Enviro Bills Up in Committee Monday

The following environmental legislation will be up in the state legislature on Monday, January 27, 2020.

Senate Community and Urban Affairs

S253 (Singleton): Requires public water systems to develop lead service line inventories and replace lead service lines.

“This legislation is important because it will help reduce lead levels in New Jersey drinking water. We need to know where the lead lines are, and then we need to replace them as soon as we can. This bill calls for ten years to replace lead service lines. We should really try to make this happen quicker. It is important that this bill specifies that utilities cannot pass on more than 25% of service line replacement costs to their customers. Water companies shouldn’t be profiteering from a problem they allowed to happen. There is a crisis in New Jersey as far as lead in drinking water is concerned. This legislation is a good start, but we need legislation with a shorter time period than ten years. We need to get this done and done now,” said Jeff Tittel of the New Jersey Sierra Club.

S320 (Rice): Requires contracts for sales of residential property to address lead service lines.

“We support this legislation because we have a serious problem with lead in New Jersey, and we have been dealing with this problem for far too long. Some places in the state are at crisis level, especially in areas that are poorer and urban. It is vital to make sure that water in properties that are for sale is safe enough to drink. Our children are being poisoned by lead in the water. It is important for the public to know what’s happening when it comes to lead in our drinking water systems. We need to protect our most precious resources – our children,” said Jeff Tittel.

S647 (Greenstein): Revises asset management and related reporting requirements in “Water Quality Accountability Act.”

“The bill is important to address the state’s crumbling water infrastructure. This legislation will not only require towns to come up with a mitigation plan to fix their water problems, however it will also require DEP to come up with rules to implement the Water Quality Accountability Act. It is critical for these assessments because it allows us to learn from them, where to fix certain programs, or what new laws or policies need to be implemented,” said Tittel. 

Assembly Consumer Affairs

A1459 (Moriarty): Prohibits the sale of certain children’s products containing lead, mercury, or cadmium.

“This legislation is critical to protect the health of our children. Children are at particular risk because of common development behaviors of biting, chewing or sucking on toys and other products containing metals like cadmium. Young children are at the greatest risk of health problems related to lead exposure, including serious brain and kidney damage,” said Tittel. 

Assembly Commerce and Economic Development

A2204 (McKeon): Permits developer to qualify for low-interest loan from NJEDA when building a high performance green building.

“This legislation is important because it will help make green buildings a reality in New Jersey. Allowing green building projects to quality for low-interest loans will help reduce greenhouse gases in the state. This will also help stimulate New Jersey’s economy by creating jobs and promoting new industry. Jobs will be generated to produce the green building products and in construction. Building green infrastructure, including blue and green roofs, will help reduce flooding and mitigate climate impacts,” said Jeff Tittel.

A1653 (Quijano): Encourages development of zero-emission vehicle fueling and charging infrastructure in redevelopment projects.

“This legislation will stand in the way of New Jersey moving forward with electric vehicles. This bill encourages zero-emission vehicles, which are powered by hydrogen fuel cells. The only way to get hydrogen for these fuel cells is from natural gas. Instead of ZEVs, New Jersey needs to focus on increasing our sale and use of electric vehicles. New Jersey is one of the best states to utilize EV technology because most of our energy is already carbon free,” said Tittel.

Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens

S695 (Ruiz/Cryan): Requires DEP, DOH, DCA, owners or operators of public water systems, and owners or operators of certain buildings to take certain actions to prevent and control cases of Legionnaires’ disease.

“It is important for the Legislature to make sure our water companies, cities, and state agencies are held accountable when it comes to the water we drink. There are too many problems in New Jersey from one county to the next, whether it is PFOAs, volatile organic chemicals, cyanobacteria, or legionella, the bacteria that causes Legionnaire’s disease. For too long, New Jersey has failed to adequately protect its drinking water and is putting the public at risk. This is mainly due to DEP’s failure to enforce the Clean Water Act, “said Jeff Tittel. “We have serious water problems throughout the state when it comes to our drinking water. That is why we need to make sure that different water purveyors take actions to identify their problems and correct them,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.