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Another Example Of The Contradiction Between Murphy DEP Rhetoric And Policy Reality

Th NJ Water Supply Authority (NJWSA) just proposed to retain current water user rates, a move that conflicts with Murphy DEP warnings about the need to make major new investments in drinking water infrastructure to respond to longstanding failure to invest and new challenges posed by climate change and new advanced treatment to remove hundreds of unregulated toxic chemicals.

The NJWSA proposal is scheduled to be published in the New Jersey Register dated January 2, 2024.  A copy of the proposal is available from: the Department’s website https://dep.nj.gov/wp-content/uploads/rules/proposals/proposal-20240102a.pdf, the NJWSA website (http://www.njwsa.org), and LexisNexis free public access to the New Jersey Register, (www.lexisnexis.com/njoal).

We constantly read of multi-billion dollar deficits in NJ’s water infrastructure.

These huge deficits are projected to grow significantly due to the need for additional investments to respond to climate change and advanced treatment to remove unregulated toxic chemicals and toxic byproducts of harmful algae blooms.

The Joint Legislative Task Force On Drinking Water Infrastructure Report (2018) issued a stern warning:

Most recently, the Murphy DEP Commissioner echoed those warnings (but proposed no response):

“New Jersey’s water infrastructure needs are great,” Commissioner of Environmental Protection Shawn M. LaTourette said. “The Murphy administration is committed to investing in projects that will create jobs while helping to protect the public from health threats such as lead and PFAS in drinking water, flooding caused by outdated stormwater infrastructure, and degraded rivers and streams caused by combined sewer overflows.

The latest American Society of Civil Engineers’ infrastructure Report Card gave NJ a grade of C- – and highlighted the continuing failure to make necessary investments:

Drinking water needs in New Jersey are an estimated $8.6 billion … Delaying these investments only escalates the cost and risks of an aging infrastructure system, an option that the country, New Jersey, and families can no longer afford.

Long before talking about infrastructure investment was cool (and got your organization Foundation and DEP funding), we proposed “A public investment strategy and regulatory agenda” (2005):

Need for Public Investment – Financing environmental infrastructure deficits

The first priority of the Clean Water Council should be a strong recommendation to the next Administration to get the environmental infrastructure deficit issue on the political and policy radar screens. The Council should focus on the fact that environmental infrastructure deficits are a serious and long ignored problem that threaten NJ’s economic future, quality of life, public health, and ecological integrity. The Council needs to emphasize that water resource and environmental infrastructure expenditures are investments. The Council should recommend the absolute need to establish creative new funding sources to finance this critical deficit.

We later blasted the Christie DEP for failure to respond to these deficits, see:

• Christie Administration Dodges Water Infrastructure Deficits, Blames Regulatory Oversight

Yet despite these huge infrastructure deficits, the NJ Water Supply Authority just proposed to retain the current water users rates:

This [proposal] represents no change as compared to FY 24.  The average annual impact per household will therefore be $0.00 based on 400 gallons daily usage per household.

Are we to believe that the entire NJ Water Supply Authority system has no infrastructure investment deficits?

Did everyone forget this massive failure?

• Monmouth Water Emergency Illustrates Climate Change Risks and Reveals Deficits in NJ’s Adaptation Planning

A photo from Monmouth County of the affected pipe (source: Star Ledger)

Here is the NJWS Raritan basin assessment and here is the Manasquan Reservoir assessment.

The words “deficit” and “climate” and “harmful algae blooms” or “unregulated chemicals” or “advanced treatment” are not mentioned in either assessment of financial needs, which seems to validate the Legislative Taskforce’s negative findings:

New Jersey currently lacks a comprehensive system or report for understanding its infrastructure investment needs.

It looks like the NJWSA didn’t get Gov. Murphy’s memo or his DEP’s press releases!

