In this issue of New Jersey Currents|online:

2008-9 Legislature Worst In New Jersey History?
November Elections for Assembly and Governor Key

At its current pace, the 2008-2009 New Jersey Legislature will go down as the worst environmentally in at least in modern history. Several major bills that rollback key protections have sailed through the legislature while the few positive bills that moved were comparatively less significant and even they had to be weakened to become viable.

Polluters, assisted by too many members of the New Jersey Legislature and Corzine Administration, have used the cover of the recession to hide their real motive to get around environmental and public health protections. Efforts to provide comparable economic stimulus while respecting other societal needs were repeatedly, summarily rejected.

As a result, more taxpayer funds already in short supply may now be used to subsidize development of greenfields, polluters will give final approval to most of their own clean-ups, and projects that fail to meet modern safeguards have been brought back to life.

Help Protect One of New Jersey's Most Valuable Ecosystems

The Barnegat Bay watershed and estuary is one of New Jersey's and the nation's most valued eco-treasures. The watershed, which covers most of Ocean County, is home to over 500,000 people year round, with double that number due to summer. The estuary covers 42 miles of shoreline from the Point Pleasant Canal to Little Egg Harbor Inlet and is protected from the open ocean by a system of barrier beaches and dunes. It is home to crabs, fish, birds, and other wildlife.

The continued economic and environmental health of the watershed and estuary is dependent on the continued health of its waters. Millions of dollars from local, state and federal funds are expended every year to restore and maintain the health of the bay and the tributaries and waterways that flow into the estuary, including Oyster Creek and Forked River.

The largest industrial polluter of the bay is the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station (OCNGS). Built before the federal Clean Water Act was enacted, OCNGS draws in 1.7 billion gallons of water from the Forked River every day, passes it through it an antiquated once through cooling system and spits the water at an elevated temperature out into the Oyster Creek at the mouth of the Barnegat Bay.

Community Organizer Spotlight: Erik Antokal

The rain is coming down in sheets. Lightning streaks the sky. The roads are flooded and nearly impassable. Suddenly, there's a knock at your door. "Hi! I'm Erik! I'm a community organizer for NJEF!"

Congratulations! You've just met one of our brave summer canvassers.

The New Jersey Environmental Federation (NJEF) employs a year-round staff of door-to-door canvassers to build membership in key legislative districts and gather hand-crafted letters to politicians. In the summer months, the staff more than doubles in size with an influx of college students. Erik Antokal, a rising sophomore at Tufts University, has been single-handedly responsible for educating hundreds of New Jersey residents on the health of the Barnegat Bay estuary and watershed and demanding a better funding plan for open space. The majority of his first three weeks were spent walking door to door in the pouring rain. We recently caught up with Erik to find out what makes a summer canvasser tick.

Clean Energy Investment Provides Economic Boost, More Jobs in New Jersey
New studies demonstrate how New Jersey can create 48,000 jobs, especially for lower-income households

In June 2009, the New Jersey Environmental Federation, in coordination with the Garden State Alliance for a New Economy (GANE) and Laborers 55, co-released two complementary reports today that were prepared by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (PERI), Center for American Progress (CAP), Green For All, and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which outline how investment in a clean-energy economy will produce significant economic and job creation benefits.

The studies show that a $4.6 billion amount of investment would create 48,000 jobs in New Jersey. According to the analysis, shifting to a clean-energy economy will help millions of low-income Americans by creating more accessible job opportunities-with the potential for advancement-and by lowering utility bills and transportation costs.

Giving Hope for Newark Youth

Kids growing up in Newark don't have it easy. Serious environmental pollution coupled with economic and safety stresses often give children no hope for a better future. Diesel exhaust levels alone cause a tripling of the cancer risk in comparison to suburban areas. Newark kids are also number 1 for asthma-related mortality rates with a doubling of rates within minority populations.

What's sad is that many of these kids don't think they can do anything about it. But there is hope.

Making Connections: Water, Energy and Climate Change

Protecting water quality and quantity is one of the most important issues of our time. Currently, 1 billion people in the world (18 percent of the population) lack access to safe drinking water. By 2025, it is estimated that about two thirds of the world's population-about 5.5 billion people-will live in areas facing moderate to severe water stress.

In New Jersey, unless we act now, we are on a path to run out of clean drinking water in 20-40 years (according to Joseph Maraziti, a former chairman of the New Jersey State Planning Commission). This is due in part to overdevelopment and sprawl, rapid loss of open space, an over-abundance of toxic waste sites, aging infrastructure, salt water intrusion, and contaminated groundwater supplies.

While climate change policy has predominantly focused on energy and reducing carbon emissions, we believe that we also must consider the impact on water. Energy and water are our two most precious commodities and they are intricately connected-one cannot be discussed without the other. Without water, people die. And without water, we cannot produce energy. Without energy, we cannot grow food, run computers, or power homes, schools or offices. And as the world's population grows in number and affluence, the demands for both water and energy are increasing faster than ever.

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