User:Ngriffeth/NJEJA

The New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance (NJEJA) is a 501c(3) statewide alliance of New Jersey-based organizations and individuals working to identify, prevent, reduce and eliminate environmental injustices in communities of color and low-income communities. The organization also works on local concerns in north, central and south Jersey. In 2021, the League of Conservation Voters presented its Founders Award to NJEJA.

A major concern of the NJEJA since its founding has been the presence of toxic and hazardous facilities in communities of color and low-income communities. Almost two decades of work to prevent addition of new or enlarged facilities in these communities culminated in passage of New Jersey's Environmental Justice Law in 2020, which requires the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to deny permits for new facilities in these communities if the facilities would increase their burden unduly.

History

Founding

NJEJA was founded in 2002 by a broad-based group of community, environmental, faith, labor, academic, and civil rights organizations. The original impetus came out of discussions among New Jersey environmental justice advocates about sending a delegation from New Jersey to the Second National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit in Washington DC.

The founders of NJEJA included Valorie Caffee and Ted Carrington from the New Jersey Work Environment Council (WEC), Avery Grant from the Concerned Citizens of Long Branch, Dr. Peter Montague from the Environmental Research Foundation, and other individuals concerned about the increasing siting of toxic and hazardous facilities in communities of color and low-income communities. Many of these communities (also called “Environmental Justice communities” or "EJ communities") were already burdened with large concentrations of pollution and the adverse health, economic, educational, and overall quality of life impacts associated with pollution.

Environmental Justice Advisory Council

In 2004, Governor McGreevey signed Executive Order #96 on Environmental Justice. The Executive Order recognized the issues of contaminated sites and the prevalence of asthma in EJ communities. It also reconstituted the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP)'s Environmental Justice Advisory Council (EJAC), which is still active today. Valorie Caffee, a founder of NJEJA, was named the chair of EJAC. Co-founders Ted Carrington and Avery Grant were also named members of EJAC.

Cumulative Impacts Legislation and Emissions Reductions in Overburdened Communities

In 2008, NJEJA and other environmental groups requested a moratorium on the issuance of air pollution permits for overburdened environmental justice communities at a hearing on the NJ State Implementation Plan, required by the EPA to comply with the Clean Air Act. This was a precursor of the ground-breaking EJ Law passed in 2019. At the same time, the groups also asked for

• Monitoring of PM_2.5 in overburdened environmental justice communities
• a 12.0 μg/m³ annual fine PM standard. (The NJDEP did adopt a goal of 12 μg/m³.)
• Climate change policies to decrease emissions of PM_2.5 and its precursors (The DEP concurred with this comment.)
• Extensive use of energy conservation and renewable energy sources in urban areas.
• Retrofitting or retiring of privately-owned pre-2007 diesel vehicles.
• A plan to address PM_2.5 emissions at the ports, including an Indirect Source Review to permit use of the Clean Air At to regulate emissions from diesel-powered vehicles.

In the same year, the NJEJA submitted comments on the NJ Energy Master Plan asking for the additional goals of "creating and implementing energy generation policies that will reduce emissions of fine PM and its precursors, and utilizing energy conservation and renewable energy sources extensively in urban areas in a manner that will promote economic revitalization."

In 2008-2009, NJEJA formed a "cumulative impacts" committee along with Ironbound Community Corporation, Clean Water Action NJ, and the Eastern Environmental Law Center. The goal was to change the focus of regulation from individual pollutants and individual sources to address the impact of multiple pollutants from multiple sources. In March 2009, the NJ Department of Environmental Protection's Environmental Justice Advisory Committee issued a report on cumulative impacts and in 2011, New Jersey's Clean Air Council devoted its annual public hearing to "The Cumulative Health Impacts of Toxic Air Pollutants on Sensitive Subpopulations and the General Public". In March 2011, NJEJA held a cumulative impacts workshop in Trenton, NJ, and in October, 2011, it held a Newark community cumulative impacts ordinance workshop. On April 30, 2012, Sustainable Jersey presented a workshop on cumulative impacts. From 2013 to 2016, NJEJA joined the Ironbound Community Corporation and Clean Water Action to lead the campaign that resulted in the adoption of the Newark Environmental Justice and Cumulative Impacts Ordinance, which mandates providing information on demographics and pollution in Newark. This ordinance was based on the "Model Municipal Ordinance" NJEJA developed in 2011.

