Press Releases

Booker, Barragán Lead 47 Congressional Colleagues in Urging EPA to Further Strengthen Prevention and Safety Standards to Prevent Chemical Disasters WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and U.S. Representative Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-CA-44th) urged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to strengthen its proposed Risk Management Program (RMP) Rule to ensure the strongest possible safeguards at high-risk chemical facilities and protections for workers, environmental justice communities, and first responders. 47 other Senators and members of the House of Representatives co-signed the letter. EPA’s RMP regulates close to 12,000 facilities that make, use, or store hazardous chemicals, and recent chemical disasters have highlighted shortcomings in the existing RMP regulations that fail to sufficiently protect workers and communities living near hazardous chemical facilities. Today’s letter is a follow-up to Senator Booker and Representative Barragán’s April 2022 letter, which urged the EPA to propose an updated RMP rule with robust prevention and safety standards to prevent chemical disasters. EPA released the proposed rule in August 2022, which makes significant and needed updates, but the proposed rule can be further strengthened to ensure stronger safeguards. The letter is supported by BlueGreen Alliance, United Steelworkers, United Auto Workers, New Jersey Work Environment Council, Earthjustice, Sierra Club, Union of Concerned [...]

November 17, 2022 State Commitment Urgent to Make Historic Federal Investments Count for New Jerseyans On the first anniversary of the federal Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act (IIJA) being signed into law, New Jersey is still without a strategic plan to maximize historic federal climate investments despite a patchwork of projects across the state. A broad coalition of groups representing New Jersey’s environmental, business, planning, social justice, conservation, labor, and climate advocacy communities are urging the Murphy administration to do more – faster – to address the state’s unmet sustainability needs. “A patchwork of projects, no matter how important each is, doesn’t equate to a clear roadmap for how New Jersey will transform itself into a national sustainability leader,” said Renae Reynolds, Executive Director of Tri-State Transportation Campaign. “It’s time for our government to wake up and invest funding where its publicly stated goals aspire to see multigenerational improvements.” “This funding represents a generational opportunity,” said Nikki Baker, Healthy Schools Now Organizer, NJ Work Environment Council. “Public engagement must underpin New Jersey’s investment strategy so residents in overburdened areas can empower change for their children and their neighborhoods for years to come.” Read the entire Press Release

October 31, 2022 We, the undersigned organizations, on behalf of our members and supporters across New Jersey, applaud the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities for taking historic action on transmission today to protect customers and advance the critical development of offshore wind to meet our climate targets. This unprecedented collaboration with the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland Interconnection (PJM), resulted in a cost-saving and environmentally responsible approach that will minimize impacts while providing the necessary infrastructure to deliver thousands of megawatts of planned and future renewable offshore wind energy to our existing grid, powering millions of homes throughout the state, and bring thousands of good jobs to our state. This decision establishes New Jersey as a national leader, coordinating with its grid operator to proactively plan and build the grid of the future, delivering on the promise of offshore wind. Although we will continue to advocate for an offshore backbone, we are heartened that the agency has acknowledged the need to explore those options and push for more coordination. We urge other states and regions, including New York and New England, and their grid operators, to quickly follow suit, particularly with the opportunities available from the Inflation Reduction Act. “With today’s decision, we [...]

For Immediate Release September 21, 2022 Jersey Renews Response on the Release of the Council on the Green Economy Green Jobs Report TRENTON – This morning at an event for Climate Week NYC Governor Murphy announced the release of the Council on the Green Economy Report, Green Jobs for a Sustainable Future, and 12-month action plan. At the same time the Governor also signed an Executive Order today to increase the target goal from 7.5MW for offshore wind to 11MW by 2040. In February 2021, Governor Phil Murphy created the Council on the Green Economy and tasked it to deliver a report with recommendations on how New Jersey should transition to a green economy. According to the report, New Jersey can expect to see an additional 314,888 net job-years supported over the next 10 years based on current green policies and investments enacted across New Jersey to date. The report lays out steps New Jersey must take to create an inclusive, vibrant green economy that will create business opportunities, uplift communities, and create good paying jobs. ... “Jersey Renews applauds the release of today’s report and thanks the Administration, as well as the many public members of the Council on the [...]

TRENTON — New Jersey stands to gain an average of $1.3 billion in economic activity and 11,000 well-paying jobs annually if the state accelerates efforts to transition to 100% clean energy, fully electrifies its transportation and building infrastructure, and ensures meaningful job standards are in place by 2050, according to studies released today by the Applied Economic Clinic (AEC)... “With strong labor standards, union support, and adequate training, high-quality clean energy jobs will offer competitive wages and benefits and fewer occupational safety hazards,” said Debra Coyle, Executive Director of the New Jersey Work Environment Council. “We recognize that it will be essential to provide adequate resources for workers caught in the transition to retrain and utilize their valuable skills in this new space.” If New Jersey embraces more ambitious clean energy policies and strong labor standards, the study found the state’s clean energy transition could generate about 11,000 jobs annually in the offshore wind, energy efficiency and storage, electrification and solar industries between 2025 and 2050. Over this period, cumulative clean energy job gains could be 6.6 times higher than job losses expected from a reduction in gas-fired power plants and oil heating. Ambitious clean energy policies are significant economic drivers compared to [...]

For immediate release – November 19, 2021 Contact: Heather Sorge, [email protected], (908) 310-7874   Statement from Healthy Schools Now on Gov. Murphy’s Budget Announcement $75 million for schools is a good start; Billions needed to create safe schools for 1.2 million+ NJ students The following statement on today’s announcement from Gov. Phil Murphy about funding for New Jersey Schools is from Heather Sorge, Healthy Schools Now organizer with the New Jersey Work Environment Council (NJWEC). “We’re pleased to see that Governor Murphy has identified $75 million in previously appropriated funds that can be used for badly-needed renovations and improvements in New Jersey’s public school buildings. "This is just a small down payment, however, on the billions needed to create safe learning environments in both School Development Authority (SDA) districts and Regular Operating Districts (RODs). For example, the State estimates the cost to fund the next round of major projects in just the SDA districts is close to $2 billion. "For too long, students, teachers and staff in many SDA buildings have been exposed daily to mold, mildew, asbestos, lead and vermin. Lack of indoor air quality is an issue and there is a pressing need to update HVAC systems to reduce exposure [...]