Donald Trump has declared war on environmental protections from Washington, but in New Jersey, the problem isn’t just what Trump is doing. The problem is what New Jersey is doing that allows those attacks to have an impact here at home.
The Trump administration isn’t simply rolling back a few regulations around the edges. It is carrying out the largest dismantling of environmental protections and standards in American history. The cumulative effect isn’t one bad policy. It’s more than 530 administrative actions, a death by a thousand cuts.
For New Jersey, these aren’t abstract policy debates. They translate into dirtier air, more flooding, stalled toxic cleanups, higher utility bills, and greater public health risks.
Gov. Mikie Sherrill can go on cable television and criticize Donald Trump all she wants. She can refuse to hand over voter rolls and denounce attacks on democracy. But if New Jersey weakens its own environmental protections, cuts DEP funding, fast-tracks permits, raids clean energy funds, and delays climate rules, then we aren’t building a wall against Trump. We’re building an on-ramp.
You can’t fight Trump with one hand while handing his agenda a permit with the other.
For decades, New Jersey’s environmental laws acted as a shield against federal rollbacks. We had stronger wetlands protections, stricter flood regulations, and a DEP that wasn’t afraid to tell polluters, “No.” Today, that shield is developing more holes than the Pulaski Skyway.
Trump is swinging a wrecking ball at environmental protections nationally. The question is: Why is New Jersey helping carry it?