Climate

First 100 Days

Provide new state funding for water infrastructure, with a focus on environmental justice communities. Funds should prioritize lead pipe replacement (at least $500 million in principal forgiveness for low-income communities), addressing Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) (at least $400 million), and climate resilience ($300 million, with principal forgiveness for water infrastructure improvements that enhance climate resilience). Additionally, prioritize non-point source pollution, emerging contaminants, aging septic systems, and harmful algal blooms. Allow for a portion of the funds to be redirected if federal funding directly funds priorities and pursue a policy of maximizing the acquisition and use of federal funds for water infrastructure and pollution abatement.

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First 100 Days

Mandate an appropriate balance of green and gray infrastructure in water quality regulatory or permitting mechanisms, including in the pending Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) permits, so that green infrastructure does not take a back seat.

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First 100 Days

Mandate an appropriate balance of green and gray infrastructure in water quality regulatory or permitting mechanisms, including in the pending Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) permits, so that green infrastructure does not take a back seat.

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First 100 Days

Eliminate the Residential Site Improvement Standards control over stormwater management.

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First 100 Days

Finalize and release the Food Waste Reduction Plan

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First 100 Days

Propose and adopt exemptions for small-scale food waste operations, such as community gardens, schools, and outdoor windrow composting systems.

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First 100 Days

Increase enforcement against illegal off-road vehicles on public lands by issuing an Executive Order directing DEP to utilize State Park Police and Division of Fish & Wildlife Conservation Officers to enforce all applicable motorized vehicle laws on State lands to address significant impacts to natural resources from this activity. The Order shall also instruct the Attorney General’s Office to assist DEP, as needed to implement existing laws and to prevent off-road vehicles from illegal access to public lands.

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First 100 Days

Support urban and community forests and shade trees and parks, playgrounds or green spaces in environmental justice communities by prioritizing Green Acres, Natural Resource Damages, environmental settlements, and other state and federal funding for these projects in a transparent manner. Set a timeline towards the goal of ensuring that every person living in an environmental justice area has access to well-designed, well-funded, well-maintained, well-programmed parks, playgrounds, or green spaces within a 10-minute walk from home or workplace.

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First 100 Days

Set aside sufficient “migration zones” inland from the marsh edge to protect the opportunity to sustain tidal wetlands. Look at adapting Green/Blue Acres and RGGI funding to accomplish this.

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First 100 Days

Ensure adequate capacity and resources for Blue Acres program to rapidly spend allocated funding to purchase flood-prone properties.

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First 100 Days

Revise Fish & Wildlife strategy to address deer overbrowsing and its impacts on forests. Explore expanding and supporting organizations that create an incentive program that culls the deer herd while providing sources of protein to underserved populations.

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First 100 Days

Proposed NJ PACT rules that Department of Environmental Protection enforce and enhance protection of coastal wetlands.

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First Year

Ensure that forest stewardship plans address all components of forest ecology, including soils, native species, carbon sequestration, wetland communities, water resource protection and compatible recreational values, through a mandate.

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First 100 Days

Publish pending rules that address the amount of soil that can be disturbed on preserved farms.

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First Year

Propose amendments to Green Acres rules that:
1. Increases preservation and stewardship of natural lands through the Green Acres program, focusing on restoring and enhancing connectivity between larger preserved parcels
2. Integrate the NJ Conservation Blueprint and Connecting Habitat Across NJ (CHANJ) in the rules, to assist in increasing connectivity between parcels and identifying priority lands for protection, including those critical to endangered and threatened wildlife and shorebirds
3. Institutes landscape-planning for State lands and protects a range of natural resource values across any State agencies that hold land
4. Make it harder to divert all publicly preserved land for private commercial uses

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First Year

Release a carbon sequestration strategy that includes defending and enhancing carbon stored in forests and wetlands.
1. Capitalize on the carbon benefits of allowing intact forests that weren’t cleared for agriculture during the 1930s or before, including those in the Highlands, to continue to mature.
2. Carbon gains should be verified and not used to facilitate continued pollution in environmental justice communities.
3. Implement reforestation projects with proper deer management.
4. Research and develop techniques to transform drowned coastal forests lost to sea level rise into carbon-sequestering habitats.

