Title
Dept/ Agency: Offices of Municipal Council/City Clerk
Action: ( ) Ratifying (X) Authorizing ( ) Amending
Type of Service: Support
Purpose: Supporting Polluters Pay to Make New Jersey More
Affordable Act
Sponsor: Council Member, Louise Scott-Rountree
Additional Information:
body
WHEREAS, the proposed “Polluters Pay to Make New Jersey More Affordable Act” (S2338/A3735), pending before the New Jersey Legislature would impose liability on large fossil fuel companies for certain climate change related damages they caused instead of imposing all those costs on New Jersey taxpayers; and
WHEREAS, New Jersey has experienced deaths and billions of dollars in losses from storms linked to climate change like Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and Hurricane Ida in 2021; and
WHEREAS, extreme climate events cost billions of dollars in the United States each year, excluding costs related to loss of life, healthcare, and ecosystem damage; and
WHEREAS, the effects of climate change on New Jersey municipalities include but are not limited to increases in the costs of property insurance, public healthcare costs, and critical infrastructure repair; and
WHEREAS, major fossil fuel companies knew or should have known of the direct link between fossil fuels and global warming; and
WHEREAS, the Polluters Pay to Make New Jersey More Affordable Act seeks to hold “responsible parties,” which is defined as fossil fuel extractors that conduct business in New Jersey and were responsible more than one billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions since 1995, liable for the cost of climate change adaptation and resilience projects instead of placing the burden on New Jersey taxpayers; and
WHEREAS, the State Treasurer will be authorized under this Act to determine the cost impacts of these greenhouse gas emissions on the State, including effects on public health, natural resources, biodiversity, agriculture, economic development, flood preparedness and safety, housing, and any other effect that the State Treasurer determines is relevant; and
WHEREAS, a Polluters Pay Cost Recovery Program will be established under this Act by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to obtain compensatory payments from Responsible Parties and accept and collect payment from responsible parties and to disburse those funds for “climate change adaptation projects;” to project sponsors of climate change adaptation and resilience projects
WHEREAS, climate change adaptation projects” include, but are not limited to: flood protection projects; home buyouts; upgrades of stormwater drainage systems; defensive upgrades to roads, bridges, railroads, and transit systems; preparation for, and recovery from, extreme weather events; preventive healthcare programs and providing medical care to treat illness or injury caused by the effects of climate change; relocation, elevation, or retrofits of sewage treatment plants and other infrastructure vulnerable to flooding; installation of energy efficient cooling systems and other weatherization and energy efficiency upgrades and retrofits in public and private buildings, including schools and public housing, designed to reduce the public health effects of more frequent heat waves and forest fire smoke; upgrades to the electrical grid to increase stability and resilience, including the creation of self-sufficient microgrids; and response to toxic algae blooms, loss of agricultural topsoil, crop loss, and other climate-driven ecosystem threats to forest, farms, fisheries, and food systems; and
WHEREAS, any municipality in need of climate change adaptation and resilience projects will be able to apply for the funds raised by the Act; and
WHEREAS, the Act will make New Jersey more affordable by not saddling New Jersey taxpayers with the large and rapidly increasing costs of paying for climate damages;
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MUNICIPAL COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, THAT:
1. The City of Newark hereby supports the passage of the Polluters Pay to Make New Jersey More Affordable Act.
2. The City of Newark opposes any legislation, whether in Congress or state legislatures, that attempts to limit or eliminate access to court by preempting existing laws or giving fossil fuel companies immunity from any laws or lawsuits seeking to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for deceptive conduct and the costs of climate change.
3. The City Clerk is directed to transmit a certified copy of this Resolution to the Governor of New Jersey, the President of the New Jersey Senate, the Speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly, the municipality’s State legislative delegation, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, legislators and nonprofits.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this Resolution shall take effect immediately upon adoption according to law.
STATEMENT
Resolution supporting the Polluters Pay to Make New Jersey More Affordable Act.