N.J.'s new global-warming law a model for other states

New Jersey's Meadowlands recently hosted a Live Earth concert, one of many simulcast all over the world. Gov. Jon Corzine seized the opportunity to sign into law the nation's strongest cap on global-warming pollution.

The new law requires New Jersey to reduce greenhouse gas levels by 20 percent by 2020, and by 80 percent by 2050. This law makes New Jersey a national leader in the fight against global warming, and we should all applaud the state Legislature and governor for their action.

New Jersey is the third state to require such caps (California and Hawaii are the other two) and the first to set an emissions cap target as far into the future as 2050. The law charges the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) with conducting an emissions inventory and developing a plan to monitor and reduce these harmful emissions.

Passing this landmark law took lots of hard work by many hard-working people, including New Jersey's legislators. Backed by citizen action, Environment New Jersey's lobbying efforts secured a bi-partisan majority of co-sponsors on both the Assembly and Senate versions of the bill, and moved it through five legislative committees in just six months!

ENJ also released two timely and compelling reports. The first, "An Unfamiliar State: The Local Impacts of Global Warming in New Jersey," examines New Jersey's likely future with continued global warming. According to the report, New Jersey would experience an altered coastline, greater extremes of rainfall and drought, higher smog levels, and shifts in plant and animal species. These environmental impacts also translate into adverse health and economic impacts for New Jerseyans. Asthma, flood damage, salt-water incursion into drinking water supplies and lost crops are just a few.

The second report, "A Blueprint for Action: Policy Options to Reduce New Jersey's Contribution to Global Warming" shows how and why New Jersey should act now, even though climate change is, by its very definition, a global problem.

New Jersey's bold new law affirms that even one small state can make a difference to lessen the impact of global warming on New Jersey and on the world. Perhaps New Jersey's law can inspire other states, including Washington, Maryland, Oregon, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, to also take action in favor of a healthier future.

You can read much more about global warming in New Jersey from ENJ at www.environmentnewjersey.org (follow the "Global Warming" link), including both of the reports mentioned above, among others. And I hope you'll contact me at info@njconservation.org, or visit NJCF's Web site at www.njconservation.org, for more information about conserving New Jersey's precious land and natural resources.

Michele S. Byers

executive director,

The New Jersey

Conservation Foundation