HAMILTON REPORTS

New Jersey has a lot of buildable land remaining, but in the future sea level rise is more than likely to claim a portion of that buildable area. 

Currently, you can build at the high-water mark of the anticipated “100-year flood.” What that means is, each year there is a 1% chance the flood waters will lap at the foot of your building or go higher. 

It makes sense to build on higher ground. Lately, violent storms and intense rainfall have increased, and global warming and ice melting are causing the oceans to swell, which means as the years go by, there is potential for the 100-year flood goal posts to move to higher ground. 

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection responded this year by adopting a revised set of flood plain building rules (NJ PACT REAL) that require new buildings to be built at least 4 feet above the current 100-year flood plain elevation. 

The NJ PACT REAL rules are slated to go into effect on July 20, 2026, and they make a good deal of sense, considering that New Jersey already suffers as much flood damage (in dollars) each year as most other states in the union. Why shouldn’t builders choose higher ground to protect property and building occupants? It means less damage during floods and fewer claims on the insurance industry, and potentially lower rates for policy holders. 

However, the New Jersey Builders Association and New Jersey Business and Industry Association have filed notice of suit to block the NJ PACT REAL rules.

NJ PACT REAL considers the very real potential for increased flooding in New Jersey. It doesn’t require people to move or tear down older buildings; it simply requires better standards for new ones. 

“We must move forward with the NJ PACT REAL rules in their strongest form in order to be resilient and best prepare the next generation,” said Sierra Club New Jersey Chapter Director Anjuli Ramos-Busot at a State House lobbying event April 22, 2026. “These rules do not curb development but ensure we are building smarter and for the long-term.”

“The NJ Sierra Club urges the legislature to move forward with full implementation of the rules,” Ramos-Busot said. 

New Jersey residents are urged to contact their legislators ASAP and tell them how important these flood rules are and why they need to be implemented. Many places in New Jersey are still well above flood level that are suitable for building and development, and New Jersey can still prosper and move forward while at the same time protecting its communities from risky building practices.

Hey Scotland! NESE, that now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t monster, is over here. Please take it back and put it under loch and key.

The Northeast Supply Enhancement pipeline project got a very unwelcome approval for a utility license from the NJ Tidelands Resource Council, which governs potential polluting industrial development in sensitive New Jersey wetlands areas.

It is widely held that NESE will traverse much of New Jersey while yielding little in benefits, with its pipeline content of natural gas being funneled into the New York Bay region.

Allowing huge fossil fuel projects like this to roll forward while rolling back clean energy development does little to mitigate the dangers of climate change.

“We are disappointed by the decision made today by the Tidelands Council to grant Williams Transco its utility license to tear through our wetlands, tidelands, and the Raritan Bay,” said Taylor McFarland, conservation program manager for the New Jersey Chapter of the Sierra Club.

“This is the same project that both New York and New Jersey denied multiple times. Nothing has changed; the route and the impacts are the same,” she said.

Against a backdrop of rising energy prices and zero support for offshore wind by the federal government, New Jersey State officials decided in April to terminate or significantly scale back all interconnection work designed to facilitate electricity transmission from offshore wind projects to the land- based PJM interconnection energy grid.

The project to assist in developing infrastructure was established by way of a 2020 agreement with PJM called the State Agreement Approach. Such a mechanism is available to all states in the PJM region, but New Jersey was the first state to make use of it.

The agreement led to engineering studies, grid modeling, environmental review, and transmission planning analysis, among other preliminary work. The more costly construction phase, including substations, offshore power collector platforms, and new transmission lines, had not yet substantially begun.

The total estimated investment was in the region of $1 billion. New Jersey electricity consumers would have borne most of the cost. The decision to scale down the process was made in April by the State Board of Public Utilities with the backing of Gov. Mikie Sherrill. Offshore wind farm cancellations meant that the cost to electricity customers could no longer be justified.

Two bills designed to tighten regulation of metal scrapyards in New Jersey are moving forward. Residents of New Jersey have suffered the harms of toxins escaping from these sites for too long. Fires suspected of being started by lithium batteries discarded at these waste sites have also fouled the air and raised the specter of long-term harm to people’s health.

The bill A2406 would place scrap metal facilities under state Department of Environmental Protection oversight. Scrap processing facilities would be reclassified as recycling centers and as such would be subject to much higher standards for safe operation. The bill was moved to the Assembly Appropriations Committee on March 16.

The other bill, A2401, would require auditing of scrapyard records and would ensure that prohibited items are not on the premises. It would require the employment of people who are trained in fire suppression and would require installation of fire suppression systems capable of being remotely operated.

A2401 was approved by the full NJ Assembly by a 55-17 vote on March 23 and has moved to the Senate for review. Assemblyman William Moen Jr. is the primary sponsor of both bills.

High-profile scrapyard fires in Camden have increased the sense of urgency and desire for action.

Renée Pollard, chair of the Environmental and Social Justice Committee for the New Jersey Chapter of the Sierra Club, said the legislation offers hope for stronger regulation of these facilities, which she said have residents “living in fear of catastrophic fires and explosions. It has been a struggle just to get state agencies, manufacturers and legislators to recognize and acknowledge that there is a problem with how scrap metal recycling facilities operate,” she said.

In a victory for conservation, the West Orange Planning Board has voted down a 496-housing-unit plan for a 120-acre forested plot that is vital for drainage and clean air.

The board reached its determination following years of debate and lobbying by concerned citizens supported by the New Jersey Chapter of the Sierra Club.

The forested land on the Watchung Mountain Ridge is considered one of Essex County’s last large forested areas, a critical green space in what is a highly developed part of New Jersey. It provides essential room for wildlife.

The West Orange Planning Board voted 4-4 on the development application by Minnesota Vikings co-owner Zygmunt Wilf. There were not enough votes for approval, although the door remains open to an appeal and the developer’s intentions at this point are unclear.