(Mount Olive, NJ): Clean Water Action organizers were on hand to celebrate Governor Murphy’s announcement that he is issuing an Executive Order to reduce New Jersey’s greenhouse gas emissions to 50% of their 2006 levels by the year 2030. The announcement took place with a backdrop of construction vehicles as workers continued to install the nation’s largest solar farm on reclaimed landfill.
Clean Water Action Environmental Justice Director, Kim Gaddy, provided context, saying, “The pandemic, the challenge to our democracy, racial discrimination, the struggle for a living wage, and the climate emergency - they all overlap. The solution, reducing climate emissions through rapid deployment of energy efficiency, conservation, and renewable energy, attacks these crises incredibly well all at once.” She added, “The science requires it, and morality demands it.”
“50% by 2030 is what we MUST do. We need to move faster, and do more, to meet the moment of this crisis,” declared Eric Benson, NJ Campaign Director for Clean Water Action. “This is a great announcement, and now we need to see action on the steps to meet this goal. We need no new frack gas plants. We need implementation of strong PACT rules. We need the deployment of solar not just in rural and suburban neighborhoods, but in our environmental justice communities as well. We need zero emissions trucks and busses.”
Clean Water Action organizers have been keeping up the pressure on the governor and state leaders to reduce climate emissions since Election Day. Over fifty residents rallied in Montclair on Saturday to demand a livable climate future, and Clean Water Action staff and members will also be joining environmental justice leaders and neighbors in Newark to protest a proposed frack gas power plant in the Ironbound.