New Jersey Sierra Club press release
TRENTON, NJ–The following pieces of legislation are up in the Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee on Monday, December 9
th
.
A4330 (Pinkin):
Prohibits use of plastic carryout bags, expanded polystyrene, and single-use plastic straws. The bill would prohibit the use of single-use plastic carryout bags in stores and food service businesses, and would ban food service businesses from offering single-use plastic straws. It would also ban the sale of polystyrene and would prohibit food service businesses from selling or providing food packaged in polystyrene containers.
“This bill is a major step forward in dealing with plastics and plastic pollution. Plastics are a menace and an existential threat to our drinking water, beaches, and wildlife. Microplastics have already been found near our drinking water supply, so we could literally be drinking plastic. Animals like fish and birds can ingest plastic, and plastic bags have been known to clog storm drains and fill up detention basins, affecting our water quality,”
said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.
“This bill is important because it will ban single-use plastic bags and polystyrene containers. It also should not allow fake reusable bags. It will also allow paper bags during the transition before phasing them out slowly.”
The bill would prohibit the use of single-use plastic carryout bags and paper bags in stores and food service businesses, and would ban food service businesses from offering single-use plastic straws. It would also ban the sale of polystyrene and would prohibit food service businesses from selling or providing food packaged in polystyrene containers.
“We need this legislation because it not only bans plastic bags, but also polystyrene and the offering of plastic straws. Polystyrene is dangerous to human health because it contains carcinogenic chemicals such as benzene and styrene, and it has been found in breast milk. It is harmful to the environment because it is not recyclable and does not degrade. Plastic straws pollute our oceans and beaches. Last year, New Jersey found that more than 80% of their trash is plastic and found an increase in plastic straw waste by 59%,”
said Tittel.
“By reducing how much plastic we use, we can also reduce fracking and fossil fuel use. Plastics are made from natural gas, which means more fossil fuel use, more pipelines, and more fracking.”
A4267 (McKeon):
Concerns regulations of solid waste, hazardous waste, and soil and debris recycling industries.
“This bill is important because it addresses New Jersey’s ongoing problems with illegal dumping of contaminated materials. The Special Commission of Investigation’s first “Dirty Dirt” report in 2016 exposed the rampant problem of soil brokers and dirty dirt. Since that report the illegal dumping is still happening, risking the environment and public health. That’s because there hasn’t been any action by DEP and the Legislature to stop it. The industry has ties to the mob, and there are serious pollution and health impacts,”
said Tittel.
In June, the Special Commission of Investigation released their latest “Dirty Dirt” report detailing illegal dumping in Marlboro. SCI reported that New Jersey currently “lacks the authority to properly oversee elements of its recycling program”. This bill would help tighten regulations by expanding the requirement for background checks to a broader range of persons involved in the solid waste industry, such as sales persons, consultants, and brokers. But the overriding problem continues to be DEP’s lack of enforcement.
“The Assembly bill is an important step forward; however, we need to go further. New Jersey needs tighter regulations and restrictions on how our waste is handled. We have a long history of contaminated materials coming into our state, in part because DEP chooses not to regulate these chemicals. DEP needs to set and enforce standards for toxic materials to prevent any more possible dumping,”
said Jeff Tittel.
“The Assembly needs to act quickly and get this bill to the governor’s desk before the end of the year.”
A5583 (Pinkin):
Prohibits sale, lease, rent or installation of certain equipment products containing hydroflourocarbons or other greenhouse gases.
“This bill is step in the right direction when it comes to reducing GHG’s from the products we use every day. Hydrofluorocarbons represent around 1% of total greenhouse gases but their impact on global warming can be hundreds to thousands of times greater than that of carbon dioxide. They can be found in cooling products like refrigerators, air conditioning for our homes and cars, aerosols, and more,”
said Jeff Tittel.
“It is important that we prohibit and phase out all products containing HCF’s and greenhouse gases so that we can mitigate our impact to global warming.”
A5681 (Pinkin):
Establishes task force to study recycling streams in NJ and challenges faced by local governments in running recycling programs.