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First Year

Ensure that forest stewardship plans address all components of forest ecology including soils, native species, carbon sequestration, wetland communities, water resource protection and compatible recreational values.

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First Year

Prevent conversion of forested lands to development in all areas of the state using open space acquisition, local ordinances and other tools.

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First Year

Promote climate-friendly practices by creating additional incentives and technical assistance to help farmers implement practices that improve soil health, sequester carbon and increase organic matter, such as:
1. Adding funding to the State Agriculture Development Commission stewardship program (stewardship practices include adding compost, implementing meaningful soil protection standards for preserved farmland, promoting the use of untreated and organic seed, transition to less chemically-dependent farmland, adoption of no-till and reduced-tillage practices, incorporating regenerative agriculture practices and implementing manure management practices to decrease emissions)
2. Developing a program where farmers can get free technical support from the Rodale Institute to implement positive agricultural practices

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First Year

Implement salt marsh restoration and preservation techniques in coastal areas by increasing marsh platform elevations and protecting marsh fringes to prevent the loss of thousands of acres of tidal marsh.

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First Year

Continue and increase funding for the State’s Hazardous Discharge Site Remediation Fund for brownfield cleanup, including its use for brownfield to greenfield park development projects and preparatory work for solar fields

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First Year

Release report, based on ongoing listening sessions (including in environmental justice communities), provide guidance and implement relevant administrative actions to identify appropriate locations for warehouses and other goods movement facilities.
1. Building up, rather than out (“high cube” warehouses)
2. Require warehouses to be solar- and green-roof ready
3. Enabling more goods to be shipped by rail
4. Prioritize heavy- and medium-duty trucks and port equipment for vehicle electrification and establish “zero-emission zones” in port areas
5. Prohibiting the siting of warehousings on prime agricultural land

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First Year

Institute long-term landscape planning for stewardship at all publicly owned parks, wildlife management areas, natural areas, and forests that include aggressive deer management.

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First Year

Establish and fully fund implementation of the State Forest Action Plan and State Wildlife Action Plan, and meet federal matching requirements for State Wildlife Grants to steward wildlife.

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First Year

Develop new trails and maintain existing trails through:
1. Enhance staffing and capacity to accelerate trails projects to ensure coordination and capacity across state agencies for recreational and circuit trails
2. Support of DEP’s Statewide Mapping Initiative and using the data to create a statewide network of trails
3. Increasing use of federal transportation funds for multi-use trails
4. Provide planning, design, and construction support to environmental justice communities to ensure the success of trail projects
5. Condition use of state funding for trails to ensure design and accessibility for people of all ages and abilities
6. Partner with and fund nonprofit organizations and community-based organizations to assist with maintenance, repair and construction of trails around the State
7. Update and implement the New Jersey Trails Plan in cooperation with the New Jersey Trails Council, including priority trail gaps and how to close them
8. Increase award size under the Recreational Trail Program grants in order to facilitate completion of major projects
9. Showcase Governor remarks during the 2022 Trails Summit that speak to the tremendous mental and physical health benefits, as well as tourism and economic benefits of trails
10. Convene stakeholder process to review permitting process for trail construction to identify obstacles that result in environmental degradation and threats to visitor safety

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First Year

Support sustainable shellfish aquaculture through the coordinated activities of the Delaware Bay Aquaculture Development Zone and ongoing stakeholder groups that bring industry and conservation organizations together to resolve issues of concern.

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First Term

Revitalize and significantly expand lands in New Jersey’s Natural Areas System.

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First Term

Report out on restoration of Atlantic White Cedar swamp forests, including monitoring results and carbon sequestration.

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First Term

Replant and restore degraded post-agricultural forests suffering vast mortality due to emerald ash borer and other pathogens and alien species invasion.

