For Immediate Release
Contact: Jeff Tittel, NJ Sierra Club, 609-558-9100
Today in Camden, Attorney General Gurbir Grewal and DEP Comissioner Catherine McCabe announced the filing of eight separate lawsuits on addressing pollution in minority and lower income communities in New Jersey. Communities involved in these lawsuits are Camden, Flemington, Newark, Palmyra, Pennsauken, Phillipsburg, and Trenton.
“For the first time in a decade, New Jersey is putting some force back into enforcement. This is the first step to hold polluters and violators of environmental law accountable. This is especially important for Environmental Justice communities who already see a disproportionate amount of pollution. These communities are not only overburdened with pollution, but they don’t have the money to clean it up. Making polluters pay to clean up their mess is a step up but polluters should pay to restore these communities too,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “We thank Attorney General Grewal and Commissioner McCabe for pursing these NRD cases, It is important to send a message that we are not going to let polluters get away without cleaning up their mess.”
The lawsuit involving Pennsauken is a Natural Resource Damages (NRD) case—the fourth NRD case the State has filed this year. The lawsuit involves Puchack Wellfield, a series of wells that provided drinking water to Camden residents decades ago. The State alleges that the defendant was responsible for hazardous pollution that resulted in termination of the wells. The State is seeking NRD damages, as well as cleanup and removal costs that have been incurred and will be incurred at the site.
“It’s good that environmental enforcement is back in business but it should have always been a priority for New Jersey. The purpose of enforcement is to make sure that agencies and companies follow environmental laws and when they do not, they are held accountable. Enforcement is one of the most important mechanisms of the DEP to make sure our air is clean, water is pure and people don’t get away with dumping toxics into the environment. When there’s a cop on the beat, people are more likely to follow the law,” said Tittel. “Not only will enforcing NRD help the people and environment of New Jersey, but hopefully act as a deterrent for future contamination.”
There are important issues facing New Jersey and the DEP, especially when it comes to the environment. The agency must work to pursue NRD at New Jersey’s many contaminates sites. Too many of our communities are living with pollution and too many of our waterways and ecosystems are put at risk. We’d also like to see the DEP increase its budget and bring in more staff to increase enforcement, especially of NRD suits and their clean-ups.
“We want to thank Attorney General Grewal, Commissioner McCabe and Governor Murphy for moving forward with pursing natural resources damages. The Christie Administration failed to pursue Natural Resource Damage settlements as a way to clean-up the environment and bring in revenue. We need the Murphy Administration to pursue more sites and help more communities by making the polluters pay. We also need to fix the system as a whole. said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “Enforcement and NRD claims are a one-two punch to hold polluters accountable. More importantly, we can get more resources to protect and clean-up our environment and the public health of our citizens, especially those who’ve been victimized.”