“Given the serious problems with recycling in New Jersey, we need to change everything we do when it comes to solid waste. We need to first reduce, reuse, repurpose and then recycle. Our recycling and solid waste programs are decades out of date. Some towns are moving to single-stream recycling, which means more waste gets collected but results in a dirtier product. Establishing a recycling task force will help streamline New Jersey’s recycling,”
said Jeff Tittel.
“We also need legislation to reduce plastic wastes and solids. The less we recycle, the more greenhouse gases and pollution we have from emissions from landfills and new product manufacturing.”
A5682 (Pinkin):
Establishes Recycling Market Development Council. The Council would look at existing recycling markets and recommend ways to stimulate recycling and how to reduce contamination of collected recyclables.
“We’re seeing a major drop in recycling in New Jersey. In the early 1990’s, we recycled over half of municipal and household waste. Now we are down to 37%. China’s decision to no longer import plastic waste has caused the recycling market to collapse. Some towns are no longer taking plastics. Recycling facilities are closing, or opening only once or twice a month. This bill says that New Jersey needs to develop new recycling markets. Rutgers has invented the first plastic lumber that uses recycled plastics, and more innovation needs to encouraged,”
said Tittel.
“We need to focus on coming up with more markets for recycling, and establishing a Recycling Market Development Council is a step in the right direction.”
A5854 (Pintor Marin):
Allows municipalities to adopt an ordinance to enter properties to perform lead service line replacements.
“This legislation will help us replace lead service lines. This legislation is needed because lead in drinking water has become an ongoing issue in New Jersey. In order to find out if people are being exposed to lead or to get rid of existing lead service lines, you need to have access to the properties. Many times, landlords or property owners will not allow access to municipalities to check for lead,”
said Jeff Tittel.
“Our water is at risk and we need to be able to replace old lead pipes. This legislation will help municipalities protect residents from being exposed to lead in their water.”
A6014 (Vainieri Huttle/Pinkin):
Establishes NJ Climate Change Resource Center at Rutgers University, appropriates $2 million.
“Establishing a Climate Change Resource Center is a good step forward when it comes to being prepared and stronger than the next storm. Climate impacts are getting worse. A recent study found that much of New Jersey, including inland counties, are more vulnerable to climate impacts now than before Sandy. We must start taking real actions to fight climate change now. We are in a climate crisis, and New Jersey is the only state on the east coast that does not have any kind of sea level rise climate adaptation plan,”
said Jeff Tittel.
“This Resource Center will help use the latest science to put climate and sea level rise in DEP rules and state legislation. DEP also need to update our adaptation for sea level mitigation program, our shore protection plan, and fix CAFRA loopholes.”
A4020 (Mazzeo):
Changes title of DEP “conservation officer” to “Conservation police officer”.
“We feel that this title change is incorrect and unnecessary,”
said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.
Bills Up in Senate Committees Monday
The following pieces of legislation are up in various committees on Monday, December 9
th
.
Senate Environment and Energy Committee:
S4275 (Smith)
: Allows BPU to increase cost to customers of Class I renewable energy requirements for energy years 2022 through 2024, under certain conditions.
“We are heading into a crisis for solar energy. We support this bill because it will prevent the collapse of the solar market, but our concern is that this is a temporary fix. We need to do something about the cost cap before the cap is exceeded and the solar program ends,”
said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.
“This bill raises the cost to 9% instead of 7%, but if the costs exceed that limit the BPU is still required to set aside the Renewable Portfolio Standard for that year.”
The bill would allow the BPU to increase the cost cap on Class I renewable energy requirements if the total energy costs during energy years 2019 through 2021 is less than 9%. The cap would then return to the original 7% from energy year 2022 through 2024. Since the solar program went into effect about 10 years ago, solar has become 29 percent more efficient and gone down in price by 25 percent.
“This bill is just kicking the can down the road for a few more years. What we need is a real fix, not a Band-Aid. We should be completely getting rid of the cap. We don’t have caps on energy from coal, nuclear, oil, or gas. Having a cap on solar energy makes no sense. You also have to factor in legacy SRECs as well as transition SRECs. Our concern is that even with this change in the law it will not allow us to have a robust solar program,”
said Jeff Tittel.
“We need to remove the cost cap, but we also need to come up with a new solar program that is more cost effective and works for all of New Jersey. This includes looking at other funding mechanisms and regulations to push for solar programs to get done.”
