Contact Jeff Tittel, 609-558-9100

Assembly Passes Enviro Bills

The Assembly passed following bills today:

Wildlife Habitat Certification A1069 (Bramnick) This bill requires the DEP to establish private wildlife habitat certification program. We are concerned about this bill because the program would provide a private certification program that could be used for things that undermine the protection of natural resources. It could lead to practices like logging on private lands and cutting down trees to create grass habitat. Since there is no government oversight, these non-profits will have full control of the stewardship and maintenance of private lands. The bill passed by a vote of 76-0-0.

“This bill is too vague and open to interpretation and we don’t believe that it will work. The DEP is supposed to come up with a system for this but we don’t know what or how they will do it. We don’t know what the regulations will be and if there will be any penalties for breaking them. Who will enforce these? The bill is still too vague in too many ways. This legislation that could actually end up undermining the environment and protection of natural resources. It could be used to undermine local habitat plans, go around tree ordinances, and lead to logging or cutting down trees for grassland habitat,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “These plans should be reviewed by the town’s environmental commission and set up by local government so there is public input and oversight. We are concerned that this bill will turn into pay-to-play for non-profits and will end up actually undermining environmental protections. We think the bill should be re-worked to help create new habitat and improve natural resources. Unless it is revised, it can be used it to destroy habitat and not protect it.”

Vegetation A1698 (Dancer) establishes certain requirements for a State entity planting vegetation in certain circumstances; provides for preferences for NJ businesses providing such vegetation. The bill encourages the planting of native vegetarian whenever possible. The bill passed by a vote of 75-0-2.

“Invasive species are a major problem in New Jersey. Many of these plants not only chase out native species but end up clogging up our storm drains and filling up our retention basins. This bill will help reduce the problem of invasive species by making sure that we are planting native plants over exotics that do damage to our ecosystems and landscapes,” said Jeff Tittel.

Flood Elevation A4484 (Eustace)/ S2884 (Whelan) declares that deed restrictions or agreements that prevent raising or constructing of a structure to certain flood elevation standards are unenforceable. The bill passed by a vote of 76-0-0.

“We support this bill as it removed roadblocks that prevent people from being able to elevate and protect their homes. In order to better deal with storms, there needs to be an overall comprehensive approach that includes the need to elevate structures and move them back from the water’s edge,” said Jeff Tittel.

Water Quality Accountability Act S28/34 (Sweeney)/A4569 (Eustace) imposes certain testing, reporting, management, and infrastructure investment requirements on water purveyors. The bill sets a limit of three violations before mitigation must be done. It also states that every water purveyor must implement an asset management plan designed to inspect, maintain, repair, and renew its infrastructure, as well as a cyber security plan. The bill passed by a vote of 76-0-0.

“We have a crisis in New Jersey when it comes to drinking water and crumbling infrastructure. This bill is the first serious step to address this problem. Under this bill, if there is a series of violations exceeding the safe drinking water standards, then they have to come up with a plan to mitigate for the problems and start to fix them. This bill also calls for water companies to assess the systems and then develop plans for replacing mains. We think the cycle is too long and that we should be doing more now because of all the problems with old leaky pipes, especially in the urban areas. However, this is a good bill for a first step,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “We need to come up with other sources of long-term funding for our water supply, such as water fees or impact fees from development. We also need to update the Water Supply Master Plan and upgrade many of our standards. We have a long way to go but this bill is a good first step.”