Plastic Bag Legislation Passed in NJ, BUT Opposed by Environmental Advocates -
After seven years of public awareness campaigns and lobbying legislators, NJEL and other environmental advocates found themselves opposed to the disposable bag bill that was passed by the Legislature in June.

After Governor Murphy took office, we were cautiously optimistic about reducing the millions of throw-away plastic bags that plague the environment. Experts in our organizations provided data and advice to potential sponsors about provisions that should be included. They shared information about results in jurisdictions where legislation was enacted and about loopholes that allowed retailers to circumvent laws.

Just before Memorial Day, those who had worked to help legislators craft an effective bill were blindsided when Senator Ruiz (D-29) and Assemblywoman Huttle (D-37) introduced companion bills that would place a fee on some plastic and paper bags. The bills were backed by the New Jersey Food Council, an organization of food retailers and related entities. The Food Council’s web site touts the bill as the “most impactful disposable bag law in the country” when in fact it has no enforcement mechanism.

It has other deficiencies as well. It applies to stores that have more than 2000 square feet or are part of “chains” of 10 or more locations. Consequently, many retailers are excluded. It would not apply to restaurants, so those Styrofoam take home containers could still be stacked in those knotted plastic bags!

The bill has no provision for an eventual ban on plastic bags. The NJ Department of Environmental Protection would be charged with establishing a public information program about the harmful effects of single-use bags, and encouraging consumers to use reusable bags. The retailer would retain a penny of the five cent fee on each bag. The other four cents would be deposited in a fund established for lead abatement in schools and communities. However, the fund would not be constitutionally dedicated; there is nothing to prevent its diversion to other uses.

In its original version, S2600/A3267 preempted local ordinances that had already been adopted by a number of municipalities. It was amended to grandfather those adopted prior to enactment of S2600/A3267, but going forward, no local jurisdiction could implement an ordinance. The authors of the bill not only ignored New Jersey’s home rule tradition, but also disregarded the years of work and resources that towns, students, and volunteers devoted to finding solutions for their particular communities.

It was the absence of effective state legislation that motivated local governments to step into the void. Beginning with a group of activists in Princeton, organizations and ad hoc groups researched the natural resource, health, and economic implications of the four billion throw-away plastic bags used in New Jersey each year. They gathered information about measures taken in other countries and other states. They networked with advocates and public officials across the country gathering data on the costs of clearing plastic bags from public property, bodies of water, sewer systems, and recycling machinery. Several municipal Green Teams led public awareness campaigns. “Sustainable Lawrence” in particular helped NJEL cover public events with the “Bag Monster” visual display, distributed information, and answered questions.

Libraries, faith groups, and schools provided venues for public screenings of “Bag It” by EEF and other nonprofits who held screening rights. Over the years, several bills to curb plastic bag pollution were introduced in the State Legislature. They included one that called simply for an “education program” to promote recycling.

In fact, recycling plastic bags is largely limited to the consumer’s reusing them for shopping, and the limited number of times a plastic bag can withstand re-use, or a one-time reuse as a trash bag. There is a very small market for items made from recycled plastic grocery bags; less than 5% of bags are recycled. Most end up in landfills, or are incinerated, or become part of the “gyres” of garbage that are now in every major ocean. Those making their way into bodies of water or left behind on land do not decompose, but break into smaller and smaller pieces. They entangle animals, clog drains, and are mistaken for food by wildlife. Plastic has been found in the invertebrates that are food for larger animals, as well as in the stomachs of marine mammals and amphibians. It has entered the food chain.

More effective bills, including one introduced as early as 2007 by Assemblyman McKeon, never received approval by the full Legislature. State level activity largely ceased during the last two years of the Christie administration, but an increasing number of New Jersey residents recognized the negative effects of single use bags. Towns were examining the economic and natural resource costs of dealing with them.

A few years after Princeton Borough and Township passed non-binding resolutions to discourage use of plastic retail bags, the Borough of Longport in Atlantic County passed an ordinance establishing a 10-cent fee on any single use carryout bag, excluding those for pharmaceuticals. The New Jersey Retail Merchants Association disputed the right of a municipality to impose what it called a “tax” without an enabling act by the Legislature. Longport’s response was that because businesses keep the fees, there is no taxation issue.