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First Term

Permanently protect additional lands in the Highlands and Pinelands regions, which provide clean drinking water to more than 75 percent of the state.

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First Term

Preserve approximately 315,000 acres of additional farmland and promote sustainable agricultural business practices to ensure a sustainable agricultural industry, including utilizing federal funding from the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program and other Natural Resources Conservation Service.

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First Term

Uphold policies that limit non-agricultural commercial development on preserved farms and limit buildings and other impervious surfaces to ensure minimal impact on farming activities and soil health.

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First 100 Days

Provide matching grants to localities to hire consultants to review the feasibility of implementing stormwater utilities

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First 100 Days

Utilize the “Sea Level Rise Guidance for New Jersey” document to incorporate sea level rise and flood elevation standards into all state-funded infrastructure projects and other investment decisions.

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First 100 Days

Propose NJ PACT regulations that:

1. Protect headwater streams with more protective policies through the Freshwater Wetland and Flood Hazard Control Act rules to recognize and protect headwaters with riparian zones, by providing clear guidance on stream delineation methods consistent with current science, updating New Jersey’s National Hydrography Dataset to incorporate Lidar and predictive modeling consistent with best available science, removing the erosional channel definition, reducing the regulatory burden on educational trail development through broader permit by rules on pedestrian only trail building and bridge building, and eliminating permit by rules, permits by certification and general permit rules that do not demonstrate a de minimis impact on riparian zones.
2. Integrate surface water quality standards, water impairments, and Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) (including approved Waste Load Allocations) into the land use, water quality management, stormwater and discharge permitting process
3. Ensure regulations encourage the use of living shorelines and other natural systems along all coasts to address resilience and water quality issues
4. Include an onsite retention standard for stormwater, including application to redevelopment projects in a way that allows them to move forward in a resilient way
5. Incorporate climate change projection data and requirement for resilience planning, including for inland waters, and use the state’s regulatory and financing authorities to direct development away from high hazard areas identified through such projection data.
6. Redefine the tidal and fluvial flood hazard areas with higher standards regarding planning for and addressing climate change and create “Inundation Risk Zones” with enough flexibility to avoid exacerbating the financial and social hardships faced by environmental justice communities
7. Address systematic racism and classicism by proposing regulations and written policies that ensure equitable and just outcomes for people of color and/or with lower incomes
8. Strengthen existing regulations to eliminate the presumption that horizontal directional drilling (HDD) is a no-impact construction technique. Require individual permits and detailed geo-technical analyses for HDD installations and require that applicants avoid sensitive natural resources rather than assuming that HDD will prevent impacts to these resources.

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First Year

Update the Water Supply Master Plan and incorporate at least a 20-year planning period and concrete recommendations and actions (both administratively and legislatively) to address the findings in the plan, including:

1. Analysis of surplus and deficits at a HUC11 (at a minimum) watershed level, rather than the larger Watershed Management Area levels found in the 2017 plan
2. Examination of the practice of discharging consumptive use of water outside of the source HIC 11 watershed
3. Addressing the impacts of climate change on water availability
4. Improve the accuracy of water availability in carbonate bedrock surface and groundwater systems by using field data.

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First Year

Adopt a “One Water” approach (as promoted by the US Water Alliance), whereby water is managed in an integrated, inclusive and sustainable manner. Specifically, link groundwater regulations with surface water regulations and empower the Internal Standards Consistency team to implement.

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First Year

Adopt NJ PACT rules.

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First Year

Improve the Water Quality Management Planning process to include cumulative impacts, Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs), and address interconnected ground waters and surface waters.

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First Year

Amend Stormwater regulations to require volume, as well as peak rate, reductions and application of water quality standard to all types of impervious surfaces, including roofs and sidewalks.

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First Year

Strengthen the Tier A Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) Permits to add clear, specific, measurable plan for impaired waters with Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs). Provide guidance to municipalities to develop plans, encourage municipalities to address water quality-based requirements as part of a regional stormwater management plan, and require regular monitoring of basin outfalls to ensure approved designs are meeting the regulatory requirements.

