Environmental Policy Expert Joins New Jersey LCV for Governor’s Race
Press Release •
The New Jersey League of Conservation Voters Education Fund is pleased to announce the addition of a former federal environmental protection official to its Green in ’17 team.
Lisa J. Plevin, former chief of staff for Region 2 of the US Environmental Protection Agency, will lead the environmental group’s transition planning initiative to help New Jersey’s next gubernatorial administration identify short- and long-term environmental priorities to re-establish New Jersey as an environmental leader.
Green in ’17 is an education campaign whose goal is to elevate discussion of key environmental issues in the gubernatorial election. One measure of the program’s success came on May 9, when 40% of the questions asked of Democratic candidates participating in the first gubernatorial debate were about environmental issues such as climate change and off-shore drilling, as were 20% of the questions asked of the Republican candidates.
Another Victim of Christie’s Final Budget: Communities Recovering from Pollution
Press Release •
TRENTON - Statement from New Jersey League of Conservation Voters on the governor’s line-item veto of Natural Resource Damages monies in the FY18 budget announced Wednesday:
“For the third straight year, Gov. Christie is attempting to rob communities sullied by industrial pollution of hundreds of millions of dollars meant to facilitate their recovery from toxins contaminating their groundwater and streams,” said New Jersey League of Conservation Voters Executive Director Ed Potosnak.
NJLCV Joins LoBiondo to Oppose Offshore Blasting, Drilling
Press Release •
AVALON – New Jersey League of Conservation Voters Executive Director Ed Potosnak joined Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-2) and other advocates on Monday to voice opposition to renewed federal efforts to open up the waters off the New Jersey coast to oil and gas exploration.
Christie’s Budget Could Divert $175M from Exxon Settlement
News Article • • by Christian Hetrick at Observer
The state could divert millions of dollars from environmental remediation this year before voters have a chance to decide whether to prohibit such budgetary raids, according to a state lawmaker and environmental advocacy groups.
Gov. Chris Christie’s proposed $35 billion budget for fiscal 2018 includes a provision that places a $50 million cap on how much money won from natural resource damage settlements can go into an environmental site cleanup fund. For settlements larger than $50 million, any amount above that threshold would go into the state’s general fund.
This is the third straight year the state budget has included such language. But the provision takes on special significance this year, because $225 million from a settlement with ExxonMobil is currently in escrow and could become subject to that budget language, said Assemblyman John McKeon (D-Essex).
Opinion: NJ Environment Under Two-Pronged Assault
News Article • • by Michele Byers at Daily Record
The Trump administration’s proposal to cut funding for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will directly impact federal safeguards for clean water, air and natural resources in this state we’re in. The proposal would roll back decades of progress in protecting public health and environmental quality.
Here in New Jersey, we too are debating the impact of cuts to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection proposed by Gov. Chris Christie’s administration. And since New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection gets significant funding from the EPA, the impacts to New Jersey would be magnified.
This one-two punch from the Christie and Trump administrations would worsen what is already a difficult situation. New Jersey is the nation’s most densely populated state, with a history of industrial pollution, including more Superfund cleanup sites than any other state. As a coastal state, New Jersey is also on the front lines of climate change and sea level rise.
To make matters worse, the Christie administration’s raiding of dedicated funds has depleted funding for clean energy and the cleanup of contaminated sites.
America’s Clean Energy Future Hinges on NJ Governor’s Race Outcome
News Article • • by Drew Tompkins at Star Ledger
New Jersey voters cut the field on Tuesday to two major-party candidates in the race for governor. Whoever is chosen as the next governor on Nov. 7 will inherit an unprecedented opportunity and bear a tremendous burden to insulate the state from the worst effects of climate change, while staking out turf as a national leader – and jobs creator – in the pursuit of a clean energy economy.
With climate change already taking an obvious toll in New Jersey, the stakes couldn’t be higher.
One need look no further than New Jersey’s 130-mile coastline to realize our vulnerability to an even modest rise in sea level. Or remember Superstorm Sandy, which washed away beaches, boardwalks, and homes all over the state. The state’s $43 billion-plus tourism industry, and the jobs that come with it, is largely dependent on a profitable summer season at #JerseyShore.
What’s this got to do with the New Jersey governor’s race? Everything!
Green Group Helps Clean Energy Champion to Victory in NJ Democratic Primary
Press Release •
TRENTON – The New Jersey League of Conservation Voters (NJLCV), the leading political voice for the environment in the state, celebrated Tuesday’s nomination of Phil Murphy, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate endorsed by the green group.
NJLCV was the first statewide environmental organization to endorse Murphy, in February, citing his ambitious vision for a clean energy future and his ability to make New Jersey a national leader on environmental issues once again. The league’s Super PAC, the NJLCV Victory Fund, drew attention for spending $130,000 on a digital and mail campaign highlighting Murphy’s environmental credentials in the two weeks leading up to June 6, among the few Super PACs to spend significantly before the primary.
Phil Murphy tells N.J. 'It is time for a governor who has your back'
News Article • • by Matt Arco at NJ.com
Newly minted Democratic gubernatorial nominee Phil Murphy accepted his party's nomination Tuesday night and said he looks for to a "campaign based on policy and vision" in the race to succeed Gov. Chris Christie.
"New Jersey, here's my simple promise to all 9 million of you: I've got your back," Murphy said to a hundreds of enthusiastic supporters at a hotel in Newark less than an hour after he was the declared winner.
"People in New Jersey are demanding change and I am here to change things," Murphy said.
Statement from NJLCV on Decision to Pull U.S. from Paris Agreement
Press Release •
“By withdrawing from the agreement to reduce the toxic emissions that are causing the Earth to warm, President Trump has made the U.S. an outlier like Syria, the other nation opposed to the Paris accord,” said Ed Potosnak, executive director of New Jersey League of Conservation Voters, a group dedicated to natural resources protection. “The President’s colossal mistake makes it more important than ever to ensure that New Jersey has a governor and a Legislature committed to establishing a clean energy future by creating green jobs and transitioning to a clean energy economy.”
NJLCV Victory Fund Launches $130K Campaign to Support Phil Murphy in Primary
Press Release •
The New Jersey League of Conservation Voters Victory Fund today announced plans to spend $130,000 between now and June 6 to help candidate Phil Murphy win the Democratic Gubernatorial Primary.
The money will be spent on digital ads and a targeted mail campaign highlighting Phil Murphy’s bold plans to: make sure our drinking water is clean and safe for New Jersey families; strengthen the economy by creating green jobs in New Jersey’s expanding solar, wind and clean energy industries; and hold corporate polluters accountable, and make them clean up the messes they have made.