Teaneck was the next town to take action, imposing a fee effective a year after enactment in 2017. Two years elapsed between the Longport and Teaneck ordinances, but suddenly, momentum increased. In the succeeding twelve months, five more municipalities passed measures to curb plastic pollution. Long Beach Township banned plastic bags outright (except for bait shops) and imposed a fee on paper bags. Ventnor in Atlantic County imposed fees on both plastic and paper bags. Monmouth Beach instituted the strictest measure, banning plastic bags, plastic straws, and Styrofoam food containers. As this newsletter was being written, Hoboken and Jersey City banned plastic bags; the measures will take effect in 6 and 12 months, respectively. The Atlantic County Board of Chosen Freeholders is considering banning single use plastic bags and plastic straws from County parks. In June, the town councils in Stone Harbor and Avalon discussed draft ordinances.

With the passage of S2600/A3267, progress is in jeopardy.* Towns would be prohibited from addressing their own special needs. Beach towns in particular suffer the effects of plastic pollution, from the injured and dead marine wildlife to the costs of cleaning beaches of plastic litter.

Leaders of environmental groups that had worked for effective legislation protested the weak provisions of S2600/A3267, but the bill was put on a fast track through the Committee process and passed the Assembly and the Senate in a matter of days. NJEL Executive Director Noemi de la Puente collaborated with other advocates to urge the Governor to veto the bill, either outright or conditionally.

The disposition of S2600/A3267 was complicated by the fact that it was passed while the Legislature and the Governor wrangled over the State Budget. $23 million in expected fee revenue was included in the budget during the legislative review even though the measure was not yet enacted. As of this printing, the Governor had neither signed nor vetoed it, but we are encouraged that the $23 million dollars in budgeted revenue was the subject of his line item veto. NJEL joined with other environmental groups to present the Governor with specific provisions that we believe will produce a more effective law.

NJEL worked with many partners in the long effort to curb plastic bags: ANJEC, NY/NJ Baykeeper, Clean Ocean Action, Clean Water Action, Hackensack Riverkeeper, NJ Audubon, Surfrider Foundation, Sierra Club, and the Wetlands Institute. Like NJEL, all of those organizations conducted independent education and outreach campaigns, but also shared information and worked together. We appreciate their efforts and expertise, especially on the current skirmish in the war on plastic pollution. By the time this newsletter reaches you, we hope that Governor Murphy will have rejected S2600/A3267 in its present form. We will continue working until we achieve success for New Jersey!

*Pending either a signature or a veto by the Governor, Teaneck postponed the enforcement of its law, which was scheduled to take effect in July, a year having passed since its enactment.

Second Installment - What's New Since NJ's Election? -
New Chairman, Executive Director for the Highlands Council; Non-smoking Beaches
Governor Chrisite’s tenure was marked by battles over enforcement of the Highlands Water Protection & Planning Act. The Governor publicly expressed hostility to the Highlands Act, considering it an uncompensated devaluation of private land. Instead of crafting a responsible plan for the compensation that he thought so important, the Governor spent years undermining the rules and processes that protect areas where drinking water for millions of people originates and is stored. Many of his appointments to the Highlands Council, the body charged with carrying out the purpose of the Act, had pro-development interests or were hostile to it.

Land conservation and clean water advocates, frequently led by the nonprofit. NJ Highlands Coalition, spent years resisting attempts to weaken the Highlands Act. They formed alliances with residents and officials who understood the value of clean water to local communities, as well as with legislators and residents across New Jersey who understood the importance of the Highlands to the entire state.

In May, Governor Murphy acted to protect the sustainability of the Highlands and the New Jersey water supply by appointing Carl Richko as Chairman of the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Council.

Mr. Richko has been a member of the Council since 2010. He has lived and worked in the region for decades. His advocacy for protection of the water supply predates the Highlands Act. He was a founder of the Pequannock River Coalition and was a member of the Passaic County Open Space Committee. He was a school board member, councilman, and mayor of West Milford, which is the largest municipality in the Highlands region and has five reservoirs within its boundaries. He was also Vice Chairman of the Highlands Municipal Property Tax Stabilization Board. A graduate of Texas A&M University, Mr. Richko retired after 34 years in the Sparta School System. He opposed the rules that the NJDEP adopted to increase septic density (translation: allow increased development) near water supplies. Those rules were overturned by the Legislature and are under review by the new DEP administration.

