Gov. Phil Murphy pressed lawmakers to act but they backed off amid growing pushback
TOM JOHNSON reports for NJ Spotlight
In an unexpected setback, lawmakers yesterday failed to act on a bill touted by Gov. Phil Murphy as key to helping to curb pollution problems in environmental-justice communities.
The legislation (S-232) is viewed by advocates as establishing a national model for giving minority and low-income communities more tools to block new projects that could worsen air and other pollution in their neighborhoods.
But a last-minute lobbying blitz against the bill by business interests and labor groups led the Assembly to hold off voting planned for Thursday. The bill had been expected to pass and then be approved by the Senate and sent on to Murphy for his consideration.
Big thumbs-up from Murphy
Murphy heartily endorsed the bill last month at a news conference, one of the rare occasions when he backed a measure still pending in the Legislature. The governor has made environmental justice a priority during his term, backing up his pledge by committing more funds to so-called overburdened communities to reduce pollution there.
Kim Gaddy, a Newark native and member of Clean Water Action, said she was disappointed Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin (D-Middlesex) did not post the bill for a vote, saying advocates were confident they had the 41 votes to send it on to the Senate.
“It would have been a great opportunity to demonstrate Black lives and people of color lives matter,’’ said Gaddy, noting it would have occurred on the day when civil rights icon John Lewis was buried.
The bill, long sought by environmental justice advocates, would require the state Department of Environmental Protection to consider the cumulative impacts of locating new power plants or major manufacturing facilities where residents already suffer from pollution from incinerators, hazardous-waste sites, or large factories.
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