New Jersey Newsletter March 2025

Dear Friend,
 

Want to get involved with our chapter? Find your local group here or check out our current volunteer opportunities! 

Let's stay connected! You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and keep an eye on our chapter website to see what we've been up to.

Thanks for all you do,

To our New Jersey Chapter Members & Supporters, 

This month we have continued to see significant attacks on conservation efforts with the firings at Federal agencies like the National Park Service (NPS) and Department of the Interior (DOI). We have witnessed the undermining of our Nation's natural treasures, our National Parks System, with the layoffs of thousands of Park rangers and staff who serve as stewards of our public lands, waters, forests, and wildlife, which puts significant strain on our capacity to protect them.

We have seen similar attacks on the Federal agencies that work to understand, forecast and mitigate climate change and severe weather event impacts, like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). This means less funding and capacity for climate research, slowing innovation, and putting our communities, clean air and water at risk. 

Parallel to this, the attacks on science are brutal. The Department of Energy (DOE), the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institute of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) all do life-saving work by researching health risks and diseases, severe weather and climate change, and innovative technological advances in energy and climate resiliency. Defunding and de-staffing these agencies undercut our understanding of the ever-evolving climate science, our resiliency and ability to respond to these events, and put us at a massive disadvantage compared to other countries’ advances. 

How can we lead if we are not funding science, but instead only furthering an archaic way of energy production and generation? Coal mining being developed as far as the late 16th century, and oil and gas used as an alternative in the 19th century. Interestingly, there are records of the Chinese being the first to use petroleum as fuel as early as the 4th century BC, and the earliest known gas wells were drilled in China in 347 AD or earlier. A couple of days ago we all got the news that China is the new Clean Energy global leader. Make America Great Again? More like Make America Fall Behind (even further). We need to continue to look forward and incentivize our just clean energy transition, and we will not stop fighting for that cleaner future.

Today, because of these actions undermining the protections of our environment and science, the Sierra Club joined the Campaign Legal Center, Union of Concerned Scientists, Organization of Chinese Americans, Japanese American Citizens League, and filed a lawsuit challenging Elon Musk and DOGE's unlawful and devastating funding and staffing cuts to the U.S. National Park Service and Forest Service (read the press release). We are prepared to fight, and we need all of us to make noise and call for protections for our public lands, waters, forests, and wildlife.

When it feels like we can't control these events at the National-level, we must remember that together, we can defend our environment and communities right here in our state.

Read more below for actions you can take now, upcoming events, and outings happening this month.

Onward and upward, 
Anjuli

Together, we are powerful, and we can secure a safe, green future for New Jersey (and have fun and explore our state's beautiful outdoors while we're at it!).
 

Do you love the outdoors and want to lead events, walks, hikes, or outdoor activities for fellow Jersey Sierrans? 

We are seeking Outings Leaders in the following regions to lead hikes, nature walks, or outdoor events for the NJ Chapter.

Open Group Outings Leader Positions:

• Jersey Shore Group
• West Jersey Group
• Hunterdon Warren Group

If you are interested in becoming an Outings Leader for one of these Groups, please reach out to Taylor McFarland at taylor.mcfarland@sierraclub.org. 

Open LGBTQ+ Section Outings Leader Positions:

• Central Jersey Region
• South Jersey Region

With attacks upon our LGBTQ+ community at the Federal level, it is important now more than ever to provide a safe space to explore, enjoy, and protect the outdoors together and make the outdoors accessible and safe for all, regardless of gender or sexual orientation. 

In the New Jersey Sierra Club, all are invited and all are welcome. If you identify as a member or ally of the LBGTQ+ community, join the Section by emailing co-chairs Diane at diascat@hotmail.com or Wanda at pridegrrlnj@aim.com. 

This is the first step to becoming an Outings Leader! As a Sierra Club Outings leader, you will join others in exploring wild lands farther away from home, often exploring different cultures, conservation issues, and even perceptions. Because trips are often focused around a unique theme or activity, you could be backpacking, kayaking, bicycling, or doing service work—it's up to you to choose, because you ultimately design and lead your very own trip!

Kris Scheufele, North Jersey Group co-chair and outings leader will be giving a presentation on her experience as an outings leader and how you can become one! Join us March 26th at 7PM to learn more and RSVP here!

New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) will hold a virtual public hearings on the 2024 New Jersey Energy Master (EMP) Plan (public notice available here). The 2024 EMP will serve as a whole-of-government progress report on the goals and strategies in the 2019 EMP . The 7 overarching strategies developed to guide the 2019 Energy Master plan include: 

• Strategy 1: Reduce Energy Consumption and Emissions from the Transportation Sector
• Strategy 2: Accelerate Deployment of Renewable Energy and Distributed Energy Resources
• Strategy 3: Maximize Energy Efficiency and Conservation and Reduce Peak Demand
• Strategy 4: Reduce Energy Consumption and Emissions from the Building Sector
• Strategy 5: Decarbonize and Modernize New Jersey’s Energy System
• Strategy 6: Support Community Energy Planning and Action with an Emphasis on Encouraging and Supporting Participation by Low- and Moderate-Income and Environmental Justice Communities
• Strategy 7: Expand the Clean Energy Innovation Economy

This hearing is the next step from the hearing series from last summer to solicit stakeholder feedback, and will take place on March  13, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. EDT.
 

