Sierra Club Stop Fossil Fuels Campaign- Empower NJ   

The New Jersey Sierra Club along with 50 other groups are calling on Governor Murphy to enact a moratorium on all new fossil fuel infrastructure and development in New Jersey. Our Empower NJ-Stop Fossil Fuels campaign is made up of over two dozen environmental, citizen, and faith groups in New Jersey. The campaign is calling on Governor Murphy to put a moratorium on new fossil fuel infrastructure until New Jersey has rules and standards in place to achieve our state’s 100% clean energy goals. Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club released the following statement:

“We are heading into a climate crisis globally and here in New Jersey. While this is happening our state is getting overrun with fossil fuel infrastructure. We will never be able to achieve our 100% clean energy goals and green jobs as long as we keep building new powerplants and pipelines. New Jersey needs to stop these projects until we have a plan in place reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.  Empower- NJ Stop Fossil Fuels campaign calls on Governor Murphy to put a moratorium on fossil fuel infrastructure until we can regulate and reduce our emissions across the whole sector and have a program and rules in place to get to 100% clean energy.

“International and national climate reports show that we are heading into a climate crisis, the impacts are worse and happening faster. We are seeing the damage of climate change through droughts, wildfires, hurricanes, other severe climate events getting worse and becoming more expensive. New Jersey is seeing more health impacts such as a rise in lymes disease and asthma attacks from climate change. Flooding has been also been a major problem in our state. Fish are already living in storm-drains in LBI. Some roads go underwater every time there’s a full moon and we’re losing coastal wetlands at an alarming rate. We also know that another similar event like Superstorm Sandy is 17 times more likely to happen again.

“Historically in New Jersey when he head into serious environmental emergencies that demand action, governors have put in place a moratorium until the issue has been fixed or dealt with. Three governors have put in place more than 5 moratoriums to protect public safety and the environment. Governor Byrnes put a stop on all development in the Pinelands until the Pinelands law was passed. Governor Kean put a moratorium on all new development hooking into sewer plants until the sewer plants were upgraded to protect clean water. Kean also put a moratorium on freshwater wetlands to protect us from flooding until a wetlands protection law was passed. Governor Florio put a moratorium on all new incinerators and stopped them under construction to protect our air quality from toxic emissions. We are in a climate emergency and Governor Murphy has to take drastic action to get us to 100% renewable energy.

“Governor Murphy must put in place a moratorium on all infrastructure to reduce greenhouse gases. The moratorium should be in place until the state has standards in place to regulate and permit CO2 and GHG emissions through all sectors such as powerplants, pipelines, mobile sources, and fugitive emissions. New Jersey must also be able to enforce and block new pipelines and get us to 100% renewable energy as soon as we can before the moratorium is lifted. As we move forward on our clean energy goals, we should be ratcheting down on fossil fuels until we get to 0 emissions.

“There are currently 5 new powerplants and 7 new pipeline projects in New Jersey that would undermine our efforts to reduce carbon emissions and transition to a clean energy future. This is because combined, these powerplants and pipeline projects could emit more than up to 100 million metric tons of greenhouses gases into our air. New Jersey’s greenhouse gas emissions have already risen from 3-5% in the last year and these new projects will blow a hole in our RGGI cap.

“We need an urgent response to climate change, especially when President Trump is denying climate change. Climate change is an existential threat, and so is Donald Trump’s policies. Trump has pulled out of the Paris Accord while going after CAFE standards, Obama’s Clean Power Plan and gutting rules to reduce methane emissions. He is opening public lands and coasts for drilling which is now responsible for 25% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Governor Murphy has made a commitment to uphold the Paris Accord and rejoin RGGI. He needs to keep his commitments or else everything he says is just hot air.

“We must first stop fossil fuel infrastructure to get to 100% renewable and green jobs. New Jersey needs to focus on renewable energy such as solar and wind. Other Governor’s in New Jersey have enacted moratoriums to protect public health. We need Governor Murphy to display strong leadership and action in fighting climate change and promoting renewable energy. We need this because our families, our communities, and out future depend on it. We have to act now.”