The NJ Water Supply Authority was created by the Legislature in 1981 as a quasi independent public utility, but they are led by and effectively accountable to the DEP and Governor:

The members of the Authority consist of the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (ex officio member) and six public members appointed by the Governor upon the advice and consent of the New Jersey Senate.

The NJWSA submits an annual Report to the Governor and the Legislature. Their most recent Report available is for 2022. It too fails to mention climate or infrastructure deficits, but does note that harmful algae bloom are problems.

The NJWSA’s failure to heed the Murphy DEP’s warnings about infrastructure deficits – and the Gov.’s failure to hold NJWSA accountable – are clear indications that Gov. Murphy and his DEP are not serious and lack the political will to make these crucial infrastructure investments.

Period.

[End Note: Continued reliance on one shot federal infrastructure funding is no sustainable solution – don’t be fooled by that spin.]

Diverts Money From Investment In NJ’s Woefully Underfunded Public Health System

Another Federal Bailout Of Irresponsible NJ Politics

$1 Billion In Corporate Subsidies

Black Death – Bosch (1450 – 1516)

Gov. Murphy must not be allowed to divert resources from a demonstrably underfunded and totally inadequate public health program that is facing increasing threats – 35,000 people DIED to demonstrate that.

In his third article on the issue in the last week, today NJ Spotlight reporter Jon Hurdle again reports on Gov. Murphy’s plans to divert federal COVID recovery funds from public health programs, this time to stormwater infrastructure programs, see:

• Stormwater management: Who pays for it?

“This budget will invest federal American Rescue Plan funds to continue upgrading and replacing our aging water infrastructure. We’re on a multiyear path to securing clean water for every family. And this budget will keep us on that path,” Murphy said.

I am astounded that none of those reports mentioned the purposes of federal COVID relief money, under legislation dubbed The American Rescue Plan.

I find it equally astonishing that after over 35,000 people died from COVID and a million more suffered from a broken and underfunded public health system – a system that faces growing pandemic and other threats – that there is absolutely no mention of the need to invest in public health.

NJ has failed to invest in public health programs. We warned about that at the outset of the COVID pandemic, in March 2020:

• NJ State Officials Knew For Years That A Pandemic Could Cause Healthcare System To Collapse And 50,000 Residents Could Die

To at least inform the “debate” (there seems to be none, at least according to Hurdle and NJ Spotlight), here is US Dept. of Treasury program fact sheet and program’s final regulations. Does anyone know of this priority use of funds?

• Provide premium pay for essential workers, offering additional support to those who have and will bear the greatest health risks because of their service in critical sectors

I was disgusted by the failure by Congress to target those federal funds for public health related investments, by the elevation of corporate economic interests over public health, and by the extremely broad allowable uses by States of those funds. Revealingly, there are only 2 ineligible uses and one is ideological:

Compounding all that, the federal COVID money repeats a longstanding pattern of federal bailouts of irresponsible NJ State government, particularly regarding NJ’s State government failures:

• to plan for and regulate development;
• to invest in critical infrastructure, including public health program infrastructure; 
• to adequately tax corporations, developers, and the wealthy to fund those investments.

NJ is one of the worst states in the country for repeat FEMA flood claims due to poor land use planning and regulation.

NJ has stormwater flooding problems due to poor land use planning and regulation.

NJ has abdicated State level taxing and regulatory powers and devolved them to local government.

Yet NJ is one of the country’s wealthiest states and is the home of multi-billion dollar profitable Fortune 100 corporations in pharmaceutical, chemical, real estate, and energy industries.

For all those failures to be totally ignored and again bailed out by federal COVID funds makes me literally sick to my stomach.

But it gets worse.

Of course NJ Spotlight reported that the business community supports the diversion of COVID funds to water infrastructure – that alleviates their burden of paying impact fees for the flooding and water quality problems they create:

The New Jersey Business and Industry Association also called for the money to be spent on water upgrades.

