Newark EJ Ordinance: Environmental Review Checklist
Chapter 41:20A
EXHIBIT A: ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW CHECKLIST
§ 41:20A-1. Environmental Review Checklist.
Cover Sheet:
Name of applicant entity.
Contact information (name, email, phone, address).
Location of Proposed Project (address and block and lot).
Summary description of proposed project (one paragraph only) including proposed dimensions of any buildings and total project cost.
Existing land use at project site and existing land use zoning designation.
Requested variance, if any.
Permits:
List of all permits and approvals needed.
Copy of any permits already obtained from the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, or evidence of inclusion in the Essex County Solid Waste Management Plan after advice of the Essex County Solid Waste Advisory Council.
Basic Form – For Covered Applicants with a Commercial or Light Manufacturing Use, including those uses within an MX-1 or MX-2 Zone…
Press Release: FAQ on S. 232 A 2212: NJ’s Cumulative Impacts and Environmental Justice Bill.
Stop Environmental Racism, Pass S232/A2212 - July 2020
Why is it so important to pass S232 now without any changes? This bill begins to prevent future environmental injustices as well as right the injustices of the past. Communities Of Color and low income communities have been disproportionately poisoned by pollution for far too long, and are suffering more than other communities under the COVID pandemic. DEP does not currently have a policy in place to consider cumulative, disproportionate pollution or its public health effects when issuing permits for highly polluting facilities. This bill has been 12 years in the making. People of Color lives matter and we can’t afford more delay.
What does S232/A2212 do? It requires DEP to: 1) evaluate environmental and public health stressors in overburdened communities when reviewing permit applications for highly polluting facilities; and 2) approve, condition or deny a permit after meaningful consultation with the applicant and overburdened community.
Who supports the bill? The Senate passed it June 29th with bi-partisan support led by NJ Sens. Singleton, Weinberg and Ruiz. The Assembly bill has 16 sponsors led by Asm. McKeon. Gov. Murphy, US Sen. Booker, the NJ Urban Mayors Assoc. led by Mayors Kelly and Baraka, Lt. Gov. Oliver, DEP Commissioner McCabe, and NJ’s environmental justice and environmental communities all have publicly endorsed the bill.
What is an “overburdened community” as defined in the bill? Any census block (the smallest unit of analysis possible) where at least: 35% of households are low income; 40% of residents are Of Color; OR 40% percent of households have limited English proficiency. These thresholds are based on our NJ state averages and conforms with the definitions in other states like NY, CT, MN, and CA…
Addressing Cumulative Impacts Through Local Land Use and Policy Tools: Newark Environmental Justice and Cumulative Impacts Ordinance
A case study of the Newark Environmental Justice and Cumulative Impacts Ordinance
The Robert A. Catlin Memorial Lecture at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
Newark’s Environmental Justice and Cumulative Impacts Ordinance seeks to create stronger environmental and land use policy tools at the local level to prevent and mitigate additional pollution associated with a variety of development and redevelopment projects. It also addresses environmental justice by helping to prevent Newark, which has a disproportionate number of low-income and residents of color, from having
a disproportionate number of polluting projects placed within its borders. Three panelists will discuss the various components and impacts of the ordinance. A light reception will follow the panel.
Dr. Nicky Sheats, Esq., Director, Center for the Urban Environment, John S. Watson Institute for Public Policy, Thomas Edison State University
Dr. Ana Baptista, Assistant Professor of Professional Practice in Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management and Associate Director, Tishman Environment & Design Center, The New School
Cynthia Mellon, Co-chair, City of Newark Environmental Commission and Coordinator, Newark Environmental Resource Inventory
A case study of the
Newark Environmental Justice and Cumulative Impacts Ordinance
The Robert A. Catlin Memorial Lecture at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
Newark’s Environmental Justice and Cumulative Impacts Ordinance seeks to create stronger environmental and land use policy tools at the local level to prevent and mitigate additional pollution associated with a variety of development and redevelopment projects. It also addresses environmental justice by helping to prevent Newark, which has a disproportionate number of low-income and residents of color, from having
a disproportionate number of polluting projects placed within its borders. Three panelists will discuss the various components and impacts of the ordinance. A light reception will follow the panel.
Dr. Nicky Sheats, Esq., Director, Center for the Urban Environment, John S. Watson Institute for Public Policy, Thomas Edison State University
Dr. Ana Baptista, Assistant Professor of Professional Practice in Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management and Associate Director, Tishman Environment & Design Center, The New School
Cynthia Mellon, Co-chair, City of Newark Environmental Commission and Coordinator, Newark Environmental Resource Inventory
Press Release: New Jersey Sets National Precedent with Environmental Justice Bill Signing Today
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, September 18, 2020
CONTACTS:
Kim Gaddy, Clean Water Action, 973-914-2449
Maria Lopez-Nuñez, Ironbound Community Corporation, 201-978-6660
Ana Baptista, Ironbound Community Corporation, 973-342-6056
Melissa Miles, New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance, 347-553-3338
Nicky Sheats, New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance, 609-558-4987
(Trenton) – After decades of local struggle and grassroots advocacy, New Jersey made history today when Governor Murphy signed into law a first of its kind Environmental Justice Bill (S232 – Singleton/McKeon/Weinberg/Ruiz). The law will direct the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to deny or condition certain permits due to cumulative, disproportionate impacts of pollution in environmental justice communities. This bill is the realization of countless efforts by environmental justice communities from Camden to Newark that have long called on the state to protect already overburdened communities. It is a beacon for environmental justice communities across every state and can pave the way for comprehensive national legislation.