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First Year

Encourage the transportation sector to use green infrastructure as a way to manage road runoff by amending New Jersey’s Complete Streets policy to include green streets and provide technical assistance and incentives for communities to apply for New Jersey DOT local aid funds to implement green streets.

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First Year

Increase funding support for nature-based solutions to address impacts from polluted runoff and impacts from climate change, including marsh stewardship, examination of new approaches to sediment management within coastal and estuarine systems, living shorelines and habitat restoration and landscape recovery through the Blue Acres program.

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First 100 Days

Issue the next five-year Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO) permits with the following provisions:

1. Require permit holders to implement green infrastructure projects within five years, including looking at innovative projects at school yards
2. Provide climate change data and projections for use in the selection, implementation, and evaluation of CSO projects
3. Identify and prioritize environmental justice neighborhoods for CSO mitigation
4. Require the permit holders to continue public outreach on the projects that have been selected in the Long Term Control Plans
5. Ensure equitable financing of Long Term Control Plans, whereby costs are shared between sewage treatment utilities and municipalities to reduce impacts on ratepayers

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First Term

Update, enforce and implement existing Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) and move forward with identified TMDLs from integrated reports, as required under the federal Clean Water Act. Develop an annual action plan naming specific TMDLs to be completed each year, including a stakeholder process to improve the development and implementation of TMDLs.

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First Term

Increase allocation of federal pass-through programs, like 319h and 604b, that fund stormwater management and nonpoint source pollution projects. The last round of funding was announced in February 2020 for up to $3.5 million total funding. Targets should be established, such as at least ten TMDLs per year, funding for at least ten water quality restoration plans per year, funding for implementation of at least ten watershed restoration plans per year.

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First Term

Explore mechanisms that allow municipalities to deny development and redevelopment in high-risk flood areas, such as enabling towns to refrain from rebuilding public infrastructure, such as roads, after repetitive damage and destruction.

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First Term

Fund and incentivize land preservation projects within the Delaware River Watershed, taking advantage of Land and Conservation Fund monies.

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First Term

Preserve and restore Raritan Bay through riparian and shoreline land acquisition, restoration of natural areas, and supporting environmental and living shoreline restoration projects that utilize shellfish.

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First 100 Days

Capitalize on adaptation funding through the federal Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program.

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First 100 Days

Continuing funding and educating the public about the benefits of the Blue Acres program that removes properties from flood-prone areas and returns the property to its natural state to better absorb floodwaters. Bring in expanded funding and staff to meet increased demand for the program.

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First 100 Days

Provide practical guidance and tools, along with technical assistance, to help municipalities complete the required Municipal Land Use Law (MLUL) vulnerability and resilience plans.

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First 100 Days

Move forward with the next steps as outlined in the New Jersey Climate Change Resilience Strategy, including:
1. Developing a work plan for the Interagency Council on Climate Resilience, including issue-specific working groups
2. Coordinating the work of the Interagency Council on Climate Resilience with the Environmental Justice Interagency Council
3. Developing state agency climate change action plans
4. Scheduling meetings with local government officials groups
5. Conducting broad outreach and engagement with stakeholders and the public

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First 100 Days

Direct BPU to create a building electrification roadmap that ensures new residential and commercial buildings are 100% electric by 2030. Hold a robust stakeholder process to prioritize investments in affordable and multi-family housing projects.

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First 100 Days

Set Administrative target to achieve high levels of energy efficiency, healthy homes, and building electrification for 80% of existing housing stock that serves low-income households by 2030, and 50% of all residents within the state. Reform BPU’s Clean Energy Program to target conversion of building heating from fossil fuels to electricity, prioritizing the conversion of heating oil and propane customers.

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First 100 Days

Enact a New Jersey zero-net-energy stretch code that is more aggressive than base code to achieve higher energy savings for residential and commercial homes and buildings which municipalities may adopt voluntarily. Update the energy stretch code statewide along with energy base code updates to ensure a consistent above-code option. Implement a mandatory statewide zero-net-energy code in the state no later than January 1, 2028.

