Comments on EJ Rule Proposal Now Available
Participation Opportunities
Upcoming Administrative Order 2021-25 Public Hearings
November 9 - Newark Energy Center (virtual)
November 16 - Covanta, Essex County Resource Recovery Facility (virtual)
November 16 - Alpa Shredding, Mercer County (virtual)
November 29 - Yannuzzi Group Class B Recycling Facility, Middlesex County
(virtual)
Facilities subject to the Environmental Justice Law and the Administrative Order 2021-25 must facilitate meaningful opportunities for overburdened communities to engage in permitting decisions for pollution-generating facilities through an enhanced public participation process. Scroll to the bottom of OEJ's "Take Action" page or click below for a complete list of hearings.
EPA Seeks EJ Input for Upcoming Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI) Rulemaking
EPA will discuss and solicit input on environmental justice considerations related to the development of the proposed Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI). These sessions will provide opportunities for EPA to share information about the upcoming LCRI rulemaking and for individuals to offer input on environmental justice considerations related to the rule. EPA is considering prioritizing protections for historically underserved and overburdened communities.
EPA is also accepting written comments via the public docket: Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2022-0801 until November 15, 2022.
The public meetings on environmental justice are part of several stakeholder engagement activities and consultations that EPA is engaging in prior to proposing the LCRI. EPA is conducting a Tribal Consultation on November 9, 2022 (learn more). EPA is also consulting with the agency’s Science Advisory Board (SAB), National Drinking Water Advisory Council (NDWAC), federal and local entities, and a Small Business Advocacy Review (SBAR) Panel as required under the Safe Drinking Water Act and other federal statutes and executive orders.
Learn more about safe drinking water and the upcoming Lead and Copper Rule Improvements rulemaking and related engagements.
Comment Opportunities
Comment Period Open on Reducing Greenhouse Gases from
Electric Generating Units
The EPA has opened a public docket to accept pre-proposal input on EPA’s efforts to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from new and existing fossil fuel-fired electric generating units (EGUs). The goal of this non-rulemaking docket is to gather perspectives from a broad group of stakeholders in advance of our proposed rulemakings.
Search for Docket No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2022-0723 and follow the online instructions for submitting information. The docket will remain open until March 27, 2023.
Information on submitting input to the docket is also available.
If you need assistance, please contact PowerSectorGHG@epa.gov.
The Agency will provide a separate opportunity for public comment on any future proposed rulemaking(s) for EGUs through a formal comment period announced in the Federal Register.
EJ in the News
Bridgeton and Atlantic City Set to Receive Funding from
EPA’s Clean School Bus Program
The Biden-Harris Administration announced the Fiscal Year 2022 recipients of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean School Bus Program rebate competition, awarding nearly $2,500,000 from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to two school districts in New Jersey.
The rebates will help school district receive seven clean school buses that will accelerate the transition to zero emissions vehicles and produce cleaner air in and around schools and communities. This announcement includes funding for buses and infrastructure for school districts in Atlantic City and Bridgeton, New Jersey. The Atlantic City School District will receive five clean school buses with nearly $1.5 million in funds. The Bridgeton City School District will receive two clean school buses with nearly $800,000 in funds.
Read more in the EPA Press Release.
Governor Murphy, DEP Commissioner LaTourette Announce
Proposal of Inland Flood Protection Rule to Better Protect Communities from Extreme Weather
Governor Phil Murphy and DEP Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette announced the Administration’s intent to propose an Inland Flood Protection Rule to better protect New Jersey’s communities from worsening riverine flooding and stormwater runoff. The proposed rule would update New Jersey’s existing flood hazard and stormwater regulations by replacing outdated precipitation estimates with modern data that accounts for observed and projected increases in rainfall. These changes would help to reduce flooding from stormwater runoff and increase the elevation of habitable first floors by two feet in certain new developments located in flood-prone inland areas.
The rule proposal follows a series of informal public engagement sessions and sessions with stakeholders, including developers and labor organizations, environmental organizations, legislators, and municipal and county officials. A formal rule proposal will be published in the New Jersey Register on December 5, 2022, followed by a 60-day public comment period through February 3, 2023. A virtual public hearing will be held at 1 p.m. on January 11, 2023.
Courtesy copy of the rule proposal
Superstorm Sandy: 10 Years Later
On October 29, 2012, Sandy made landfall in New Jersey near Brigantine, and was accompanied by heavy rains, 80 mph sustained winds and a record-breaking storm surge that coincided with a high tide and a full moon. Streets were flooded, houses swept off their foundations, and trees and powerlines toppled. Many of the Jersey Shore’s famed amusements and landmarks were wrecked – including the Jet Star roller coaster in Seaside Heights, whose skeletal hulk rising out of the waves became one of the storm’s iconic images.
In the aftermath, it was clear that New Jersey faced a long and difficult road to recovery. For many scientists who saw the influence of a warming climate and sea levels revealed by the storm’s destruction, Sandy was yet another harbinger of things to come. Today, the DEP is engaged in a multipronged effort to mitigate the threats from sea-level rise, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that fuel climate change and to build the state’s resilience against future storms.
DEP created a website commemorating this event, complete with information on New Jersey’s climate and flood resilience work we are advancing today.
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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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