Highlands Advocates Cheer Executive Director Appointment — Support for clean water received another boost with the appointment of Lisa Plevin as Executive Director of the Highlands Council. Plevin will assume her duties in August, when the current executive, Margaret Nordstrom, retires. Ms. Plevin has had a 35-year career in the government and nonprofit sectors. She has a long history of expertise in environmental issues, with first hand knowledge of the value of the Highlands. She is a longtime resident of the Planning Area town of Parsippany-Troy Hills and worked for the late Senator Frank Lautenberg for sixteen years. She participated in the development of the 1992 U.S. Forest Service Highlands Regional Study, which was among the reports that led to the New Jersey Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act. She was also involved with the preservation of thousands of acres in Sterling Forest, which spans the New York-New Jersey border and which, like the rest of the Highlands, is still a target of development schemes. Ms. Plevin worked as a chief of staff at EPA’s Region 2, which includes New Jersey. Most recently, she was deputy director of Governor Murphy’s Energy and Environment Transition Committee.

Smoke-Free Beaches! —On July 20 Governor Murphy signed a bill to ban smoking at public beaches, boardwalks, and parks. S2534 and its companion Assembly bill had too many sponsors to list here and passed nearly unanimously. While not having as torturous a journey as the plastic bag bills, the current beach smoking ban took awhile to achieve. Governor Christie signed a bill to ban smoking at State-owned parks and beaches, but vetoed the portion of that bill that applied to local government properties. S2534 applies to all publicly-owned beaches and parks. The bill exempts adjacent parking lots, golf courses and allows a municipality to designate up to 15% of the recreational area for smoking. Some municipalities already ban smoking on their properties. This law provides uniformity across the State. The law will be effective after Labor Day. Municipalities will not be burdened with enforcement on unsuspecting tourists in the last half of the summer and there will be months to publicize the law before the 2019 beach season. Penalties start at $250 for the first offense.

Business Development Revives for Offshore Wind Power -
Development of New Jersey’s significant coastal wind resources stalled during the Christie administration. In 2008 there were three different wind farm concepts in the planning phase. To undertake projects, private developers must have access to capital. Financing and utility partners must be assured that development costs will be covered and there will be a return on the investment. Costs are recovered through the rates charged to customers. While many electric utilities are private sector, for-profit companies, the prices for their products may be subject to approval by regulatory bodies. Overlaid on this are the goals for renewable energy that states, including New Jersey, are imposing on power suppliers. Goals notwithstanding, developers will construct wind farms only if the power will be purchased and there will be a positive return on the investment. Complicating this is the fact that development costs of wind farms in marine environments are high (but improving because of economies of scale and technology advances) .

To enable investment in offshore wind farms and distribution of competitively priced power, the financing mechanism “Offshore Renewable Energy Credits” was proposed. Patterned after solar energy credits, essentially it would assign a value to each 1000 megawatts of generated power, which energy distributers would buy . Thus, wind farm operators would promise to produce the power and they would be assured of the revenue, while the purchased credits would apply to distributors’ goals for providing renewable energy. The actual mechanics of ORECs are more complicated, with a key question’s being the value that should be assigned.

During his first campaign for governor, Chris Christie supported offshore wind development. In August 2010, amid much fanfare, he signed the Offshore Wind Economic Development Act (OWEDA). The Board of Public Utilities (BPU) was tasked with devising the framework and regulations for ORECs, but in eight years, none were forthcoming. Meanwhile, Fishermen’s Energy, a company formed by a New Jersey commercial fisherman, proposed a six-turbine wind farm off the coast of Atlantic City. The BPU rejected the project twice. Without ORECs and with virtually no interest on the part of the State administration, offshore wind energy development in New Jersey came to a standstill. Rhode Island rather than New Jersey became the host of the nation’s first offshore wind farm.