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First 100 Days

Unify all low-income energy efficiency programs in the state into a single source for energy efficiency and initiative action to remove all documentation requirements, except proof of ownership and identity, and eliminate the need for social security cards, W2s and other such documents. Use low-income census tracts or defined environmental justice communities for choosing homes and neighborhoods to weatherize, and review and standardize income tests for all energy-efficiency programs.

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First Year

Initiate a Main Street program that focuses on re-thinking and investing in state and county roads that serve as “Main Streets'' to make towns more pedestrian and business friendly. This should include making outdoor dining possible, encouraging open streets and pedestrian plazas, car-free downtowns, and making it easier for municipalities to lower speeds on state and county roads traveling through downtowns.

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First Year

Provide guidance to incentivize shared parking and reduce or eliminate minimum parking requirements in appropriate locations.

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First Year

Update and adopt new Model Complete & Green Streets policy to encourage shifting focus to moving people and supporting economic development.

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First Year

Focus on pedestrian accessibility at transit stations, through expanding Safe Streets to Transit program and local aid to support planning and funding of Complete Streets projects.

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First Year

Direct all state departments and agencies to give priority funding and treatment to redevelopment projects compared to development of undisturbed greenfields. Increase DCA, EDA and HMFA subsidy funding and provide additional support for redevelopment. Create new and enhance existing programs, including at DEP and DOT, to reduce barriers and incentivize redevelopment.

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First Year

Direct the NJ Redevelopment Authority to coordinate and manage a public/private working group to create a redevelopment inclusion toolkit for municipalities that can be used in both gentrifying communities and already wealthy exclusionary communities. Elements of the toolkit should include:

1. Removing a percentage of housing units from the market and making them permanently affordable to lower income residents
2. Instituting an inclusionary housing ordinance that results in a percentage of all new residential units being permanently affordable to lower income residents
3. Reducing the cost structure of a percentage of commercial and retail spaces to ensure that small “mom-and-pop” and start-up businesses can exist
4. Developing public space guidelines to ensure all people have access to appropriate public spaces and facilities

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First Year

Provide resilient design standards for flood-prone communities on where and how it's appropriate to build and rebuild, as well as guidance on how to implement projects.

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First Year

Require greater integration and coordination of the state hazard-mitigation plan with county plan to address climate risk.

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First Year

Advance flood risk disclosure around past flood damage and future flooding risks prior to the purchase of a property.

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First Year

Implement and monitor New Jersey’s building benchmarking law and consider how the data may be used to drive policies that make for greener, more resilient buildings.

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First Year

Centralize governance around green and resilient building practices, incentives and technical support through interdepartmental collaboration, with a clear lead agency that serves as the point of contact.

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First Year

Streamline application process for housing improvement by allowing applicants to be approved based on home address within a state approved geographic designation.

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First Year

Identify state funding to help local school districts in environmental justice communities pay for “green” schoolyards, which can increase green space in neighborhoods and incorporate green infrastructure to help address climate resilience. Include assisting schools with tapping into federal funding.

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First Year

Set target for required greenhouse gas emissions reductions for utilities to achieve in their energy efficiency programs. Adjust utility policies that do not align with building electrification and investment in a resilient, flexible grid, such as making available advanced rate designs that reward customers for installing efficient, electric technologies.

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First Year

Incentivize the sale and installation of energy-efficient and zero-emission new equipment, when replaced at the end of useful life in residential and commercial buildings.

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First Term

Convene stakeholders to develop a proposal to increase diversity of housing choices in walkable towns, including learning from other states that have made it easier to develop accessory dwelling units and two-family and above homes.

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First Term

Provide incentives to re-design car-oriented suburbs to increase overall street network connectivity by creating new through-streets and connections to surrounding development.

