governing the DEP’s provision of public notice, review, and decisions on permits and other approvals for the duration of the public health emergency, including those which would deem applications approved without conditions deemed necessary by DEP to ensure protection of public health, safety, and the environment.

“New Jersey’s re-opening has to show equity and target Environmental Justice communities.  While New Jersey transitions out of lock-down to get our economy re-opened, the Murphy Administration should not be fast tracking permits or getting around rules or standards. We should not let special interest groups be able to shortcut environment regulations, cut timelines, and limit public oversight and input,” said Tittel.  “We also need to modernize the permitting system to include real environmental analysis on projects and avoid major environmental impacts.”

Since the COVID-19 shutdown, air quality had improved and March was the cleanest month in over 10 years. Despite the silver lining of the pandemic, New Jersey has some of the worst air quality in the nation. According to the 2020 State of the Air report by the American Lung Association, New Jersey has nine counties with ‘F’ designations for ground-level ozone. North Jersey is ranked the 12th worst metropolitan area in the U.S. for ozone levels, which is slightly improved from last year.

“The biggest source of air pollution and greenhouse gases in our state comes from automobiles, so it is critical to move quickly to electrify our transit system including buses, rails, electric heavy-duty garbage trucks, school buses, and port-related vehicles. Instead of spending billions of dollars for widening our turnpikes and parkways, we should invest it in mass transit. Investing in mass transit will reduce traffic, air pollution, and create more jobs for our economy. We can expand the Bergen Light Rail into Bergen County. Instead of widening the Garden State Parkway, we can finally build the Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex line. Instead of widening the NJ Turnpike in South Jersey, we can build the South Jersey Light Rail System,” said Tittel.

New Jersey Sierra Club emphasizes the need to do a much better job on reducing air pollution in Environmental Justice communities that have been overburdened by a disproportionate amount of pollution. During the current health emergency this is even more important because several studies, including a Harvard study have linked coronavirus risks to air pollution.

“The impact of the coronavirus pandemic has clearly shown that we have two separate societies in NJ. There are those communities that have a good environment, clean air, and access to healthcare and education, and those that don’t. It’s no surprise that the pandemic had a bigger impact on low-income, minority, and overburdened communities. This reopening is a chance to fix the social and environmental inequities of the past and present that are still affecting people. NJ needs to ensure social justice, equity, and a good environment as part of its reopening,” said Tittel.

New Jersey’s parks have reached capacity during this pandemic which shows how much people love our parks, but the need for funding, fixing, and expanding.

“More people are going outside to bike, walk, and enjoy nature. We should build on this sense of community by creating more public green spaces like urban parks and bike trails. During the pandemic people have become more involved in community and helping others. We can expand upon that with community service programs, especially if we get federal funds. Programs like the Civilian Conservation Corps Camps, AmeriCorps and VISTA would help get young people involved in healthcare, education, and helping the less fortunate,” said Tittel.

A new economic analysis from the Political Economy Research Institute reveals the path forward – with a bold stimulus plan, we could provide family-sustaining jobs on a national level for over 9 million people every year for the next 10 years while building an economy that fosters cleaner air and water, higher wages, healthier communities, greater equity, and a more stable climate. That includes supporting over 1 million manufacturing jobs each year. New Jersey can generate a part of that job growth based on our population. New Jersey used to have over 11,000 clean energy jobs but is now at 6,000.

“Rebuilding our economy can be done in an equitable way that supports public health and our environment. Sierra Club came out with a national report showing how the U.S. can create jobs while promoting clean air and water, healthier communities, and greater equity. We can do this in NJ too. We can create jobs and stimulate the economy by encouraging research and development, manufacturing, and installation of renewable energy and electric vehicles,” said Tittel. “On the manufacturing side, we need jobs and job training for workers who have lost their jobs. There needs to be a just transition from fossil fuels to a green economy. We need to bring manufacturing in renewable energy for solar panels, wind, and other energy efficiency forms of renewable, as well as medical and supply chains.”

As the Murphy Administration the Restart and Recovery Commission move forward on reopening from lockdown, we need to make sure that it is in the best interest of the public and the environment. We need to make sure our water is clean to drink, our air is clean to breathe in, and our food is safe to eat. These are the necessities of making sure our environment and our health is maintained safe for now and for the future,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.