Governor Murphy’s 1^st Year Environmental Scorecard

It has been a year since the Murphy Administration has come into power. The New Jersey Sierra Club has put together a report and profile over what has happened over Murphy’s 12 months in office. The report raises a lot of concerns because the Sierra Club endorsed Governor Murphy who has made commitments to the environment, but the Administration has not made progress.

“After 8 years of Christie and his attacks on the environment, we were hoping for the Murphy Administration to move quickly, but that has not happened. There has been some small progress but it is not enough. Governor Murphy has been in office for 12 months now, but most of Christie’s policies, rules and standards are still in place. There has not been one original proposed rule, regulation or standard for the NJDEP yet from the Murphy Administration. From the beginning, Murphy could have made appointments to environmental boards like the Highlands and Pinelands Council but hasn’t,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “Usually the first year of an administration is most productive where they either put in place their most important environmental initiatives or at least the framework to get them done. This has not happened in 12 months under the Murphy Administration.”

“The Murphy Administration has not acted on any of the litigation that’s leftover from the Christie Administration. There are many cases in which they’ve refused to settle or continue to side with the Christie Administration including stormwater, Pinelands pipeline, Highlands and more. Murphy also decided to take Christie’s take on the Exxon settlement, which was as a sell-out, rather than challenge,” said Tittel. “There have many commitments that Murphy made during his campaign like ending the NJ bear hunt and stop stealing funds from important environmental funds like Clean Energy Fund, however those promises were broken.”

“Murphy talks a lot about climate change but hasn’t taken any real action. Instead of taking real action to protect our state against climate change and make us more resilient, there has been nothing but empty promises from the Murphy Administration. They have released press releases and signed Executive Orders promising environmental change, but no real action has been taken,” said Tittel. “The D for Murphy’s grade is really for DISAPPOINTMENT.”

Governor Murphy:  D

“Governor has shown a lack of leadership on many key issues, so we really feel Murphy’s grade is incomplete. However since we have to give a grade, we are giving him a D for disappointment. Governor Christie was basically below an F and hopefully this grade can spur Murphy to move forward. Murphy’s D is still 10 times better than Christie’s grade, but not where we need to be,” said Tittel.

Negative Actions

–          The Murphy Administration raided the DEP by $287 million and cut by 14%

–          Governor Murphy has cut DEP funding. This year the agency is allocated $275 million; down from $321 million from last year’s budget.

–          They are also diverting $80 million dollars from the DEP and $6 million from operations.

–          Clean Energy Fund: Murphy raided the Clean Energy fund by $160 million.

–          Exxon Settlement: $200 million was taken into the DEP from natural resource damages but nothing in the budget allocating it towards environment programs, $69 million out of the VW Fund to the general budget

–          The Murphy Administration did not settle Bi-County Oakland case in the Highlands- sided with developers

–          Appoint people to environmental entities such as the Pinelands Commission, Highlands Council, and Natural Lands Trust consistent with their conservation mission and respect their independence to protect these critical resources.

–          Allowed Bear Hunt to happen

–          DRBC still does not have a complete bad on fracking and dumping of fracking waste in the Delaware River Basin

–          Murphy has not required fossil fuel infrastructure projects to demonstrate whether there are market-based, cost-effective and clean alternatives (to delay or avoid the project).

–          Murphy has not updated the state’s outdated building codes-

–          Murphy has not repealed the relevant parts of Executive Orders 1 and 2

–          Legislation:

o   Murphy signed the nuclear subsidy bill into law but ended up supporting it instead. The recent nuclear subsidy law includes no cap for coal, oil, gas, pipelines, or nuclear. However, it unfairly targets renewable energy by placing a cap on it, limiting the amount of renewable energy we can use in the state.

o   Governor Murphy signed DuPont Water Facility S879 (Sweeney) into law. We oppose this bill because we are concerned it would open up a spicket of toxic chemicals getting into the Delaware Bay

Positive Actions

–          Murphy reversed New Jersey’s position to support Obama Administration’s Clean Power Plan.

–            Murphy’s legislative action include:

o    Banning offshore drilling in state waters as well as landing oil drilled in federal waters on our coasts

o   Banning smoking on our public beaches and parks

o   NJT Oversight Law

o   Vetoing the bad plastic fee bill that would have blocked town and cities from passing stronger plastic bans

o   Signs Bill to Uphold Paris Climate Accords

o   Attorney General Grewal-started to take action on natural resource damage lawsuits

The DEP is still implementing many of Christie’s policies because they’re led by the same people and same rules. The Administration has yet to reverse any of Christie’s weakened Wetlands or Flood Hazard rules. The department has delayed making stricter standards for dangerous chemicals in our water like PFOS and PFOAs. Even one of his simple promises to rejoin the RGGI is being delayed. For some reason, DEP will delay the process for two years. In that time, NJ will miss out on the economic and health benefits.