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First Term

Minimize investment in new road miles, especially in low-density areas, and direct those scarce resources to redevelopment areas where the most people would benefit (i.e., “Fix it First”).

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First Term

Strengthen building codes to reduce energy consumption and encourage efficiency in new buildings through the Uniform Construction Code and through local requirements (such as building performance standards).

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First Term

Ensure that state-funded projects and buildings set the highest mark for green and resilient design practices, including the requirement of such practices as a condition of receiving state support for development.

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First Term

Offer state rebates, incentives and low-interest loans to homeowners and contractors installing electric appliances.

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First 100 Days

Set standards for Advanced Metering Infrastructure that capture the full benefits of the technology including, real-time communication with the distribution network, bi-directional usage data for utilities and customers, and information crucial for the low-cost deployment of distributed energy resources.

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First 100 Days

Support passage of and effectively implement legislation to establish a Clean Energy Standard, ideally requiring 100% of all electricity to be sold from clean sources by 2035 and net negative emissions for the State by 2050. The initiative should consider: Directing BPU to develop a CES program using robust and equitable stakeholder processes and a widely resourced technical implementation process.

1. Ensuring BPU utilizes internal and external expertise and resources to address technical challenges during the development of the CES implementation process.
2. Ensuring BPU conducts a robust internal and external stakeholder engagement process before the implementation of any program to consider the social and economic ramifications of CES while also achieving CES benchmarks.
3. In CES implementation, bear in mind equity goals, specifically considering environmental justice communities, and ensure affordable electricity for consumers throughout the process.
4. Policies that support further reductions of greenhouse gas emissions through electrification of vehicles, improved building energy efficiency and rapid building electrification, while also exploring ways to reduce emissions from power plants located in New Jersey.

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First 100 Days

Through Executive Order, BPU and DEP should revise reviews of proposed fossil fuel projects to consider consistency with the Global Warming Response Act, Environmental Justice law, Energy Master Plan and gas capacity planning to prevent costly, unneeded projects that are inconsistent with New Jersey’s climate, environmental justice, and clean energy goals.

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First 100 Days

Take steps to reduce leakage of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, throughout the natural gas transmission and distribution system, including directing gas utilities to incorporate advanced leak detection technology and data analytics for the prioritization of pipe leak repair, replacement, or retirement, including particular attention to identified “super-emitters” and consideration of non-pipes alternatives.

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First 100 Days

Make the decision-making processes for gas utility activities more transparent and accessible to all stakeholders. These processes should include detailed evaluation of the impact of potential actions on environmental justice communities, as well as the environmental and energy justice implications of any approvals.

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First Year

As the pilot Community Solar Program transitions into a permanent program, continue to maintain at least half of community solar generation serving low-income households.

1. Increase education resources for community outreach, especially in LMI communities.
2. Improve program design to overcome barriers to enrollment, including adopting easier methods for verifying one’s status as an LMI customer, such as geographic qualifications by census tract or self-attestation or opt-out options.
3. Ensure the BPU and Electric Distribution Companies work together to create Utility Consolidated Billing that provides community solar customers with a single bill that contains traditional utility costs as well as the subscription and bill credit associated with community solar projects.

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First Year

As the competitive component of the SREC successor program is implemented through rule-making, BPU must work with DEP and SADC to develop more detailed siting restrictions in accordance with S2605. As BPU moves to a permanent community solar program, current siting preferences should be maintained to favor brownfields, parking lots, rooftops and landfills.

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First Year

Direct utilities to amend their energy efficiency filings to include a demand response component by 2022.

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First 100 Days

Continue and expand the NJ Climate Change Education Resources initiative, by creating a Climate Education Task Force directed to produce a report in a timely manner that identifies, assesses and makes policy and funding recommendations to advance a comprehensive climate climate education plan with near-term targets for 2025 and 2030. Recommendations should include a long-term coordinating entity and resources to establish a statewide climate education resource center and grant program to support teacher professional development to equip teachers to meet the increased demands of the new standards.

