The New Jersey Business & Industry Association (NJBIA) has voiced strong opposition to new land use regulations proposed by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The rules, part of the 'Protecting Against Climate Threats' (PACT) initiative, are set to be officially introduced in the New Jersey Register on Thursday.
Ray Cantor, NJBIA Deputy Chief Government Affairs Officer, outlined several concerns regarding the proposal. He stated that it would necessitate a retreat from the Jersey Shore and urban river communities such as Hoboken, Long Branch, and Asbury Park. Additionally, it would create "no build" zones on barrier islands and coastal communities, reduce affordable housing construction, hinder storm-damage rebuilding efforts, negatively affect urban redevelopment projects, decrease property values, reduce local tax revenue, and compel more residents to purchase costly flood insurance.
"The clear objective of the proposal is not to protect residents from rising seas but to make it harder to live, work, and develop along the coast," Cantor said. "This is the first step towards a managed retreat of the Jersey Shore while ignoring current climate science."
Cantor highlighted three key provisions of the PACT rules with significant impacts: an assumed 5-foot sea level rise (SLR) by 2100 applied today; elimination of coastal centers; and a 150-foot riparian buffer along bay sides of barrier islands.
"The most onerous of these proposed changes is that of SLR," Cantor remarked. "While we agree that SLR rise and climate change projections should be considered in coastal regulations, what the Murphy administration proposes goes far beyond any rational proposal."
Cantor criticized DEP's reliance on a low-confidence data point from a 2019 non-peer-reviewed Rutgers report predicting a 5.1-foot sea level rise by 2100. He noted that subsequent scientific studies do not support such extreme assumptions.
"Every scientific study and paper published after the Rutgers report does not assume as much SLR," he said. "There is no proven science justifying DEP’s position. Unfortunately, the agency has chosen to scare people as part of a managed retreat strategy."
Both the Senate Environment and Energy Committee and the Assembly Environment, Natural Resources, and Solid Waste Committee will convene jointly on Thursday at Toms River Municipal Complex to discuss the PACT rules. While NJBIA and other business groups were not invited to speak at this meeting, they plan to submit written testimony.
"We believe that the policy of the state should be one of resilience, not retreat," Cantor concluded. "We should regulate to a 2-foot SLR—a protective yet reasonable level from which we can adjust if needed. We should invest in our beaches and dunes, restore our coastal marshes, elevate buildings appropriately, and study ways to protect against inevitable storms."