As reported in NJEL’s last newsletter, Governor Murphy demonstrated his support of offshore wind power with an Executive Order directing the NJDEP and the BPU to implement the eight-year old OWEDA. Specifically, he ordered the agencies to (finally) develop an Offshore Wind Strategic Plan and to create a framework for ORECs. The Legislature followed up with a lengthy bill (S2314/A3723) that updated renewable energy measures passed years ago. Signed by the Governor on May 23, the new law addresses standards for energy efficiency and conservation, requires an analysis of storage systems (including how they might affect electric vehicle usage), adjusts the framework for renewable energy credits, and requires the NJ Department of Labor to facilitate training programs for the expected job opportunities. The law, with an unwieldy name that we will refer to as “Clean Energy & Energy Efficiency” is being hailed nationally because of its bold legislative commitment to fifty per cent renewable energy by 2030, while protecting consumers relative to costs. New Jersey is now the seventh state with that standard.

The groundbreaking provision in the law is the commitment to generate 3500 megawatts of power with offshore wind by 2030. This is the largest commitment made by any state. The Legislature and Governor took another proactive step at around the same time by enacting a law that requires the BPU to reconsider an application from Fishermen’s Energy for a 240 MW wind farm, considered a pilot program, off Atlantic City.* With the change in public policy and the prospect of a viable financing mechanism, there is renewed interest in offshore wind power. Two other developers have purchased leases in Federal waters. The Danish company Ørsted, the world’s largest offshore wind developer, has a lease slightly south of Atlantic City. US Wind holds a lease to the north. The next steps will be site assessments by the companies. On the demand side, the BPU is expected to publish a long-deayed solicitation for 1100 MW of power. The BPU has reportedly chosen a firm to develop the Strategic Plan required by the Clean Energy & Energy Efficiency Act, and will identify it when the State Treasury Department issues a contract.

After years of inaction, it seems that offshore wind power is finally coming to New Jersey.

*Five land-based turbines, comprising the first wind farm in New Jersey, occupy Atlantic County Utilities Authority property near the Absecon Inlet in Atlantic City. They are owned by Jersey-Atlantic Wind, LLC. They began operating in 2005.

Curbing Styrofoam - REJECT THE STRAW! -
On a positive note, NJ lawmakers are considering a ban on Styrofoam containers in public schools and institutions of higher education as part of a separate bill, S-1486/A-909. That measure, which does have the backing of many environmental groups, has been approved by the Senate but has yet to be considered by the Assembly. Like plastic, Styrofoam (polystyrene foam) does not decompose when composted.

There is also a growing movement to “Reject the Straw.” More people recognize that plastic straws do not decompose and are part of the plastic waste problem. Animal rescue and rehabilitation organizations are publicizing the danger they pose to wildlife. Straws lodge in the noses and throats of amphibians and mammals, and like other plastics, break into small pieces that can be ingested by fish. Some food service outlets have announced that they will not automatically provide straws or are experimenting with paper straws. But it is up to us, the CUSTOMERS to let dining establishments know that we “REJECT THE STRAW!” It may take some courage to speak up and some effort to remember, but WE CAN DO IT! (Remember when you used to forget to take those reusable bags with you?) When you order a beverage, say firmly “NO STRAW, PLEASE.”.

Meanwhile in DC, The Assault on Clean Air Continues, Vote to Stop it -
The Trump Administration is proposing to freeze fuel efficiency standards with the 2020 model year, rather than letting mileage standards rise until 2025. The EPA also revoked the authority given to California years ago to impose even higher standards on vehicles sold in that state. A bizarre justification advanced by EPA is that lower standards will result in lower prices for vehicles. Supposedly, consumers will buy new, safer cars, and a consequence will be fewer traffic deaths California, and other states and the District of Columbia that impose higher standards have filed a lawsuit to block the plan. In the US, transportation is the greatest source of carbon dioxide emissions. Want to stop these assaults on clean air and clean water? On November 6, barely twelve weeks from now, there will be an election for the entire House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate. Don’t just complain—VOTE, and encourage others to do the same. If you will be traveling on Election Day, contact your local Board of Elections online or by phone, to learn about the process and the deadline for requesting an absentee ballot.

REMEMBER!

The New Jersey Environmental Lobby is your voice in Trenton. We are an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization focused on the preservation and protection of a healthy environment for all our citizens. We need your support! JOIN NJEL and help us change the laws!

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