New Jersey proposed a new environmental justice rule Monday that officials believe will be the toughest in the nation by carving out nearly half the state’s population as living in “overburdened communities” and limiting the types of polluting businesses that can be built there.
Under the rule, the DEP could deny any proposal for a new or expanded power plant, recycling facility, incinerator, sludge operation, landfill, sewage treatment plant, recycling facility, scrap yard, or other major source of potential pollution within an overburdened block group. Officials hope to adopt the rule by the end of the year.
“This is a big deal because New Jersey is the first state in the entire country to wrestle meaningfully with addressing the accumulated impacts of pollution that are disproportionately experienced by low income, Black, brown, and indigenous communities,” Shawn LaTourette, the DEP commissioner, said last week during a press briefing.
