New Jersey Future Commends Greenhouse Gas Plan,
But Warns That More Action Will Be Necessary

December 16, 2008

New Jersey Future Executive Director Peter Kasabach today issued the following statement in response to the Department of Environmental Protection’s release of New Jersey’s Greenhouse Gas Plan:

“New Jersey Future is pleased that a draft of the state’s Greenhouse Gas Plan has finally been released to the public. The draft represents an important, though overdue, first step toward meeting the goals of the Global Warming Response Act. We are pleased, too, that the plan acknowledges the critical importance of the transportation sector, both the largest and fastest-growing source of greenhouse gas emissions in New Jersey, and properly emphasizes the need to curb emissions from this source.

“More important, the plan recognizes that New Jersey’s sprawling land-use patterns, which force many to rely exclusively on the automobile to get around, have been a major factor in the growth in transportation-sector emissions. The plan notes that changing these patterns will be critical to reaching the state’s greenhouse gas reduction goals. It also cites the recent New Jersey Future report, Getting to Work: Reconnecting Jobs with Transit in discussing the role employment location plays in greenhouse gas emissions.

“At the same time, the plan comes up empty on action steps, counting far too heavily on new technology, such as hybrid cars and low-carbon fuels, to reduce the state’s carbon footprint. Specifically, the plan relies almost entirely on the Low Emissions Vehicle program, which currently cannot be implemented because it is the subject of litigation, to achieve emissions reductions in the transportation sector for the 2020 target, while deferring the necessary land-use reforms to a later date.

There are a number of current initiatives that the plan should incorporate:

• The plan should establish transit locations as the first priority for President-elect Obama’s proposed infrastructure investments in New Jersey. While it acknowledges the vital importance of the state’s extensive transit system, it demonstrates no commitment to steering new development toward transit stops.
• The plan should demonstrate a front-office commitment of resources to the Department of Transportation’s transit village program. While it mentions the program, it omits the fact that the program has stalled under the Corzine administration with only two transit villages designated during the his tenure.
• The plan should include specific legislative recommendations that will be needed to achieve the most ambitious land-use recommendations, including the recommendation that 90 percent of all new growth will occur in areas served by existing infrastructure and for 99 percent of that growth will occur as redevelopment.

“While the draft contains a host of land-use policy recommendations aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the long-term, it is clear that the vision is dominated by the DEP’s thinking and does not reflect the buy-in across state agencies that will ultimately be needed to bring this vision to fruition. Most troubling is the absence of any mention of the State’s existing body for coordinating land-use decision making, the State Planning Commission. This cavalier omission underscores the administration’s failure to recognize that directing a comprehensive initiative like the greenhouse gas plan is beyond the ability of a single agency. The Governor must direct the state agencies more assertively and empower entities like the State Planning Commission to ensure that the agencies align their efforts behind a strategic vision for growth and preservation.

“In place of concrete action steps for reshaping land use and transportation decisions, the plan relies heavily on future leadership from an ‘independent research review panel.’ According to the Global Warming Response Act, this panel was to have been named last June. We call on the Department of Environmental Protection to quickly name qualified people so the panel can begin its important work, starting with engagement in the stakeholder review process.

“Perhaps the best news about the plan is that it is a draft, and a comprehensive process of stakeholder input has been laid out. New Jersey Future commends the Department of Environmental Protection on finally establishing an open process for stakeholder involvement and we look forward to working with them to incorporate the kinds of meaningful, systemic reforms that New Jersey needs to not only meet the ambitious greenhouse gas reduction goals set by the Legislature, but to chart a course toward sustainable economic growth and healthy green lifestyles in the nation’s most densely populated state.

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