Environmental Issues Take a Back Seat to the Economy

Dena Mottola Jaborska has spent the last decade lobbying on environmental issues in the Statehouse but couldn't recall another day as bad as yesterday for her cause.

"It's definitely the worst when you consider the sheer number of bad bills being considered," said Jaborska, executive director of Environment New Jersey, early yesterday afternoon before both houses went into session on the final day of the 214th legislature.

Her organization was among many of the state's major environmental groups lobbying to prevent a range of bills from becoming law -- from a bill (S-3156) that would delay implementation of critical water quality rules to a measure (S-1954) that would allow logging on public lands to legislation (A-2528) that would deplete a clean energy fund used to promote energy efficiency projects.

The day was no more fruitful for solar energy advocates as a bill (S-2371), which earlier in the day seemed dead, was revived and then failed to be posted as diverse factions in the solar sector could not agree on a compromise version. It likely will surface early in the next session, however, since its proponents said the measure could avert another meltdown in the price of solar credits for the electricity those systems produce, a trend that has prompted fears the market could collapse.

The day began on a bad note for conservationists when the Senate Judiciary Committee released the nomination of Richard Vohden, a Sussex County freeholder, to be a member of the Highlands Council, a group overseeing development in the 800,000 acre Highlands region. His nomination had been blocked for months because he filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the law preserving the Highlands. He was confirmed by the full Senate shortly after 10 p.m.

Making the day more galling from the environmentalists' perspective was the decision by legislative leadership not to post bills they had lobbied for, including a legislative veto of a proposed rule that would allow the Department of Environmental Protection to waive certain environmental standards under certain circumstances.

"This was bloody Monday, but it could have been worse," said Jeff Tittel, executive director of the Sierra Club of New Jersey, noting that the logging bill never got to the governor's desk and a bill granting extension of permits to developers failed to be posted. "There are worse days ahead," he said.

There were a number of good bills that were never even posted, Tittel added. They included a bill to limit children's exposure to pesticides at playgrounds, a bill increasing the state's target for renewable energy from 22.5 percent to 30 percent, and a bill that would have prevented the governor from withdrawing New Jersey from a regional program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Both houses are controlled by Democrats, who, in the past, have typically supported environmental issues, but that was not the case this session, which has seen the party back Christie administration initiatives geared to stimulate the economy.

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