New Jersey’s EJ Law Is Passed, and It Still Might Not Be Enough

by Isabella Marie Nangano

In 2020, the New Jersey State Legislature enacted the Environmental Justice Law, one that its citizens wanted for a long time. The law requires the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to consider the environmental impact of a proposed project on the community before approving its permits. This legislation was passed in response to calls from environmental activists for meaningful climate reform, particularly in a state that hosts the largest number of Superfund sites in the country. Governor Murphy expressed hope that the law would shield New Jerseyites from the pollution impacts of superstorms, like Hurricane Sandy, which caused widespread devastation in 2012. However, the law has fallen short of its promise. Despite being regarded as a landmark environmental justice law in this country, it does not fully protect the communities it was designed to serve. For instance, residents of the Ironbound neighborhood in Newark are fighting against constructing a sewage treatment plant which will lead to further pollution in the neighborhood—an outcome the Environmental Justice Law has not prevented.

Ironbound is a multicultural neighborhood rife with pollution. The heavily polluted Passaic River and countless factories border residents’ homes. These residents suffer health consequences from their living conditions, such as higher asthma rates in their children, but are unable to afford housing elsewhere. In theory, the law should be helping prevent further damage to this neighborhood, but it’s not. The state plans to build a new sewage treatment plant in the Ironbound neighborhood. The sewage treatment plant will act as a backstop for other sewage plants in case of future superstorms like Sandy. Hurricane Sandy destroyed New Jersey’s sewage system and raw sewage ran through the streets of Newark. Governor Murphey intends for this new plant to ensure that future storms are never as detrimental as Sandy. The plant is only meant for emergencies, but for one hour every day, the plant will run to ensure that the technology is still operable. The people who live in Ironbound already are impacted daily by factories and the pollution, and the last thing this neighborhood needs is another pollution source.

Ironbound residents have tried to organize against the sewage plant’s construction, but the Department of Environmental Protection conditionally approved the project in July. The plant is allowed to be built as long as it is: 1) only operative in an emergency, 2) incorporates some solar energy, and 3) utilizes high-quality equipment to reduce noise pollution. The conditional approval of this project is what the Environmental Justice Law was made to avoid. The reasoning behind building the sewage plant is to reduce the impacts from climate change-exacerbated storms (superstorms) caused by businesses which will never be a firsthand witness to the consequences of their actions. Those actors and decision-makers whose polluting tendencies created the need for an emergency sewage plant will never have to live next door to that emergency sewage plant. The Ironbound residents cannot afford housing elsewhere and are trapped in a toxic neighborhood.

The new sewage plant in Ironbound is just one example of environmental injustice in a country that has a serious problem with the disproportionate impact of pollution on poor and BIPOC communities. New Jersey appears to have taken one step towards righting these wrongs by passing the Environmental Justice Law, but that step is not enough. The intent that accompanies this law is a just one. However, the enforcement of this law is lacking. Had the Department of Environmental Protection taken a moment to consider the impact on environmental and public health that this new sewage plant would have (per the statute’s requirement) perhaps it would not have approved the project. The Environmental Justice Law is a good law, but if is ever going to live up to its potential, then the Department of Environmental Protection must try to enforce the law.