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First Year

Support federal administrative and legislative efforts by Chairman Pallone, Congressman Malinowski, Congresswoman Watson Coleman and others to reform the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) flawed gas project certification policies and practices to consider climate impacts, better evaluate public need, treat landowners fairly and prevent the use of eminent domain for projects that don’t have final approval.

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First Year

Initiate a gas planning proceeding to revisit the way gas utilities are regulated and managed. Gas utilities must be required to engage in holistic and transparent long-term planning that includes a consideration of consistency with state climate and clean energy goals (80% emissions reduction by 2050) and evaluates a broad range of possible actions and solutions that advance a managed, phased and just transition from reliance on fossil gas and the gas distribution system to a clean energy system.

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First Year

Decisions about fossil fuel utility operations, infrastructure and rates must be transparent and consider cumulative impacts on customer cost and alignment with long-term system planning and climate goals, including the Global Warming Response Act and Clean Energy Act. In particular, decisions about building, repairing or replacing infrastructure should consider the potential long-term need for that infrastructure given climate goals. Any investment with long-term assets should include evaluation of alternatives, including non-pipeline alternatives.

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First Year

Disallow the qualification of garbage incinerators under the Renewable Portfolio law and work with impacted communities to respond to proposals for pilots or other initiatives related to incineration or “chemical recycling.”

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First Term

Develop the amount of New Jersey solar based on actual costs discovered over time using competitive processes as part of an overall clean energy budget that is designed to maximize GHG emission reductions and achieve cost-effective local benefits through a mix of regional and in-state clean energy resources. Monitor, evaluate and modify the amount of administratively determined in-state solar based upon actual costs in order to meet RPS targets.

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First Term

Actively participate in regional approaches and comprehensive planning to promote an offshore wind industry both in New Jersey and our surrounding states that strongly limits environmental and ratepayer impacts.

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First 100 Days

Require monitoring and open source data (transparency), as much as possible, before, during, and after construction of offshore wind projects to expand scientific knowledge of ocean ecosystems and use that data for future projects.

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First Term

Design rates that maximize benefits for customers that use distributed energy resources through design time varying rates that incentivize customers to consume energy off-peak when the grid is less stressed.

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First Term

Do not voluntarily lease state preserved lands and continue to defend against the seizure of state preserved lands for and by proposed fossil fuel projects.

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First 100 Days

Update and formally adopt NJ DOT’s 2009 Complete Streets Policy to include all the benefits derived from strategic road design using 2019 Complete and Green Streets Model Policy with a targeted focus on priority communities and users as defined by model policy.

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First 100 Days

Issue a governor’s executive order articulating specific strategies for reducing Vehicle Miles Traveled with clear and measurable objectives and with estimated GHG reduction outcomes. Assign ownership of these objectives to specific state departments to develop actions and timelines.

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First Year

Redefine metrics for the need for road widening versus implementing other traffic mitigation techniques first. Explore replacing “level of service” standard with Vehicle Miles Traveled as the metric by which transportation impacts of new development are developed, as other states have done.

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First Year

Move forward with existing bus depot renovations and other capital projects to capitalize on federal funding opportunities over the next four years, with an emphasis on getting NJ Transit climate- and electrification-ready.

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First Year

Host regular and required trainings for all pertinent project management and engineering staff on Complete and Green Streets principles and how they are to be implemented in all projects.

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First Term

Enact policies and regulations to mitigate the environmental harm from existing roads and bridges, such as using low carbon concrete, green infrastructure practices (e.g. porous pavement) that manages stormwater runoff to prevent flooding and accounts for impact on wildlife.

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First Term

Make sure project problem screenings include Complete and Green Streets review.

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First Term

Incentivize green streets as part of new or updated stormwater regulations and ensure that environmental regulations help advance alternative modes of transportation rather than prevent their creation. Adjust regulations for sidewalks, bicycle lanes and multi-use paths and trails in projects to ensure there are limited barriers to these types of transportation projects, as well as guidance on best practices to encourage stormwater management.