S3965 (Ruiz/Cryan)
: Requires DEP, DOH, DCA, owners or operators of public water systems, and owners or operators of certain buildings to take certain actions to prevent and control cases of Legionnaires’ disease.
“It is important for the Legislature to make sure our water companies, cities, and state agencies are held accountable when it comes to the water we drink. There are too many problems in New Jersey from one county to the next, whether it is PFOAs, volatile organic chemicals, cyanobacteria, or legionella, the bacteria that causes Legionnaire’s disease. For too long, New Jersey has failed to adequately protect its drinking water and is putting the public at risk. This is mainly due to DEP’s failure to enforce the Clean Water Act, “
said Jeff Tittel.
“We have serious water problems throughout the state when it comes to our drinking water. That is why we need to make sure that different water purveyors take actions to identify their problems and correct them.”
S3974 (Ruiz):
Authorizes common law public nuisance suits regarding lead paint under State law; exempts Attorney General from certain aspects of public nuisance claims when pursuing lead paint actions.
“It is good that this bill would allow the Attorney General to pursue public nuisance claims against lead paint manufacturers. We have a serious problem with lead in New Jersey that we have been dealing with for far too long. Some places in the state are at crisis level, especially in areas that are poorer and urban. There are a lot of hazardous chemicals in lead paint like VOCs and other flammable substances, and it is important for the Attorney General to have the ability to hold lead paint manufacturers accountable”
said Tittel.
S4162 (Smith):
Appropriates $2 million to establish NJ Climate Change Resource Center at Rutgers University.
“Establishing a Climate Change Resource Center is a good step forward when it comes to being prepared and stronger than the next storm. A recent study found that much of New Jersey, including inland counties, are more vulnerable to climate impacts now than before Sandy. We must start taking real actions to fight climate change now. We are in a climate crisis, and New Jersey is the only state on the east coast that does not have any kind of sea level rise climate adaptation plan,”
said Jeff Tittel.
“This Resource Center will help use the latest science to put climate and sea level rise in DEP rules and state legislation.”
S4276 (Corrado):
Appropriates $32,153,936 to State Agriculture Development Committee for farmland preservation purposes.
S4277 (Greenstein):
Appropriates $5,000,000 from constitutionally dedicated CBT revenues to State Agriculture Development Committee for municipal planning incentive grants for farmland preservation purposes.
S4278 (Greenstein):
Appropriates $21 million from constitutionally dedicated CBT revenues to State Agriculture Development Committee for municipal planning incentive grants for farmland preservation purposes.
S4279 (Greenstein):
Appropriates $1,350,000 from constitutionally dedicated CBT revenues to State Agriculture Development Committee for grants to certain nonprofit organizations for farmland preservation purposes.
“We need to make sure that there is capital set aside for state parks, parks in urban areas, open space, and improvements. For years, state parks and parks in urban areas have been significantly underfunded. We wanted the new money to fix that problem. We need these funds because there are massive backlogs and parks are falling apart without improvement for years. Over the last decade the parks budget is down 40%, despite us adding 40% more open space,”
said Jeff Tittel.
“We would like to see 40% of open space money dedicated to urban space areas. We are concerned because the definition of stewardship in these bills allows for logging and other things. Stewardship money should be going towards wetlands restoration and stream corridors.
Senate Economic Growth Committee:
S1212 (Ruiz)
requires lead paint inspection prior to home purchases and tenant turnover; establishes educational program on lead hazards. Lead is incredibly dangerous, and can cause illness and even in small amounts can lead to brain damage and learning disabilities. It can also lead to childhood development problems and other serious health issues. Thousands of children are diagnosed with lead poisoning in our state each year; over 3,000 in 2015 alone. Many of these children are exposed to lead through paint in their homes and other structures.
“It’s important to have these pieces of legislation to find lead in homes and stop children from being exposed to it in the first place. We need a long-term solution that will help remove lead from our schools and especially the older homes. We must work on removing lead from homes but also from our drinking water through old infrastructure. This is the beginning of dealing with a systemic problem that’s going to take years to solve and lot of work and funding to get done,”
said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.
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