Murphy accelerates New Jersey climate initiatives

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is ramping up the state’s climate change efforts through a new office and a plan to buy zero-emissions electric vehicles and equipment using environmental settlement funds.

Murphy on Tuesday signed an executive order establishing the Office of Climate Action and the Green Economy, while committing $100 million of proceeds from the state’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and its prosecution of Volkswagen for emissions cheating for clean-energy initiatives.

Murphy two-step approach gets out in front of any federal help, according to Alan Rubin, a principal at Blank Rome LLP.

“The governor has decided that New Jersey in particular is getting really damaged by climate matters,” said Rubin, co-head of Blank Rome’s severe weather emergency recovery team. “You see excessive flooding in southern New Jersey, places like Bellmawr and Toms River, and storm-surge drainage issues.”

Murphy said the $100 million will include $36 million to reduce diesel and black carbon emissions in so-called environmental justice communities by electrifying port, cargo handling, and other medium- and heavy-duty equipment in port and industrial areas; and $15 million for NJTransit bus electrification.

It will also cover grants for the following electrification initiatives: $9 million for garbage and delivery trucks; $13 million for school buses and shuttle buses in low- and moderate-income communities; $5 million for vehicle ride hailing and charging stations to four New Jersey towns and cities; and a further $5 million for fast-charging infrastructure at 27 locations statewide.

Murphy is flexing a further $15 million for these initiatives.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said the new climate office will coordinate “interlocking priorities” among multiple state agencies.

Jane Cohen, a senior policy advisor to Murphy on environmental and energy matters, will be executive director of the new office, which the governor said will focus on “interlocking priorities” among multiple state agencies. Cohen’s office will also oversee the creation of the New Jersey Council on the Green Economy, which Murphy announced in his State of the State address.

“She’s really smart,” Rubin said of Cohen. “She knows the inner workings of government very well. That will enable her to develop expansive ideas of what to do with the $100 million and focus on real projects.”

Efficient coordination is essential, Rubin added. “If they’re not careful, that could layer in additional problems, or bureaucracy.”

The state now has a structure to move all of New Jersey’s sectors forward, notably transportation, said Lauren Bailey, director of climate policy for Tri-State Transportation Campaign."This announcement from Gov. Murphy gives the state a guide to reversing [air pollution] and eliminating the sources of such pollution for good."

Separately, New Jersey municipalities can ramp up climate plans with assistance from the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018, which Congress passed after a wave of hurricanes the previous year.

The Biden administration has just freed up $5 billion under the bill, separate from the latest $1.9 trillion federal rescue package under consideration. “That’s $5 billion to fund mitigation, for studies and capital projects,” Rubin said.

David Rosenblatt, the state’s chief resilience officer, called on cities, towns and counties to plan for climate change more proactively.

“We are not trying to limit development, but what we know from past storms, and particularly Superstorm Sandy, is that if we don’t build mitigation into our planning process, we’re going to have a lot of instability, which is never good for the economy, and we don’t want to always be in recovery mode,” Rosenblatt said during a Pew Charitable Trusts online discussion.

“We don’t want to be post-storm all the time.”

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
New Jersey State budgets Climate change Sell side
MORE FROM BOND BUYER