“This new law gives the state the power to ‘just say no more’ pollution in my neighborhood. My children can look forward to breathing cleaner air as they recreate in Weequahic Park. Thanks to Senator Singleton, Assemblyman McKeon and Governor Murphy, New Jersey now has the strongest EJ law in the nation and demonstrates that Black Lives Matter,” said Newark resident Kim Gaddy, Environmental Justice Organizer, Clean Water Action. “Environmental justice communities like mine have suffered far too long.After more than 10 years of fighting for this legislation, our voices have finally been heard. Our communities will receive the right environmental protection for our complexion.”
“S232 gives us hope. Hope that our pleas for the right to breathe will be heard next time we face off with polluters who have been targeting Black and brown neighborhoods for decades. We can’t end environmental racism with one bill but we’ve now taken this historical first step,” said Maria Lopez-Nuñez, Deputy Director, Organizing and Advocacy, Ironbound Community Corp. “Newark has a fighting chance to breathe easier thanks to this law”…
A New Jersey Law Makes a Clean Environment a Right. Other States Should Follow.
On August 27, the New Jersey legislature approved a far-reaching new environmental justice bill intended to reduce the harmful effects of pollution in low-income communities and communities of color. Gov. Phil Murphy has announced he will sign the bill into law on September 18.
The new law establishes a right to a clean environment for all New Jersey residents, stating: “all New Jersey residents, regardless of income, race, ethnicity, color, or national origin have a right to live, work, and recreate in a clean and healthy environment.” Further, the law states that, “no community should bear a disproportionate share of the adverse environmental and public health consequences that accompany the State’s economic growth.”
The law acknowledges that, “historically, New Jersey’s low-income communities and communities of color have been subject to a disproportionately high number of environmental and public health stressors, including pollution from numerous industrial, commercial and governmental facilities located in those communities” resulting in “increased adverse health effects including, but not limited to, asthma, cancer, elevated blood lead levels, cardiovascular disease, and developmental disorders”…
Press Release: Governor Murphy Signs Historic Environmental Justice Legislation
Nation’s Strongest Measure to Protect Overburdened Communities from Pollutants
Fulfilling a commitment to enact sweeping protections for environmental justice communities, Governor Phil Murphy today, alongside U.S. Senator Cory Booker, Mayor Ras Baraka, Senator Troy Singleton, Assemblyman John McKeon, and environmental advocates, signed legislation (S232), which requires the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to evaluate the environmental and public health impacts of certain facilities on overburdened communities when reviewing certain permit applications. New Jersey is the first state in the nation to require mandatory permit denials if an environmental justice analysis determines a new facility will have a disproportionately negative impact on overburdened communities.
The bill defines an overburdened community as any community where 35 percent of the households qualify as low-income according to the U.S. Census, 40 percent of households are minority, or 40 percent of households have limited English proficiency. There are approximately 310 municipalities with populations totaling approximately 4,489,000 that have overburdened communities within their municipalities…
EJ Bill
Chapter 92
AN ACT concerning the disproportionate environmental and public health impacts of pollution on overburdened communities, and supplementing Title 13 of the Revised Statutes.
BE IT ENACTED by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
C.13:1D-157 Findings, declarations relative to impact of pollution on overburdened communities.
1. The Legislature finds and declares that all New Jersey residents, regardless of income, race, ethnicity, color, or national origin, have a right to live, work, and recreate in a clean and healthy environment; that, historically, New Jersey’s low-income communities and communities of color have been subject to a disproportionately high number of environmental and public health stressors, including pollution from numerous industrial, commercial, and governmental facilities located in those communities; that, as a result, residents in the State’s overburdened communities have suffered from increased adverse health effects including, but not limited to, asthma, cancer, elevated blood lead levels, cardiovascular disease, and developmental disorders; that children are especially vulnerable to the adverse health effects caused by exposure to pollution, and that such health effects may severely limit a child’s potential for future success; that the adverse effects caused by pollution impede the growth, stability, and long-term well-being of individuals and families living in overburdened communities; that the legacy of siting sources of pollution in overburdened communities continues to pose a threat to the health, well-being, and economic success of the State’s most vulnerable residents; and that it is past time for the State to correct this historical injustice…