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Environmental Justice Newsletter
September 15, 2022
Welcome! NJDEP's Office of Environmental Justice is pleased to bring you this edition of the biweekly Environmental Justice Newsletter. In this series, you’ll receive information about grants, webinars, comment opportunities, public hearings/stakeholder meetings, and other ways to amplify environmental justice.
Summary of Important Dates
| September 15, 6pm-7:30pm |
Cumberland County EJ Community Engagement Session at the Alms Center in Bridgeton and through Zoom
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| September 16 |
Public Comment Period for Hurricane Ida Recovery Action Plan Closes |
| September 22, 12pm-1:30pm |
Virtual roundtable discussion on Climate Change and Economic Risk - Hosted by DEP Commissioner LaTourette
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| September 23 |
Deadline to apply for Stormwater Technical Assistance Grants
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Announcements
NJDEP is Hiring!
Interested in working for NJDEP? Over 50 positions available in the first ever hiring blitz! Click here for a list of openings.
EPA Adds Lower Hackensack River to
Superfund National Priorities List
U.S. EPA, NJDEP and the Hackensack Riverkeeper announced that EPA is adding the Lower Hackensack River in Bergen and Hudson counties to the Superfund National Priorities List (NPL). The site had been proposed for the list in March of this year. The Lower Hackensack River site stretches approximately 18.75 river miles and has been a center of industrial activities for more than 200 years. Decades of sewage and industrial discharges into the river and its tributaries have contaminated river sediments. Prior studies and investigations show that the river contains sediments contaminated with arsenic, lead, chromium, mercury, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon compounds (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
Warehouse Siting Guidance Adopted
The Office of Planning Advocacy (OPA) recently adopted a policy surrounding distribution warehousing and goods movement. The Warehouse Siting Guidance aims to facilitate a proactive, rather than a reactive, approach; provide municipal factors to consider and balance when developing or updating a Master Plan and reviewing applications, land use, and development requirements; and encourage a regional approach to planning, siting, and facilitating the logistics facilities. The guidance can be accessed here and additional resources are available on the OPA website.
Participation Opportunities
Attend the Cumberland County EJ Community Engagement Session: Today, September 15th from 6pm-7:30pm
Spanish Interpretation Available
NJDEP is pleased to invite residents of overburdened communities in Cumberland County to attend a community engagement session regarding environmental justice with NJDEP Deputy Commissioner Sean Moriarty and EPA Region 2 Chief of Staff & Senior Advisor for Equity Olivia Glenn.
Location: The Alms Center, 1 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Bridgeton, NJ 08302
Livestream: via Zoom. Click here to register.
The community engagement session will provide residents, community groups, and other members of the public a chance to meet and discuss environmental justice issues in Cumberland County with DEP and EPA Region 2 staff.
Join Commissioner LaTourette for a Roundtable Discussion on Climate Change and Economic Risk
New Jersey is celebrating Climate Week from September 19 – 25 and, as part of the occasion, Commissioner LaTourette will be hosting a virtual roundtable discussion on Climate Change and Economic Risk for municipal officials and interested members of the public on September 22 from 12-1:30. Discussion points will include the financial impacts of climate change on New Jersey’s residents, businesses, and municipalities, preventative measures to reduce climate risk, the roles of the private sector vs. government in addressing these issues, and the true costs of action vs inaction. The hour-long roundtable will be followed by a 30-minute interactive Q&A with the audience.
Comment Opportunities
Comments due by September 16th: DCA Opens Public Comment Period for Hurricane Ida Recovery Action Plan and
Announces Two Public Hearings
The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) opened a 30-day period for people to provide public comment on the Hurricane Ida Recovery Action Plan, which details how the State proposes to utilize $228,346,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funds to help households and communities recover from Hurricane Ida. The proposed Hurricane Ida Action Plan may be obtained in English and Spanish at on DCA’s website.
People may submit their comments through the DCA website, by email to DisasterRecoveryandMitigation@dca.nj.gov, or by mail to the attention of Constituent Services, Division of Disaster Recovery and Mitigation, NJ Department of Community Affairs, 101 South Broad Street, P.O. Box 823, Trenton, NJ 08625-0823. All comments must be received on or before 5:00 pm EST on September 16, 2022, to be considered.
Funding Opportunities
Deadline Extended: Stormwater Utility Feasibility Study Technical Assistance and Stormwater Resilience Planning
Due to high demand, NJDEP has extended the deadline for counties, municipalities and public utility authorities to submit expressions of interest for technical assistance grants to become more resilient, better manage the impacts of stormwater and study the feasibility of forming stormwater utilities. The new deadline for the technical assistance grants is September 23. The application deadline for the Stormwater Competitive Grant Program remains September 14. For additional questions on these grant programs visit here or send an email to stormwatergrantsinfo@dep.nj.gov.
Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program
Funding Opportunity Notice
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) established the new Reconnecting Communities Pilot (RCP) discretionary grant program, funded with $1 billion over the next 5 years. The RCP is the first-ever Federal program dedicated to reconnecting communities previously cut off from economic opportunities due to transportation infrastructure. Funding supports planning and capital construction grants along with technical assistance to connect communities through removal, retrofit, mitigation or replacement of eligible transportation infrastructure. The FY22 Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the Reconnecting Communities Program is available now on the DOT website.
