Environmental advocates are using words like “bloodbath” and
“massacre” to describe Gov. Chris Christie’s pocket veto of a string
of environmental bills on Tuesday. 

Among the victims of Christie’s desk drawer are
a bill (A3823) that would have appropriated money for lead
hazard abatement, one (A4128) that would have allowed an offshore wind company
to apply for a project off the coast of Atlantic City and one (S2973) that would have expanded electronic waste
recycling — a bill his own Department of Environmental Protection
supported. 

“This is a full
frontal assault on the environment,” said Doug O’Malley, head of
Environment New Jersey. “The governor didn’t even have the courtesy to
tell us why he vetoed them.”

Jeff Tittel, head the
New Jersey Sierra Club, said, “Anything to do with clean energy he’s
opposing. Anything that improves government programs for the environment he
vetoed.”

Christie pocket-vetoed a
total of 12 bills relating to energy or the environment. New Jerseyans hopeful
for a state oceanographer will have to look to the new Legislature after
Christie nixed the bill (S2491) creating one. A program (S564) that would have used state money to provide solar
warranties was stuffed as well. 

Also pocket-vetoed were
a bill (S2973) to create an energy infrastructure commission, a
bill (S2967) to let small businesses state financing for
energy audits, another (A2405) creating a “clean vehicle task force”
and one (S3416) that would have prohibited animal trophies of
endangered species from being held or transported in New Jersey.

“It appears that the
governor is one of the few people who don’t recognize that the trophy hunting
of exotic animals is a cruel and inhumane practice that threatens the
extinction of endangered species,” state Sen. Ray Lesniak said in a
statement. “Killing these animals so that they can be stuffed and mounted
is not a practice that should be condoned or allowed.”

Assemblyman John McKeon
decried the veto of the e-waste bill which, after several hearings and
rewrites, had the support of industry and the DEP.

“His pocket veto today
of this commonsense legislation ensures New Jersey will no longer be a leader
when it comes to recycling,” McKeon said. “This new law was critical
because of the proliferation of electronic technology and the rate at which we
purchase new devices these days.”

While greens and
Democratic legislators were not surprised by many of the governor’s vetoes,
they still expressed alarm that he was nixing some bipartisan legislation.

The lead abatement bill
would have appropriated $10 million for the Lead Hazard Control Assistance Fund
and had received support from Republicans and Democrats in both houses.

“The lead abatement
pocket veto is really appalling,” O’Malley said. “I don’t think
there’s a partisan stance that’s pro-lead poisoning.”

David Pringle of Clean
Water Action accused Christie of sacrificing New Jersey’s environment for the
sake of his presidential ambitions.

“He just added
another chapter on how anti-environment he’s turned in his run for president,
even vetoing bills his administration supported last week and he himself
supported in the past,” Pringle said.

One reason the Christie
administration has given for the sheer volume of pocket vetoes is the nature of
the legislative session. Typically, the governor cannot simply pocket-veto
something unless it’s passed at the close of the session, and since the
Assembly was running for re-election for much of 2015, scores of bills were
hurried through at the last minute.

“Having the legislature
pass more than 100 bills in such a hasty and scrambled way, praying for them to
be rubber stamped, is never a good formula for effectively doing public business,”
Christie spokesman Kevin Roberts said by email.