Governor Budget Address: Unreal

For Immediate Release

February 16, 2016

Contact Jeff Tittel, 609-558-9100

Governor Budget Address: Unreal

The Governor has released his FY2017 budget that neglects to help New Jersey’s environment or transportation. Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, released the following statement:

“In his budget address the Governor seems to have done a victory lap for his failed Governorship. While he’s no longer running for President it looks like he’s still running away from New Jersey. He’s still catering to national politics rather than the reality of the issues and needs of the people of New Jersey. Just like when he talked about solar and clean air, it’s just an example of the Governor spewing hot air and misinformation.

“He says everything is fine with the Transportation Trust Fund. The Governor must have New Jersey and New Hampshire confused since our roads are in bad shape. Instead of the closed Pulaski Skyway or other bridges that are falling down, he must be visualizing some wooden bridge across the Merrimack River in New Hampshire.

“The Governor continues to give subsidies to developers and tax cuts for the wealthy. His budget will carry on siding with oil and gas companies over clean energy. This budget will hurt our economy and undermine green jobs. It is an environmental disaster. The Governor is continuing to balance the budget on the back of New Jersey’s environment.

“As in previous years, he is stealing money from environmental pots and settlements such as Exxon. The budget will be used as an excuse to weaken and rollback more environmental protections. This budget will continue the pattern of raids on environmental programs and clean energy funds and tax cuts for special interests.”

Solar Power and Clean Air

The Governor claimed that New Jersey has had “a dramatic expansion of solar energy and the meeting of our 2020 clean air goals, all without taxing our citizens through the discredited Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.”

“The Governor’s speech on solar was full of hot air. Before Christie came in office, there were 10,000 solar jobs in the state, but now there are only 5,500. Christie crashed the solar market and this cut solar jobs by half in New Jersey. We used to do forty megawatts a month and now we’re doing eight.New Jersey has dropped from 7^th to 22^nd in energy efficiency and 2^nd to 8^th in solar in the nation. He’s also suing to block President Obama’s Clean Power Plan. It is clear that Governor Christie is saying one thing while doing another; his policies are only making New Jersey’s air pollution and reliance on dirty energy worse.”

“The Governor said that New Jersey will meet our clean air goals in 2020 without RGGI. However, we have seen an increase in greenhouse gasses in the last year. The Governor is subsidizing five new natural gas power-plants and rubberstamping pipelines across the state. He has raided over $1.1 billion from the Clean Energy Fund, blocked offshore wind from becoming a reality, and refuses to increase our solar programs or do anything to help energy efficiency. The court ruled he pulled out of RGGI illegal and the Legislature voted that his doing so violated the Global Warming Response Act. New Jersey is still out of compliance in almost every county for ground level ozone and most are out of compliance with particulates as well. New Jersey’s air pollution is getting worse and don’t know what he’s talking about in his speech when he says otherwise.”

Clean Energy Fund

“We’ve seen another raid of the Clean Energy Fund, this time $250 million. That is on top of the over $1.1 billion Governor Christie has already stolen. This is the money that helps people buy energy efficient products and weatherize their homes. This money could be used to help with Sandy recovery and instead it is going to the General Fund. This money also funds offshore wind and other renewable energy programs. We have been waiting more than 5 years for the administration to act on offshore wind. Other states around New Jersey will be reaping the economic and environmental benefit of offshore wind, while New Jersey is left in the wind.”

Transportation and the Gas Tax

“The Governor says we’re spending enough money on roads and bridges and that everything is fine with the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF). Evidently, he’s been driving on too many roads in Iowa and New Hampshire and he’s missed the fact that New Jersey’s roads are falling apart. Governor Christie says we’re spending enough money on roads and bridges and that everything is fine with the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF). The Governor has said he won’t fix TTF and that’s unconscionable. Trains are derailing and wheels are falling off busses. Without funding our transit system will be in ruin. The Governor also did not mention raising the gas tax, despite it being a possible way to fund the TTF. Now there is no mention of money to improve mass transit or highways. More people will be stuck in traffic longer on roads that are falling apart. On public transportation people will see higher fares with worse service and no expansion of service. New Jersey needs to spend our money in expanding mass transit and fixing dilapidated bridges and roads.”

DEP Funding

“The Governor’s past budgets have hurt the DEP and their environmental programs and this year he has cut another $7 million. DEP staffing is still down and we expect it to stay that way, with many positions going unfilled. There are many gaps in programs. Most of the staff that is there is working on Sandy related issues, leaving many areas understaffed. They are cutting staff at core programs in the agency like enforcement and water. The Governor’s policies side with stewardship over actual environmental programs. Pushing for stewardship on public lands is a way to allow for private companies to log environmentally sensitive public lands. Cutting staff at core programs in the agency like enforcement and water put our environment and public health at risk. Again this is a budget that does not meet the needs of the people of New Jersey.”

“This budget continues to raid money from important environmental programs such as the Spill Act, Hazardous Site Clean-up Fund, Hazardous Discharge Fund, Clean Communities, about $100 million. The Christie Administration has already stolen settlement money from the Passaic River and Exxon settlement money, as well as money for lead abatement. He settled the Exxon settlement for $8.9 billion for $225 million. This budget continues that pattern of using environmental monies to plug budget holes.”

Storm Resiliency

“New Jersey lost out on HUD grants that require climate change adaptation and mitigation planning because our application didn’t not meet those requirements. Under Gov. Christie, the DEP has closed its Office of Climate Change and work by previous administrations to implement climate adaptation and mitigation planning has been shelved. Unless New Jersey restores those programs and acknowledges the risks of sea level rise and climate change, our state will lose even more federal money for resiliency and fixing our infrastructure including water and sewer, electrical, and transportation,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.