Clean Water Action Testifies in Senate Environment Committee: S1700 Empowers NJDEP to Deny Permits due to Environmental Injustice
Trenton, NJ-Today, Kim Gaddy, Environmental Justice Organizer for Clean Water Action, testified in the Senate Environment Committee hearing on legislation (S1700) sponsored by Senators Troy Singleton and Loretta Weinberg which would empower the NJ Department of Environmental Justice (NJDEP) to deny permits due to environmental injustice:
"Thank you. My name is Kim Gaddy and I am the Environmental Justice Organizer for Clean Water Action of New Jersey, Vice Chair of New Jersey DEP Environmental Justice Advisory Council and a lifelong resident of Newark. I am also an elected member of the Newark Board of Education.
Clean Water Action has been a strong supporter of S1700 ever since first learning about it just after Senator Weinberg introduced the bill and met with us about it in 2008. We also strongly support the proposed amendments Senator Singleton has drafted for today.
We are very thankful for today’s hearing, it’s long in coming! Environmental injustice is unacceptable and this bill is the first really significant bill to address the lack of environmental equity in communities of color and to give the state the power it needs to stop it.
Professionally, I have been advocating for communities impacted by industrial pollution and the goods movement system in Newark, the State and country for 17 years.
Personally, I am a parent of three asthmatic children who are impacted by the cumulative impacts of pollution sources in Newark. We can't breathe or escape from the deadly diesel pollution, it's everywhere.
Newark residents suffer disproportionately high rates of asthma, lung cancer, heart disease, stroke and neurological disorders because they are exposed to pollution from port-related sources, port traffic, diesel truck exhaust, waste facilities including the Newark garbage incinerator and Passaic Valley sewer plant, the Hess frack gas plant, and many other industries.
The operation of the ports and these industrial facilities represents a significant impact on adjacent neighborhoods like the South and East Wards of Newark. Diesel emissions from thousands of diesel trucks, port equipment, ships and rail operations combine to exacerbate an already heavy burden of pollution in surrounding communities.
While the city of Newark recently passed a historic Environmental Justice and Cumulative Impacts Ordinance to begin to tackle pollution burdens through the new developments in the city, port operations and other industrial facilities are largely exempt from these local and state environmental review processes.
This bill changes that. It gives the state the power to deny permits due to unhealthy cumulative impacts in low income communities, white, black or brown. It requires user friendly environmental analyses and meaningful public processes to influence decision making.
Critical investments in common sense pollution control technologies and policies like newer fleets of trucks and equipment, ship emissions capture systems and more can be brought to bear to improve the health and well-being of the most vulnerable workers and residents in our state.
The bill can also bring about better siting and promote better alternative technologies, like clean renewables and energy efficiency.
And yes sometimes the bill will even result in the state saying NO!
When it comes to protecting our children, especially those most vulnerable, low income and where the pollution is too great, is that too much to ask? Thank you!"
##
Clean Water Action has more than 150,000 members statewide in New Jersey and is the nation's largest grassroots group focused on water, energy and environmental health. 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. www.cleanwater.org/nj