“No taxation without representation” is a fundamental principle of American democracy.
“No new laws without full disclosure” should be a close second, but that’s not the case in New Jersey with Democrats in full control of state government.
Earlier today, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) unveiled proposed rules to codify 2020 legislation aimed at combatting polution in low-income, non-white communities. You can see the 153-page document for yourself here.
The key word is “overburdened.” I wrote about the bill’s true aim back in July 2020 – to give Trenton de facto zoning veto authority over much of the state – and these draft rules should do nothing to alleviate anyone’s concerns in that regard.
At that time? If you check out my initial analysis, more than 50% of New Jersey’s communities qualified as “overburdened” including Alpine (one of the country’s wealthiest bedroom communities).
Also of interest:
The DEP declined to put a price tag on compliance, offering only that “New Jersey’s low-income communities and communities of color historically have been subjected to a disproportionately high number of environmental and public health stressors — including mobile sources of pollution, as well as numerous industrial, commercial, and governmental stationary sources of pollution.”
It’s a pattern that extends beyond this particular legislation. The Murphy Administration’s “Energy Master Plan” which includes a ban on natural gas stove ranges (!) was released over two years ago and the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) has yet to give us a firm ballpark figure for that one as well. Experts estimate hundreds of billions of dollars.
Is this how government’s supposed to work in a “free” society?
We pay and then get to ask questions later?
One would hope not, but that’s the current reality in New Jersey.
