Announcements
EPA Makes Nearly $125 Million Investment to Spur Wastewater Infrastructure Improvements Across New Jersey
EPA has awarded New Jersey nearly $125 million to support cleaner water across the state, of which over $93 million is funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. A variety of projects are eligible for financing, including construction or restoration of sewers and wastewater treatment facilities and piping, stormwater management projects and habitat restoration and protection projects. More information is available online.
DEP, TCNJ, and Sustainable Jersey Announce Award
of $4.55 Million in Trees for Schools Grants
DEP Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette, Sustainable Jersey and The College of New Jersey announced the award to fund the planting of trees at 34 public schools, colleges, and universities in the state.
Seventy-five percent of grant project sites are located in an overburdened community, which surpasses the program’s goal of 40 percent. Moreover, many of the trees will be planted in urban communities where excessive paving and deficient tree cover results in higher temperatures, a condition known as the heat-island effect. More information is available online.
Milestones in Resilience: New Jersey Announces Nearly $298 Million in Construction Contracts for Landmark Flood-Resilience Projects
for Hudson River and Meadowlands
DEP Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette announced the award of nearly $298 million in construction contracts for two landmark flood-resilience projects in northern New Jersey funded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Rebuild by Design competition grant program.
The projects – one within Hoboken and parts of Jersey City and Weehawken and another in the Meadowlands communities of Little Ferry, Carlstadt, Moonachie, South Hackensack and Teterboro – represent major milestones in protecting these regions from flooding resulting from more severe storms and sea-level rise associated with the worsening effects of climate change. These projects will benefit the overburdened communities that live in and around these flood-prone areas.
Learn more about the Rebuild By Design Hudson Project online.
Learn more about the Rebuild By Design Meadowlands Project online.
Participation Opportunities
Hudson County Environmental Justice Community Engagement Session
This community engagement session is part of the Administration’s commitment to promoting environmental justice in New Jersey to ensure that all state residents, regardless of race, ethnicity, color, national origin, or income are able to live, learn, work, and recreate in a healthy and clean environment and to have equal access to green space, clean energy resources, and other environmental benefits.
The event will be in-person with Livestream via Zoom. Spanish translation is available.
  EPA's Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Centers (EJ TCTAC) Program Kickoff Webinar
The Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Centers (EJ TCTAC) will provide training and other assistance to build community capacity for navigating federal grant application systems, writing strong grant proposals, and effectively managing grant funding.
Each of the technical assistance centers will also provide guidance on community engagement, meeting facilitation, translation and interpretation services for limited English-speaking participants, and create and manage communication channels to ensure all communities have direct access to resources and information. This aims to remove barriers and improve accessibility for communities with environmental justice concerns.
Join the webinar on October 30 from 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM to:
- Learn about the technical assistance resources available.
- Discover upcoming funding opportunities and training programs.
- Explore our vision for building power across the region.
Greenway State Park Community Listening Session Workshops
Friday, 10/13, Art Fair 14C (Liberty State Park), 1-6pm
NJDEP and our consultants will host a booth at Art Fair 14C to gather feedback on preliminary Greenway design considerations and share the beginnings of what we've been learning from the community during past listening sessions. There will be a miniature to-scale model of a section of the Greenway that shows how some of the design pieces could fit together. Swing by to share your thoughts and help shape this project to your vision!
Thursday, 10/19, On the Greenway in Newark, 3-7pm
NJDEP and our consultants will be on the Greenway to show to-scale how various design aspects of the Greenway could fit together! This "fit test" will highlight some of the elements community members have highlighted from previous listening sessions. Come by and experience the Greenway, and provide more thoughts and feedback once you've seen it in action! The address for this event is approximately 225 Manchester Place, Newark, NJ 0710.
 The Liberty State Park (LSP) Revitalization Program
Groundbreaking & Open House
The Liberty State Park (LSP) Revitalization Program will bring more than one hundred acres of active recreational, arts, and cultural improvements to LSP’s perimeter and create a central park at its heart with world-class natural landscapes that build resilience to flooding and climate change while providing passive recreation and educational opportunities for the public.
Learn more about the program online. The groundbreaking and open house ceremony will be on October 18 from 4:30 PM to 8:00 PM.
Learn About Extreme Heat Health Risks
Take the Heat Hub NJ Survey!
Heat Hub NJ is a digital resource on all things related to extreme heat in NJ. To prepare for the launch of the cooling center locator, Heat Hub NJ welcomes all to take a survey to test your knowledge on extreme heat and the health risks associated with it. The results of the survey will help prepare for cooling center openings, operations, and alerts once the cooling center locator launches in Spring 2024.
Learn about extreme heat and take the survey online.
DEP Urges Public to Provide Input on Statewide
Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan
DEP is announcing the start of a 30-day public comment period for the Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP) for New Jersey. The SCORP, updated through the department’s Outside, Together! initiative, aims to enhance and provide equitable outdoor recreation and conservation opportunities throughout the state and ensure a sustainable future for New Jersey's natural resources.