These efforts were expanded to the statewide level in 2018. NJEJA, Clean Water Action, and Ironbound Community Corporation began to engage with Senator Singleton on State-Wide "Cumulative Impacts" legislation. NJEJA also partnered with the Center for American Progress to conduct a policy conference that featured EJ policies developed by NJEJA including climate change policy (mandatory emissions reductions for EJ communities) and cumulative impacts. Finally in 2020 members of NJEJA, Clean Water Action, and Ironbound Community Corporation drove a successful campaign to pass the statewide "Environmental Justice and Cumulative Impacts Bill" sponsored by Senator Troy Singleton.

Meanwhile, at the national level, NJEJA began a similar effort in 2017 to get EJ Legislation sponsored by Senator Booker and in 2019 NJEJA and other local and national EJ organizations established the "Equitable and Just National Climate Platform" that outlines a national climate agenda for effectively building an inclusive, just, and clean-energy economy.

Opposition to carbon trading and carbon offsets

In 2008, the NJEJA commented on the rules for joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). Their RGGI comments advocated incorporating a mechanism into RGGI that would result in GHG co-pollutant reductions in EJ communities but noted that NJEJA opposes RGGI and carbon-trading in general. New Jersey exited RGGI in 2012, but rejoined in 2018 in spite of continued opposition from NJEJA and other environmental justice groups.

In 2020, NJEJA pulled together multiple environmental justice groups to oppose the Transportation Climate Initiative (TCI) on the grounds that it doesn't guarantee reductions in emissions in environmental justice communities and because it uses carbon trading.

Incinerators

NJEJA supported local efforts in both Newark and Camden to address incinerators producing local air pollution. NJEJA testified at hearings and submitted written comments.

Other

NJEJA hired Mr. Henry Rose as its first full-time Statewide Coordinator in 2008. Also, NJEJA and other EJ organizations from around the nation joined WE ACT in convening the Environmental Justice Leadership Forum on Climate Change. In 2009, NJEJA worked with WE ACT to promote Environmental Justice principles in government agencies in Washington, DC.

2010:

• NJEJA played an important role in supporting the Eyes of Trenton Civic Organization fight the siting of a second recycling plant in their neighborhood.
• NJEJA played an important role in helping fourth ward residents of Rahway organize to address persistent flooding in their neighborhood.

NJEJA partners with the NJ Climate Change Adaptation Alliance to conduct its Sandy Climate Justice Roundtable, which brought together residents of EJ communities and organizations that work with them to discuss how Superstorm Sandy, and climate change in general, affect EJ communities. The Roundtable also issued a report that contained recommendations to address the detrimental impacts of climate change on EJ communities.

2014-2016: NJEJA works with the Center for Earth, Energy and Democracy, Center for Urban Environment at Thomas Edison University: WE ACT, the EJ Leadership Forum on Climate Change; and the Tishman Environment and Design Center at the New School to submit comments, organize, and participate in workshops and panels; and write papers on EPA's Clean Power Plan (CPP). The CPP was EPA's proposed rule on GHG emissions and NJEJA and its partners work on this topic was very influential in the development of climate justice policy.

In 2014, The Fund for New Jersey awarded $25,000 to NJEJA for "cleaner air, improved health, and better working conditions" around the ports of Newark and Elizabeth.

In 2021, Dr. Nicky Sheats, one of the founders of NJEJA, was appointed to White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. Also in 2021, Dr. Sheats and Dr. Ana Baptista of the NJEJA provided support to the City of Newark in developing an Environmental Resource Inventory.

Philosophy and Background

NJEJA is the only statewide environmental organization in New Jersey that has a significant number of people of color in its membership and leadership. Because of this, it addresses issues of racial and economic justice that are often absent in mainstream environmental policy discussions within New Jersey.

NJEJA supports community efforts to remediate and rebuild impacted neighborhoods. The early organizers considered it essential to use consensus rather than hierarchy to make decisions. Also, the organization uses a community’s own vision of improvement rather than imposing their own. Their approach to change includes education, advocacy, the review and promulgation of public policies, training, and organizing and technical assistance.