“Using this money to make transformational changes will also alleviate the need for more taxes or rate hikes in the future, all of which businesses pay,” said the group’s Ray Cantor [NJBIA]

Diversion from public health to water infrastructure is a huge corporate subsidy (another $700 million this year would make the total $1 billion).

Of course, NJ Spotlight frames the issue and parrots the right wing slogan “rain tax” to describe what is really an IMPACT FEE:

That may not be easy given opponents’ claims that a stormwater utility amounts to a “rain tax” that they say would add to already-high New Jersey property taxes.

“I think a lot of municipalities are shying away from it because they think it is a rain tax. Let’s call it something else, not a tax,” she said

Of course NJ Spotlight limits potential revenue sources to unpopular and highly regressive local property taxes and ratepayer fees:

If New Jersey doesn’t take bold action today, New Jersey residents will be forced to shoulder the burden of higher water rates, surcharges and other costs,” Rodriguez [of NJ Future] said

An of course corporate founded, funded and dominated astroturf groups like NJ Future literally carry the business community’s water (just look at the NJ Future Board and their funders and supporters).

So, when the next pandemic or public health crisis hits, don’t forget Gov. Murphy and his friends at NJ Future and NJ Spotlight.

Lack of DEP Regulation And Enforcement Is Fueling Health Risks and Funding Deficits

Federal Government Has Abandoned Infrastructure Grant Program And State Oversight

NJ Spotlight TV did a cheerleading piece on Friday on water infrastructure funding – where ironically the Murphy DEP trotted out the Christie DEP “asset management” financial spinmeister (and friend of Bob Martin!) and – surprise, surprise! – corporate planning group NJ Future called for the diversion of COVID money (at a time when more than 33,000 NJ residents are dead from COVID).

Context, history and basic questions went unasked and unreported by Spotlight, including:

• who caused the toxic pollution of Moorestown’s drinking water that forced expenditure of millions of public dollars for an advanced treatment plant? (radiological contaminants are likely natural)
• has DEP enforced State laws and made those polluters cleanup and pay for that pollution?
• are there other towns that face these serious public health risks and financial costs?
• How many towns have installed advanced treatment like Moorestown?
• Why should the public pay to cleanup corporate pollution?
• Didn’t US EPA previously fund water infrastructure with GRANTS? What happened to that federal “construction grants” program? (For some history – unfortunately which begins in FY 1987, AFTER the program was killed – see this Congressional Research Service Report. See this CRS analysis, which includes discussion of grants, local affordability, and unregulated chemicals (“emerging contaminants”) of the current Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. For the ideological and systemic causes of overall federal decline, read Chris Hedges – a story we touch upon below, with Lockheed Martin)

Those NJ Spotlight TV reporting flaws spurred my brief Twitter outburst.

I then drafted a scathing and detailed policy response, but was unable to finish and post it because I’m off the grid in Rogue River – Siskiyou National Forest (Go Rogue!)

Traveling this morning and stopped to check in and Jon Hurdle’s followup story today diverted me.

So, here are some answers to the questions I posed above, with my quick note to reporter Jon Hurdle and his editor urging followup coverage:

• Moorestown Drinking Water Contamination Highlights Statewide Risks

• Lockheed Martin Gets $100 Million Subsidy, Despite Huge Toxic Pollution 

• NJ Gov. Murphy’s Portrayal Of DEP Commissioner LaTourette As A Public Interest Lawyer Is A Fraud 

Jon – Favorably, you did less cheerleading than Brenda’s Friday TV story, you mention the grant issue, and you alluded to the unregulated contaminant issues.

But you did so for only one chemical and one town, when you know that the problem is statewide in scope and that there are 15 outstanding prior Drinking Water Quality Institute MCL recommendations that DEP has simply ignored (including for the chemical perchlorate, the jet fuel contaminant that is a national story). (Your prior coverage of PFAS has illustrated the statewide issues and lack of treatment, but again, the scope is hundreds of chemicals and their lack of treatment highlights a huge regulatory policy failure.) In fact, there was legislation introduced that would have cured some of these problems by legislatively mandating that DEP adopt MCLs (for the contaminant you favorable quote the Mayor on), but that bill was gutted by its own sponsor (see below for bill numbers, legislative testimony, et al).