DEP- F

Negatives

o   Chrisitie’s rule and policies are still in place

o   Finally, Governor Murphy got DEP to repeal Christie’s Highlands Septic Density Rule. The rule violated legislative intent and threatened the drinking water supply 6 million people in New Jersey. A year ago, the legislature voted the Highlands Rule violated legislative intent but it took DEP 11 months to pull them down. This will be the first rule change in DEP in 11 months under the Murphy Administration.

o   The process for rejoining RGGI has been speculated to take two years. In that time, New Jersey will miss out on revenue and green jobs. And some of the money will not go to the appropriate places. The Murphy Administration will be coming out with a cap for RGGI about 18 million tons/CO2 per year however we need a stronger cap of 12-13 million metric tons of CO2 per year.

o    DEP’s first rule which will amend the Stormwater Management rule is not only a disappointment, but we have to actually oppose it. It does not deal with climate change, flooding, combined sewer overflows, and would make it easier to build pipelines.

o   The Murphy Administration has not reversed Christie’s rules in the last year. Under Christie, the DEP rolled backed the Coastal Area Facility Review Act (CAFRA) and Coastal Zone Management rules by adding more loopholes and waivers, weakening coastal protections.

o   DEP adopted standards for 1,2,3- Trichloropropane (TCP) at 30ppt but the science shows the standards should be at 5ppt. 1,2,3-TCP is a known carcinogen that impacts public health and we need to keep it out of our drinking water.

o   The Murphy Administration still has to adopt stronger standards for PFOAs and PFOS and 1,4- Dioxane.

o   DEP have not reinstated the Office of Climate Change

o   DEP have not upgraded the state’s aging water infrastructure, including drinking, waste, and storm water.

o   The state Water Supply Plan has not been updated

o    Rollbacks to DEP rule proposals, including Freshwater Wetlands, Coastal Zone Management, and Coastal Area Facility Review Act (CAFRA) rules, until they can be thoroughly reviewed to ensure strong environmental protections are still in place.

o   Highlands Rule that was blocked under Christie to make it easier to develop in the Highlands is moving forward

Positives

o   DEP adopted Christie’s safe drinking standard, or maximum contaminant level (MCL) for one of the most toxic perfluornated compounds (PFCs): perfluoronanoic acid (PFNA).

“DEP’s policies and programs in place are still Christie’s policies. They have failed to reverse Christie’s rollbacks that weaken protections for clean air, clean water, and climate change. It took DEP 11 months to propose a rule, but it was just a leftover from the Christie Administration. DEP’s Stormwater is step backwards, they do not deal with climate change, more frequent flooding, combined sewer overflows, and would make it easier to build pipelines. We are in a climate crisis and DEP have not moved forward to protect our state from those impacts,” said Tittel.  “The DEP has failed when it comes to protecting our clean air, clean water and open space.”

The BPU has been working to move forward on renewable energy for New Jersey like wind and solar and creating the infrastructure our state needs for electric vehicles. The department has a lot on their plate. They are trying to move forward on New Jersey’s Energy Master Plant and rate cases and are making progress. 

BPU: B-

                Positives

o   Trying to update Energy Master Plan

o   Solar

• Prevent solar market from crashing
• Move Forward on Community Solar
• Straw proposal on solar

o   Wind

• Governor Murphy upheld his commitment to offshore wind by signing an Executive Order for 1100 MW of offshore wind. This will begin the process of reaching our eventual offshore wind goal of 3500 MW by 2030.
• Proposal for offshore wind rules
• Developing proposal for rest of 3500MW

o   Rule on Energy Efficiency

o   Nuclear Subsidy Rule

o   14 Billion Rate Cases- PSEG

o   EV Programs and Rate Cases

“The BPU is working hard on a lot of issues and for the first time in a long time are making progress. We are concerned however if BPU will be able to get these energy proposals completed. We are also concerned of the collapse of the solar market and cost cap. The nuclear proposals on gas plants may undercut us moving forward on these ambition programs too,” said Tittel.

Negatives

o   The Murphy Administration proposes to set the RGGI cap at 18 million metric tons. The cap should be 12-13 million tons, the level we were at when Christie pulled us out.

o   BPU is moving forward with the nuclear subsidy. This will be a roadblock to renewable energy and may crash our solar market in as little as a year

o   Updating the Energy Master Plan, with the goal of 100% clean energy by 2050.

New Jersey is the second biggest commuter railroad in the nation and was once a national model until Governor Christie cut its budget eight years in a row.  It has been reported that NJ Transit has 12 times more equipment failures than any other commuter train in the nation. This is the direct result of funding being slashed by 90 percent in the past 11 years. Commuters are frustrated and have been frustrated for more than two summers because of the NJ Transit service cutbacks.

