“I am always honored to represent community members and advocates in my work. It is important to me to provide these communities access to the legal knowledge they need to fight for what will improve their quality of life and the environment in which they live. My goal is always to push for positive change for our most vulnerable communities, and to give community members the information and power on their terms.”–Maggie Broughton, EELC Staff Attorney
As always, thanks for your commitment to supporting our work as New Jersey’s leading public interest environmental lawyers. The need for our services grows with rollbacks of federal protections designed to safeguard our water, land and air. Knowing that people such as you understand the importance of our advocacy makes all the difference. The challenges are immense, but we can meet them with your help.
Specifically, you can:
- Share this update with anyone you know in New Jersey who cares about protecting our land, water and air. Encourage them to follow EELC on social media (links below.)
- Contact your elected officials to reiterate how important it is that they uphold the state laws and regulations in place to reduce the impact of industry and development across New Jersey.
- Make a financial contribution to EELC to underwrite our work.
Here’s what we’re working on as October comes to a close:
Environmental Justice
Industry is challenging New Jersey’s leading-edge environmental justice regulations, which give vulnerable communities already overburdened by polluting facilities the power to say “no” to more pollution. In October, EELC attorney Maggie Broughton argued in front of NJ’s Appellate Division that key provisions of these regulations should not be dismantled. Our advocacy on behalf of the NJ Progressive Equitable Energy Coalition in this matter is central to ensuring that environmental justice communities are no longer the places where society puts most of its polluting facilities.
Clean Energy
We are pursuing all avenues in our fight to prevent the construction of the 23-mile NESE pipeline across the Raritan Bay, which will negatively impact already fragile ecosystems. In concert with a broad coalition of groups, we filed a detailed objection with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to deny water and wetlands permits the project must have to move forward. New Jersey’s decision on these permit applications is expected November 18th.
These coordinated legal challenges are a decisive effort to protect frontline communities from added pollution, defend New Jersey’s environmental standards, and prevent a costly expansion of unneeded fossil-fuel infrastructure that would lock the state into decades of harm.
Open Space & Sustainable Development
Irresponsible, unchecked development drives habitat loss, ecosystem fragmentation, and biodiversity decline by converting forests, wetlands, and open land into paved surfaces and buildings. It increases stormwater runoff and erosion, degrading water quality and stressing aquatic ecosystems. To combat these hazards, we’re partnering with The Watershed Institute to challenge state approvals issued for a massive, 5.5 million square foot warehouse development project – known as “Bridge Point 8” – in West Windsor, which threatens to contaminate nearby tributaries of the Millstone River through stormwater runoff. EELC successfully challenged state flood permits issued for the project – see news article here.
We CAN keep the Garden State green with you on our side. Thank you!