In addition to those 15 (where there is science, data, and risk assessment already done), there are also hundreds of unregulated chemicals DEP has found in NJ drinking water – that’s why DEP recommended a “treatment based approach” way back in 2010, but never implemented it. That approach was just again supported by a NJ Spotlight Op-Ed last week by Eileen Murphy, formerly head of DEP’s Division of Science and Research who is fully aware of and worked on these issues at DEP:

“PFAS represent the challenge we face in regulating “emerging contaminants” in general. We cannot rely solely on our current chemical-by-chemical regulatory scheme, especially when so many PFAS have little or no toxicity information. Sixteen years to develop three MCLs out of a list of over 12,000 is inadequate. We must develop multipronged solutions that include restricting the use of toxic chemicals and developing safer alternatives; developing innovative remediation technologies to clean up contaminated sites; and treating drinking water for a wide suite of potential contaminants using a treatment-based or class-based regulatory approach.”

There also are many issues related to local toxic groundwater polluter Lockheed Martin, from there HQ and operations – they have not cleaned up their site, and according to their own “CEA” Report filed with DEP, the groundwater plume was migrating off site and impacting a nearby day care center and nearly homes. Lockheed actually tried to mask this issue by not answering a question on DEP’s “bi-ennial certification” report. DEP is not enforcing its own CEA regulations, which do not allow “CEA” plumes to migrate off site and impact sensitive receptors like homes and daycares.

Finally, current DEP Commissioner LaTourette previously represented corporate polluters that successfully sued DEP to block DEP’s attempts to collect financial compensation for toxic pollution of drinking water!That legal loss established some of the precedent that forced the controversial Christie Exxon NRD settlement disaster ($8.9 billion in damages reduced to $225 million, lies than 3 cents on the dollar!)Yet, remarkably, the media has allowed Gov. Murphy to falsely portray LaTourette as a “Erin Bockovich” public interest advocate!

All of the above claims are documented in the posts [above] just in case you are interested in some serious journalism:

[END NOTE: The corruption of the current corporate oriented opportunists is exposed by the fact that we were out in front of the infrastructure issues 16 years ago – before it was hijacked by Foundations and corporate interests . We linked DEP regulation and enforcement with the financial issues, see our testimony to the Clean Water Council in 2005:

• HUGE NEW JERSEY WATER INFRASTRUCTURE NEEDS NOT BEING MET

Ashtabula, Ohio

Exhibit A Of The Neoliberal Nightmare: Disinvestment, Deregulation, And Neglect

I heard on the radio that Joe Biden was in northeast Ohio the other day to talk about his “bi-partisan infrastructure” bill and “promise of restoration”.

Having swung through that region recently and been stunned by the devastation – of the human and built infrastructure –  we thought we’d post a few scenes you won’t see at a Biden press conference with all those corporate folks. (or hear about the role of the Democrats in creating the economic conditions we now face).

We all know about the “media transcriber” role mocked by TV comics, but does the national media stray from the perimeter of a Biden press conference? Are they “visual transcribers” too?

If might be good if they got out more often and talked to people and took a look around. This is what Neoliberalism looks like!

Scenes below are from Main Street, Ashtabula, Ohio: the downtown had the same feel as Salem, NJ (scroll down for photos).

(Note: I cheated: the photo above is from another Great Lakes town, but one that’s doing well, Marquette, Michigan and it is good demolition of an old coal power plant!)

Deindustrialization Kills Jobs, Working Class Morale, and The Local Tax Base

(poor people warehoused at the edge)

(“North American Dismantling Corp.”)