Learn more about SCORP and the Outside, Together! initiative online.
Feedback can be submitted online.The public comment period ends October 18.
DEP Unveils Draft Agency-Wide Strategic Climate Action Plan
for Advancing Climate Work
The Strategic Climate Action Plan will set DEP’s course for continuing to address climate change impacts and inform the public about short-term and long-term climate actions.
DEP is issuing the SCAP in draft form to provide an opportunity for the public to inform and shape the final version. Feedback can be submitted online. The public comment period ends October 19 at 4 pm.
Upcoming Environmental Justice Law Public Hearings
October 23 - Atlantic County Utilities Authority - Title V Renewal - Egg Harbor (virtual) (español)
Facilities subject to the Environmental Justice Law must facilitate meaningful opportunities for overburdened communities to engage in permitting decisions for pollution-generating facilities through an enhanced public participation process. Subscribe to EJ Law notices by County
Funding Opportunities
Climate Pollution Reduction Grant Program Kickoff Workshop
The CPRG program is a nationwide, two-phase grant funded through the Inflation Reduction Act. In phase one New Jersey received $3 million from the USEPA to update and enhance the state’s existing climate action plans.
DEP is hosting a kickoff workshop on October 24 from 12-1:30pm. The virtual event will discuss New Jersey’s workplan and priorities, anticipated process for the climate pollution planning and implementation grants and future engagement opportunities.
This is an opportunity for overburdened communities to provide valuable feedback on the state’s greenhouse gas reduction priorities and learn what can be expected throughout the CPRG planning and implementation process.
Community Change Grants Program Webinars
EPA’s new Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grants program will invest approximately $2 billion dollars of Inflation Reduction Act funds in environmental and climate justice activities to benefit disadvantaged communities through projects that reduce pollution, increase community climate resilience, and build community capacity to respond to environmental and climate justice challenges. EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights will hold webinars to provide information related to the Indirect Costs Limitations.
Register online. The next webinar is on October 19 from 2:00 PM to 2:30 PM.
Funding Availability for FY 2024 Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, and Cleanup Grants
EPA’s Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization (OBLR) is soliciting applications from eligible entities for Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, and Cleanup Grant funding. These Brownfields Grants allow more vacant and abandoned properties to be turned into community assets that will attract jobs and promote economic revitalization in communities.
More information is available online. Applications are due November 13.
2023 Clean School Bus Rebate Program
EPA is prioritizing applications that will replace buses serving high-need local education agencies, rural areas, Tribal school districts funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and public school districts receiving basic support payments for students living on Tribal land. Eligible applicants can apply to receive funding for the purchase of up to 25 zero-emission (ZE) and/or clean school buses, along with ZE charging infrastructure and eligible workforce development costs.
More information is available online. Applications are due on January 31 at 4 PM.
Drinking Water System Infrastructure Resilience
and Sustainability Program
EPA announced $19 million in new grant funding that will work to improve the climate resilience of the nation’s water infrastructure. The funding available under this competitive grant opportunity will assist public water systems in underserved communities, small or disadvantaged, that are working to prepare for and reduce vulnerability to impacts from climate change ranging from extreme flooding to extreme drought. Applications due November 6.
More information about this grant opportunity is available online.
Coastal Habitat Restoration and Resilience Grants
To support opportunities for tribes, and/or tribal entities, and underserved communities to meaningfully engage in coastal habitat restoration activities. Potential activities include:
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Capacity building, (municipal or regional-scale resilience planning, project planning and feasibility studies, stakeholder engagement, proposal development for future funding, and outreach and education, hiring of staff to increase capacity to support implementation)
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Actionable science support (collection and/or analysis of climate, habitat or other community- or conservation-related data that informs planning and decision making)
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Restoration project activities (engineering and design, permitting, on-the-ground restoration, and pre- and post-project implementation monitoring)
More information is available online. Applications are due December 19.
Rural, Small, and Tribal Technical Assistance (RST TA)
EPA’s providers deliver targeted technical assistance and training to rural, small, and tribal municipalities and wastewater treatment systems to protect public health and safeguard the environment. The RST TA providers serve an important role in helping to:
- Ensure that rural, small, and tribal communities that have difficulty in securing public funding receive the help they need to access resources to support infrastructure improvements.
- Support rural, small, and tribal wastewater treatment systems – centralized and decentralized – build their technical, managerial, and financial capacity to operate their systems well and maintain compliance.
Learn more about the RST TA online. Applications are ongoing.
Career Opportunities
EJ Disrupt Design: An Environmental Justice Movement Fellowship
EJ Disrupt Design: An Environmental Justice Movement Fellowship launches its request for applications on December 1. The fellowship is a 2-year experience made up of progressive phases in Environmental Justice and Design for leaders of the Environmental Justice Movement. Fellows will participate in a combination of virtual and in-person retreats, group coaching sessions, and community ideation to scale project prototypes and build power.
Learn more about this career opportunity online.
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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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