The deadline for applications is 11:59 PM EDT on Thursday, October 13, 2022. All applications must be submitted through grants.gov. Search for "Reconnecting Communities" or Opportunity Number: DOT-RCP-FY22-01. Please send questions to ReconnectingCommunities@dot.gov.
NJDOT Transportation Alternatives Set-Aside Grants
There is still time for municipalities and counties to apply for a FY23 NJ Dept. of Transportation (NJDOT) grant. Applications are being accepted through November 3, 2022. Eligible projects must fall into one of the following 7 categories:
- Environmental mitigation to address stormwater management, control, and water pollution prevention or abatement related to highway construction or due to highway runoff
- Community improvement activities, specifically: Streetscaping and corridor landscaping
- Design and construction of on-road and off-road trail facilities for pedestrians, bicyclists, and other nonmotorized forms of transportation
- Conversion and use of abandoned railroad corridors for trails for pedestrians, bicyclists, and other nonmotorized transportation users
- Construction of scenic turnouts, overlooks, and viewing areas
- Historic preservation and rehabilitation of historic transportation facilities both land and water such as buildings, structures and canals
- Reduction of vehicle-caused wildlife mortality and restoration and maintenance of connectivity among terrestrial and aquatic habitats
Applicants for this federal program must schedule a mandatory one-on-one virtual pre-application meeting. Find out more about this grant opportunity here
Hudson Raritan Estuary Urban Rain Garden Grant
The Office of Natural Resource Restoration will be soliciting grant proposals for projects that will design and construct rain gardens or similar small-scale bioretention facilities within the Hudson Raritan Estuary. Applicants eligible for this funding must be government agencies or non-profit organizations. A total of $2,000,000.00 is being made available under this grant program and the maximum grant award available to any one project is $300,000.00.
The deadline for submission is November 7, 2022. For more information about the grant program, including application requirements, eligibility, and award size, please see the Grant Loan Programs website and the Office of Natural Resource Restoration’s website.
FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities
Grant Applications Open
Funding rounds are now open for FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) and Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) grant opportunities. The Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program makes federal funds available to states, U.S territories, Indian tribal governments, and local communities for pre-disaster mitigation activities. This grant will provide financial assistance for costs associated with hazard mitigation projects. The deadline to submit an application is January 27, 2023. For more information, contact the NJ Office of Emergency Management – Hazard Mitigation Unit at christopher.testa@njsp.org or visit FEMA grants website.
National Park Service Outdoor Recreation
Legacy Partnership Program grants
The National Park Service (NPS) will distribute $192 million to communities through the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership (ORLP) grant program. ORLP funds the acquisition or development of new parks, or substantial renovation of parks, in economically disadvantaged municipalities of at least 30,000 people. Applications must be submitted through the NJDEP’s Green Acres Program. For more information on grant amounts and pre-application/application deadlines, please visit the Green Acres website
Blue Acres Flood Buyout
NJDEP’s Blue Acres program has rolled out its new website, including a homeowners buyout application portal in English and Spanish as an easier online option. Local government officials – particularly floodplain administrators – are encouraged to contact Blue Acres with questions and to direct interested homeowners to our homeowner buyout application portal for the latest online and printable versions of the offer application. Blue Acres buyouts are targeted based on need and funding eligibility requirements, and therefore are not guaranteed to every applicant.
EJ In the News
EJ 6.0: NJ AG’s Office and NJDEP Announce Seven Environmental Enforcement Actions, Six in EJ Communities
On August 24th, Acting Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and Commissioner of Environmental Protection Shawn M. LaTourette announced the filing of seven new environmental enforcement actions across the state. Six of the environmental justice lawsuits filed center on a broad array of chemical pollutants that have tainted separate, unrelated sites in Newark, Linden, Ewing, Rahway, Elmwood Park Borough, and Middlesex Borough. Those six communities are considered overburdened under New Jersey’s Environmental Justice Law because they have significant low-income, minority, and/or limited English proficiency populations. The seventh lawsuit centers on a blueberry farm and blueberry processing operation in Hammonton that employs migrant farm workers who live on site.
Including the lawsuits mentioned above, the Attorney General’s Office and DEP have filed a total of 52 environmental justice cases since 2018. To date, the lawsuits have yielded nearly $20 million in judgments.
EJ Tools
NJDEP in partnership with the New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH) launched the Healthy Community Planning New Jersey (HCPNJ) website, which provides municipal-level reports to help local governments and the public understand and address environmental threats to public health faced by their communities.
The website features an interactive map where users can click by county and municipality to access environment and health reports. Explore the glossary of environmental public health terms and associated FAQ for additional information.
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All New Jersey residents, regardless of income, race, ethnicity, color, or national origin, have a right to live, work, and recreate in a clean and healthy environment. Historically, New Jersey’s low-income communities and communities of color face a disproportionately high number of environmental and public health stressors and, as a result, suffer from increased adverse health effects. New Jersey seeks to correct these outcomes by
furthering the promise of environmental justice.
DEP’s Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ) aims to improve the quality of life in New Jersey’s most vulnerable communities by educating and empowering communities who are often outside of government decision-making processes and guiding DEP’s programs and other state departments and agencies in implementing environmental justice.
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