Contact: Michelle Peal
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Is N.J. prepared for the next superstorm? Can’t trust Trump. Ask Murphy | Opinion
A mentor once told me the easiest thing to ask a politician to do is to do nothing.
Doing nothing is simple. It’s free. It doesn’t risk angering residents or voters. Doing nothing is usually the easiest course of action.
But here’s the thing – anyone can do nothing. I can do nothing, sitting here on my couch. We don’t elect politicians to do nothing. We elect them because we have the confidence they’ll do the hard things – the right things – when the moment comes. Now is one of those moments.
In 2020, Gov. Phil Murphy made a pledge to enact regulations to protect New Jerseyans against climate change. It’s called NJPACT – New Jersey Protecting Against Climate Threats.
How we develop N.J.’s coast
The next round of rules is meant to address how we develop on our coast. It considers an estimated five feet of sea level rise by 2100 and says something very practical:
- If we are building today, we should build to withstand the sea level rise we know is coming.
- It doesn’t make you retrofit existing homes.
- It doesn’t make you buy insurance.
- It just does the bare minimum – hey, if you’re going to put a home somewhere that’s going to be flooded, you better make sure it can withstand the tides.
This doesn’t sound revolutionary, so you may be surprised to know the NJPACT rules are facing enormous pushback – so much that they still haven’t been published. If they aren’t published by August, they run out of time to be adopted in this administration.
These rules save lives
And that would be a stain on New Jersey, because these rules will quite literally save lives.
In 2021, Hurricane Ida ripped through New Jersey, and 30 of our friends and neighbors tragically lost their lives in devastating flash floods. Many people who lost their lives were trapped in their cars. One victim was pulled into a storm drain. And four people horrifically lost their lives when flood waters overwhelmed their ground level apartment.
These are the real impacts and consequences of a changing climate. While we can’t go back in time and fix where and how we built those roadways and homes, why wouldn’t we make our future homes more resilient, and protect our neighbors from the storms we know are going to keep coming?
Opposition is shortsighted
The opposition to NJPACT will vaguely tell you that this will destroy “economic development”. What they’re really saying is they’re worried it’s going to cost more money to build differently.
But how can you put a price on someone’s life?
Those opposing these rules will also say it will “destroy affordable housing”. To that, I say – if your solution is to put low-income housing in places that you know will flood, you need to take a long, hard look at your priorities.
Those in opposition, including developers and business and industry associations, will also tell you that we shouldn’t project out to 2100 – that we should “revisit” the benchmarks in 20 years.
My house was built in 1963. If it flooded in 1983, should I have just up and moved it? It makes no sense. Houses last longer than 20 years, and we should make sure the houses we’re building today are safe – not only for today’s families, but for the children and grandchildren they will leave them with when we’re long gone.
Those opposed to NJPACT will also tell you it’s going to destroy the insurance market. Respectfully, insurance companies aren’t waiting for state governments to act. They are already using the most up-to-date data to inform their policies. There’s a reason insurance companies are pulling out of Florida, and it’s not because they are too environmentally friendly.
In fact, building more resiliently helps lower insurance rates, because it lowers your risk of loss.
No bailout from the feds
The NJPACT rules assume a “moderate emissions” scenario. With even moderate emissions, science tells us we can anticipate five feet of sea level rise by 2100 – because in addition to rising seas, New Jersey is also sinking. (Lucky us.) The part no one wants to say is with a federal administration gung-ho on expanding coal, we’re not likely to achieve “moderate” emissions. In other words, five feet is literally the least we can do.
And New Jersey is one of only two states on the eastern seaboard that doesn’t have dedicated state funding for resiliency measures.
Under the Trump administration, FEMA has signaled clearly that they won’t be bailing us out after the next disaster. So if we aren’t funding resilience, and we’re not going to get any help recovering after the next storm, isn’t building safer the absolute least we can do?
So now is a moment, a testing ground. I implore you, Murphy and the state legislature – don’t do nothing.
Do the right thing. Support the NJPACT rules. You’ll be protecting New Jerseyans – today, tomorrow, and in 2100, when many of us are long gone.