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First Term

Continue to participate in and explore state-wide or regional approaches to reducing transportation emissions that include state-specific complementary policies, such as joining the Transportation and Climate Initiative Program or creating a Low Carbon Fuel Standard.

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First Term

Transition to the state fleet having 100 percent light-duty zero-emission vehicles by 2035 and a wholesale transition to zero-emission medium and heavy-duty vehicles, where feasible, by 2045. Direct agencies to achieve the same goals in their policies related to all internal combustion engine car sales.

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First Year

Continue to advance the implementation of the Plastic Pollution Reduction Act by:

1. Ensuring robust education and enforcement of the law.
2. Convening appointed members of Plastics Advisory Council, as required by P.L.2020, c.117, and task it with developing an education campaign on the harms of textile waste and synthetic microfibers
3. Develop public process and feedback loop on the rollout of the law and Issue required report advising on the implementation of the law and recommendations

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First Term

Launch pilot program to support small and medium sized repair businesses to address “throw-away” culture.

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First Term

Investigate “built in obsolescence” as a manufacturing strategy that harms consumers.

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First Term

Collaborate with other states in the region to create a standard for electronic-waste (e-waste) recycling that focuses on extended producer responsibility.

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First 100 Days

Announce significant expansion of the Resilient NJ regional planning program to provide funding for and technical support to additional regional groups of communities at risk from coastal flooding with a goal of engaging at least half of all coastal municipalities by 2025 potentially from the Department’s Coastal Zone Management.

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First 100 Days

Advance greater state-level interdepartmental coordination around climate change action, through:

1. Ensuring each department and regional planning agency prioritizes resilience and mitigation in their budgets and activities.
2. Ensuring agencies follow common climate impact standards, such as the published Sea-Level Rise Guidance for NJ.
3. Ensuring greater transparency and accountability of the existing Interagency Council on Climate Change (established through Executive Order No. 89) and Council of Climate Action and Green Economy (established through Executive Order No. 221) through publicly available meeting minutes, live streaming of meetings, and periodic public convenings of the Councils with time for public comment.
4. Provide sufficient allocation of funding and staff to support the functions of the Councils, development of targets for action and investment in environmental justice communities.

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First 100 Days

Strengthen the state hazard-mitigation plan by requiring greater integration and coordination with county plans that will help direct funding appropriately and reduce improper land use.

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First 100 Days

Ensure that the US Army Corps of Engineers pursue a more multi-hazard, natural and nature-based, and community-informed approach to flood risk management projects, especially the New York-New Jersey Harbor and Tributaries Study.

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First 100 Days

Proposed budget stops divisions of BPU’s Clean Energy Fund.

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First Year

Develop a comprehensive climate adaptation plan for the communities, infrastructure and habitat within the Meadowlands District, including a long-term buyout plan for those properties at greatest risk of flooding, in partnership with New Jersey Blue Acres.

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First Year

Showcase the Meadowlands as an innovative hub of climate adaptation through partnerships with universities, and through novel approaches that could include a regional climate park.

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First Year

Align all revenues across various State programs for climate change mitigation and adaptation and investment in the clean energy economy under a common strategy that includes an equity component and ensures that at least 40 percent of monies are dedicated to front-line and environmental justice communities.

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First Year

Launch Green Fund, proposed to support investments in clean energy technology, including targeting building emissions reductions and lowering the embodied carbon of products and materials used in the buildings sector.

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First Year

Provide training and/or certification in climate change hazard mapping and application to local land use policies, as presented in Sea-Level Rise Guidance for NJ.

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First Term

Continue to incentivize and streamline mechanisms for municipal consolidation, in particular for small coastal communities, to increase potential revenue for struggling areas.

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First Term

Develop new guidelines for consideration of climate change in Environmental Impact Statements and DEP’s grant, loan, contracting, planning and policy programs.

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First Term

Provide guidance to state agencies on how to include the social cost of carbon cost benefit analysis in all new infrastructure and energy projects.

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