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Campaign Unavailable We're sorry, this alert is no longer available. If you would like to learn more about ways you can take action, please visit Sierra Club New Jersey Chapter.The short explanation of this alert was: On May 19 the Permit Extension Act was introduced into the New Jersey Assembly and Senate. This is a major bill being pushed by builders and developers in New Jersey. This bill is an attack on the environment, on good planning, and on home rule. This bill will have dire consequences for the state of New Jersey. The Permit Extension Act would extend all permits and approvals for developers at the state and local levels for six years, allowing projects that were permitted many years ago to avoid changes in environmental law, public health standards, building codes, or local zoning. This bill is one of the biggest giveaways to developers in the history of New Jersey. It will result in more flooding, more people living on toxic sites, more sprawl, and more pollution. The act would allow projects whose permits or approvals have expired within the past two years to be brought back to life, even if those projects would cause environmental harm or damage to public health. It would undermine the state's Pollution Discharge Rules, Flood Hazard Rules, Site Remediation Rules, Category 1 Rules, and others, preventing their appropriate implementation in violation of the laws that brought these rules into existence. In fact, the bill's language specifies that the permit extension would be in effect from January 1, 2006, to December 31, 2012, due to the current economic situation. Disguised as a fix to a short-term problem, the Permit Extension Act is a long-term giveaway to New Jersey's development lobby. The act would also arbitrarily extend permits affecting federally-designated programs, such as the Wetlands Act and Clean Water Act, violating Memoranda of Agreement between the state of New Jersey and the federal government. In essence, this would mean that the Bush Administration, with its atrocious environmental record, would be more protective of the environment than the New Jersey legislature. Currently Department of Environmental Protection permits are good for five years plus a five year renewal, and on some occasions can be renewed beyond this. With the Permit Extension Act, all permits would be good for at least sixteen years. Ecosystems change, and scientific knowledge advances, in time frames much shorter than sixteen years. All developments that have potential to cause environmental and public health harm deserve to be investigated using the most advanced toxicological knowledge, not techniques used two decades previously. The Permit Extension Act is the first of what we anticipate will be a series of bills based on the Department of Community Affairs' Housing Task Force reports, which were written by individuals with ties to the building industry with no input from the public or environmental groups. This bill was written by the New Jersey Builders Association. This is an example of special interest money influencing the legislature to the detriment of the public. Please contact your NJ Assembly and Senate representatives and tell them that your health and your environment are too important to give away. Follow the link below to say "No" to A2867/S1919.
Thank you.
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