Jobs

To prepare for expected new federal capital funds, increase the capacity of the NJ Water Bank staff to review applications through temporary hires or consultants. Additionally, utilize additional staffing and resources to provide technical assistance for under-resourced water supply systems successfully apply for funds and construct projects (e.g., Water Assistance Corps)

Create an Outdoor Recreation Council, with the following goals:
1. Launch a recreation hub marketing campaign to raise public awareness and organizes New Jersey’s outdoor products, services, and places to increase visitation
2. Investigates innovative financing for the outdoor recreation economy
3. Establishes a statewide platform for outdoor workforce development

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

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

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

Create and fund a new urban state park comprising Petty’s Island and nearby Camden waterfront open space and restoration parcels.

Continue to robustly and consistently fund farmland preservation through federal, state and local programs, with a focus on access and ownership of land for minority, young and beginning farmers, and indigenous tribes. Grow and promote LandLink program to include minority farmers, as well as new farmers, interested in selling or leasing land for agriculture.

Fund partnership of community colleges and water utilities to create a pilot program to replenish the water workforce and create pathways to job and career opportunities for local residents through training and apprenticeship programs, modeled after the NJ Offshore Wind Institute.

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.

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

Pilot a Community Design Advocates program that pays community leaders in overburdened communities to coordinate input from community members and ensure inclusion into the design and development of redevelopment projects.

Designate American Rescue Plan funds for workforce development in lead-safe and energy efficiency sectors.

Support New Jersey representation on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) advisory committee on urban agriculture, part of a broader effort to focus on the needs of urban farmers.

Require Community Benefits Agreements in all state funded projects that exceed $10 million and expand the traditional scope of these agreements to include physical and quality of life benefits and ensure that community members are party to the agreements.

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”).

Create or maintain incentives for economic development and job growth in transit hubs.

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

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.

Continue an offshore wind process that includes an adaptive process in both the release of solicitations and regulatory review, including:

1. Regularly review and update solicitations and regulatory processes to incorporate best practices to address potential wildlife impacts or other environmental concerns and new knowledge gained from previous solicitations, current projects in various stages of development, and other states.
2. Require strong environmental and natural resource protections that focus on avoidance as a precondition of any approved project. Developers should be required to demonstrate that they are avoiding preserved lands and sensitive natural resources to the maximum extent possible.
3. Use the best available data to avoid sensitive habitats to the maximum extent possible in both state and federal waters.
4. Look holistically at all aspects of offshore wind development, including port, inland and near-shore activities when reviewing potential impacts to the environment and marine life.
5. Bring together stakeholders throughout the project development stage for meaningful public engagement and comment periods that allow for a diversity of voices, outside of the offshore wind advisory group.

Launch initiatives to incorporate energy storage, other DERs and managed charging solutions with charging stations to maintain stable electrical rates and maximize benefits to all ratepayers.

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.

Incentivize local, high paying jobs in electrification industries such as advanced manufacturing that target residents of overburdened communities.

Design a holistic approach to bus route redesigns for the entire NJ Transit bus system, including community outreach, accounting for technology changes including electric buses, and connectivity with rail schedule, bike trails and pedestrian infrastructure.

Establish a Just Transition Fund and provide workforce development, job retraining and other compensation to workers in fossil fuel-dependent industries as the transportation sector continues to electrify, including those working in manufacturing, maintenance and fueling operations.

Fund and implement education campaigns for schools to prevent food waste in cafeterias.

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.

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.

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