Trenton, NJ - Clean Water Action joined with over 70 organizations in calling for the resignation of NJ’s Economic Development Authority (EDA) Board. This demand is clearly in order based on state audit findings (January 2019) detailing long term corruption, lack of accountability and transparency of the Authority.
EDA clearly knew how to spend money; BUT it was for its select corporate friends and family.
EDA clearly was innovative; BUT it was to “game the system” in corrupt ways that lined the pockets of certain corporations without creating or retaining the NJ-based jobs EDA programs were intended to create.
EDA clearly knew how to leverage its economic power; BUT not for the good of the state and its residents during the worst years following the nation’s 2008 economic crash.
EDA could have created jobs and protected public health, by spending $11 billion on paying skilled workers to get lead out of our drinking water, repair aging infrastructure, move us closer to 100% renewables by 2050, and upgrade NJ Transit; but instead they gave it away to largely undeserving corporations without any oversight on how the money would be spent and often at the expense of the environment, public health and communities in real need of family supporting jobs.
EDA leadership must be held accountable for their past wrongdoing and make room for Governor Murphy’s economic plan - a plan designed to ensure all communities prosper regardless of their zip code and innovative strategies are supported based on true merit not political connections.
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Since our founding during the campaign to pass the landmark Clean Water Act in 1972, Clean Water Action has worked to win strong health and environmental protections by bringing issue expertise, solution-oriented thinking and people power to the table. We will protect clean water in the face of attacks from a polluter friendly Administration and Congress. Clean Water Action has 150,000 members in NJ and nearly 1 million nationwide. www.cleanwater.org/nj