NJ Transit : C-

• Positives

o   Governor Murphy signed bill, S630 (Gordon) into law. The law provides governance, oversight, and accountability reforms at NJT. It will establish four new positions on the board and restructures the existing board so that all public members are required to either have experience as regular public transportation riders or have expertise in human resources or certain transportation topics.

o   NJT is 100% complete with installing positive train control

• Negatives

o   The audit, conducted by The North Highland Company, assessed the following major areas: organizational structure, operating and capital funding sources, personnel recruitment, procurement, and customer experience.

o   New Jersey Transit has been cutting more trains and modify their schedules to install Positive Train Control.

o   In addition to the cutbacks for October, the agency has already announced temporary closures of the Atlantic City Line and suspended services on the Raritan Valley Line trains to NY Penn Station.

o   Fares may have to go up again

o   Failure to move forward on new projects

“We are being generous in our grade because to most commuters, it would be an F. However we are trying to stop all of the bad things from happening at NJT and turn them around. We are giving NJT this grade because we hope to see more advancements this year. Now that positive train control is almost installed, we can now bring back the lines that were canceled. Instead of buying fossil fuel buses, NJ Transit should invest in electric buses instead,” said Tittel. “We need to make capital improvements in order to make our transit system better. If we don’t make improvements to our rail system, we could have a disaster.”

Climate Change: D

The Governor says he supports action on climate change however he is silent on major fossil fuel projects. Projects like the Meadowlands powerplant has already received some DEP permits or the Southern Reliability Link which has started to build through the Pinelands despite it still being challenged in court. We have asked the Governor for a stay on the SRL project but no response from is office. If the Governor is committed to reducing GHG’s, then he must say no to these projects, otherwise his words are just hot air.

o   Governor Murphy has remained silent on the 5-natural gas powerplants and 8 natural pipeline projects in New Jersey

o   We want Governor Murphy to impose a moratorium on all new fossil fuel power plants and to ban fracking

o   The Administration have failed to update rule for adaptation and mitigation

o   Murphy has not brought out the latest science for both mapping and rulemaking.

New pipeline and compressor projects:

• PennEast Pipeline:110-mile pipeline that will bring natural gas from the Marcellus Region of Pennsylvania through Hunterdon and Mercer Counties in New Jersey.
• Northeast Supply Enhancement: The project would put 3.5 new miles of pipe in Old Bridge and Sayreville and 22 miles under the Raritan Bay.
• South Jersey Gas pipeline: 22 inch gas pipeline through 22 miles of the Pinelands and Southern New Jersey.
• Southern Reliability Link :28-mile gas pipeline through Burlington, Ocean, and Monmouth Counties.
• Garden State Expansion project: Their proposed Garden State Expansion compressor station would connect into a New Jersey Natural Gas Pipeline in Chesterfield.
• Rivervale South to Market: Upgrade 10.35 miles of existing Transco pipeline and a 0.61 mile loop in wetlands environment of Bergen County.
• Lambertville East Expansion (Lambertville):Will connect PennEast to Texas Eastern and the Transco compressor station so they can take PennEast gas through their system

New gas-fired power plant projects:

• Meadowlands Power Plant (North Bergen)- 1200MW
• Phoenix Energy Center (Holland Twp)- 660MW
• BL England (Upper Twp)- 450 MW
• Keasbey Energy Center (Woodbridge)- 725 MW
• Sewaren 7 (Woodbridge)- 540MW

o   We believe that the NJDEP should immediately move to set standards for greenhouse gasses, CO2 as well as methane, which they’ve had the authority to do since 2005. This includes regulating the Air Pollution Control Act and Title V permits to stop new plants and reduce existing pollution to protect the health of New Jersey’s communities.

o   Governor Murphy must enact the strictest possible interpretation of the “Anti-degradation standard” under the Water Quality Certification Program pursuant to Section 410 of the Federal Clean Water Act by NJDEP for pipelines. NJDEP must also conduct a cost-benefit analysis of moving New Jersey away from the PJM electricity grid, which relies too heavily on dirty fuels.

“NJ needs to take bold action on climate change and that’s why Governor Murphy needs to put in place a moratorium on all fossil fuel infrastructure. We need a time out to put in place programs to reduce greenhouse gases and get to 100% renewable. More fossil fuels will block offshore wind and make RGGI meaningless. NJ is exporting more than 20% of their electricity and 3 power plants are designed to sell power to NY. A moratorium gives DEP the time to regulate and set standards for CO2 and GHG through all sectors such as powerplants, pipelines, mobile sources, and fugitive emissions,” said Tittel. “If these fossil fuel projects get built, then all Murphy’s talk on climate change will be hot air.”

“Governor Murphy still has time to change, but he needs to step up and take leadership in making New Jersey cleaner and greener. Instead of promoting more fossil fuel projects, NJ needs to focus on renewable energy such as solar and wind. Murphy must reverse Christie’s weakened rules that protect our environment, public health, and safety. Governor Murphy needs to show strong leadership by getting the DEP and other agencies to move on the environment, NJ can’t afford to wait,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.” “Going around the country and giving speeches on climate change is not actually working on climate change issues.”