Decay Of Downtown

(when the jobs go and Walmart and Dollar General come)

“Creative Destruction” – Despair Prompts New Business Opportunities

(used appliances and drug markets)

Dismantling Of The Social Safety Net Is Replaced By Private Charity

Parasitic Banks Privatize Local Government

Military Becomes The Only Opportunity For Escape For Kids

Religion Becomes The Only Source Of Hope

Even History Is Commodified And Gentrified For Upscale Tourists

Homelessness, Suffering And Deaths Of Despair Explode

Obsolete and Hollow Business Institutions No Longer Inspire “Spirit, Mind, Body”

The Right Wing Neoliberal War On Government, Planning, “The Commons”, All Things “Public”, Civic Virtue, Progressive Taxation, Egalitarianism, Tolerance, Cosmopolitanism, Solidarity, Unions, Secularism, Humanism, Science and Enlightenment Values – Replaced By A Policy Of “Free Markets”, Corporate Subsidies, Deregulation, Privatization, Competition, “Individual Responsibility”, Nationalism, Authoritarianism, and Religious Dogma – Leads To Pollution, Poor Land Use, Gross Inequality, And Social Collapse

*sorry, no local photos of all the crap “development” along the interstate interchanges and the decrepit 1970’s -80″ era strip malls and fast food chains.

Crappy land use, crappy food, crappy jobs, crappy public services, crappy housing, crappy schools, crappy public transportation, crappy health care, crappy libraries, crappy parks, crappy arts, crappy entertainment, crappy media, crappy culture, crappy opportunity, crappy environmental quality, crappy quality of life, crappy right wing politics.

Loads of drugs and alcohol and guns and police and prisons and military.

A literal Death Spiral.

After 4 Years Of Doing Nothing, DEP’s “Commitment” To Climate Change Is Exposed As Sham

In the wake of the timing of  DEP Commissioner LaTourette’s work for the proposed Gibbstown, NJ “Fortress” LNG Export Facility (see Worst Revolving Door, Ever), I thought I’d read some of the permit files.

I will post soon on some very interesting things I’m finding, but felt compelled to share this gem, in DEP’s own words, right now.

For years, I’ve been writing about huge gaps in DEP regulations and trying to expose the fact the DEP regulations do not apply to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.

I’ve repeatedly warned that DEP issues permits to massive fossil infrastructure without even considering the GHG emission or climate issues.

I don’t think the NJ media has ever reported that very basic fact and huge regulatory flaw at DEP.

I don’t recall environmental groups making this huge DEP dereliction of duty an important public issue. Just the opposite, they have repeatedly praised Gov. Murphy and DEP LaTourette’s “climate leadership”.

The public has no idea about this and mistakenly has been led to believe that Gov. Murphy is a leader on climate issues.

That false public impression is a direct result of cheerleading by environmental groups and lazy, incompetent, and cowardly journalism.

So, of course, I could not resist quoting DEP’s own words, written in response to extensive comments submitted by environmental groups on the proposed Gibbstown NJ LNG export facility (see above screenshot).

Validating what I’ll call the “IF Stone doctrine of government records”, this shocking DEP statement is found at the very end of a paragraph of the very last page of a detailed technical “response to public comment” document on the proposed LNG export facility, which would create massive greenhouse gas emissions :

DEP is committed to addressing the impacts of climate change and understands the concerns expressed related to global warming, the oversight of gas production through fracking and horizontal drilling. However, these issues are beyond the scope of the applicable regulations and the specific activities proposed under the subject application.

Current Murphy DEP Commissioner LaTourette was the lead lawyer for securing DEP LNG permits. He secured those DEP permits in record time and under the public’s radar. So he obviously knows that DEP regulations are seriously flawed – in detail. He’s done nothing to fix those flaws.

It is simply no longer credible – after 4 years of taking no action to close these loopholes and gaps in DEP regulations while issuing hundreds of permits to major new sources of greenhouse gas emissions – for the Murphy DEP to claim that they are “committed to addressing climate change”.