Democrats in the state legislature have sponsored legislation to support the delayed implementation of the Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) Program by two years. 

There is NO need for this delay. The implementation of the Advanced Clean Truck (ACT) standards has already begun this year on January 1, 2025. New Jersey is ready for implementation and already on a path toward electrifying our trucks, which are the dirtiest vehicles on our roadways. Emissions from medium- and heavy-duty vehicles are directly associated with harm to public health, particularly to our children and elderly. These vehicles additionally contribute to high ozone and particulate matter concentrations that directly lead to bad air quality days in New Jersey.

This is unacceptable. These legislators are putting profits and the status quo of multi-billion dollar corporations over our public health and air quality. Are we allowing Democrats to do the dirty work for Trump? This is one of Trump’s anti-environment targets.

There is overwhelming public opposition to this legislation, including over 1,000 messages from our members and supporters urging our legislators not to delay ACT. The trucking industry’s bad faith effort was successful last December in the Assembly Transportation Committee when our legislators unanimously passed A4967/S3817 out of committee. However, thus far with your help, we have been able to stall the movement of this legislation!

We need you to help us show that New Jerseyans want the ACT Program NOW, and flood the inboxes of the bill’s Democratic sponsors with public opposition to this pointless delay out of Trump’s anti-environmental agenda. Send a message now below!

The NJ State Planning Commission recently unveiled their preliminary update to the NJ State Development and Redevelopment Plan. 

The preliminary update provides a roadmap to how NJ will continue to address critical challenges that the state faces, including climate change, equity, housing affordability, infrastructure modernization, and economic development. 

This plan speaks to how our state will respond to climate challenges and mitigation efforts—and it needs your input!

Public comments can be submitted via this survey or sent to stateplan.comments@sos.nj.gov.

More information on the Plan is available here. If you're interested in attending the public hearings, click here.
 

Help us promote safe, natural grass for playing fields in New Jersey!

There has been a surge of artificial turf development across the state that has caused incredible environmental damage.

When open space and natural grass playing fields are converted into artificial turf, there are significant land use impacts. These include loss of wildlife and natural habitat, increased impervious cover, and increased flooding. Synthetic turf components also contain and leach chemicals known to be harmful to human health and the environment. 

A regular-sized artificial turf field contains 300,000 lbs of plastic, which results in microplastic shedding into the environment. The plastic blades and rubber infill are not physically bound by the turf and scatter into the surrounding environment.

On a warm day, synthetic turf radiates more heat than a plant-based surface, leading to extreme temperatures and contributing to heat island effect. The elevated surface temperatures of artificial turf fields have been shown to contribute to heat-related illness.

Unfortunately, these plastic fields are not recyclable which means they end up in landfills or are dumped illegally.

Join us and take action now to tell your municipalities to support natural grass over toxic artificial turf for the sake of our public health and environment!

Take action to urge NJ legislators to support S4008/A5275, which will restrict crematoriums from being built 1,000 ft. away from parks, schools, residents, and conservation areas. 

The cremation process results in toxic emissions, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs), particulate matter (PM) and sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and mercury. These toxins can have a significant impact on human health and the environment. 

This kind of pollution should never be within residential communities, exposing families and residents to toxic emissions that negatively impact human health, the environment, and our climate.  

Take action now to prevent this happening again in the future!

We need your voice to urge the Assembly Environment, Natural Resources, and Solid Waste Committee to support the Packaging Product Stewardship Act, A5009 (Collazos-Gill)!

Recycling simply can’t keep up with the production of single-use plastic packaging. That is why we need to focus on measures to reduce plastic production at its source, limit the use of single-use plastic, and embrace reusable packaging solutions. 

The Packaging Product Stewardship Act, A5009/S3398 asks manufacturers to pay and innovate to solve the enormous waste problems created by producing and selling their own products. This is a vital initiative because packaging forms a large category of waste material—28% in the United States, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

This legislation, at its strongest, is essential to mitigating New Jersey’s plastic waste problem. Take action now to urge the Assembly Environment, Natural Resources, and Solid Waste Committee to support it for the sake of our environment and public health!

Are you passionate about protecting wildlife and the places they call home here in New Jersey? 

The Sierra Club NJ Chapter is recruiting volunteers to become members of our Wildlife and Endangered Species Committee! Meetings are currently held virtually and anyone from anywhere in New Jersey is welcome. Please email Committee Chair Jamie at jamiez@newjersey.sierraclub.org.

Our next Committee meeting will be March 10th at 7PM. Zoom link is available here.

• New Jersey Environmental Groups Call for Passage of State Plastics Reduction Bill
• Shell Kills Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Project, Enabled by Trump Administration
• NJ Groups Stand in Support of Responsibly Developed Offshore Wind
• Governors Express Concern Regarding PJM Capacity Auctions
• Trump Halts Offshore Wind, Killing NJ Jobs & Delaying Energy Transition
• BREAKING: Gov. Murphy Calls Upon NJ Legislature to Codify Nation-Leading 100% Clean Electricity by 2035 Target
• NJ Legislature's ACT Hearing Shows Special Interests Prioritized over Public Health
• More than 50 NJ Groups Urge State Lawmakers to Preserve Advanced Clean Trucks Policy