Enviros seek Governor's veto of Permit Extension Act

Last week, New Jersey’s environmental leaders called upon the Governor to conditionally veto the Permit Extension Act. Here is the Press Release on Permit Extension Act and a copy of the letter sent to the Governor. Letter to Governor. The Permit Extension Act was rushed through the legislature in short order and put on the Governors desk to sign at the end of June. See my previous posts here. and here and here. New Jersey’s Eastern Environmental Law Clinic released an analysis of the bill’s provisions that resurrects permits that have already expired and found that this provision may violate due process.   The Eastern Environmental Law Clinic also found that:

The retroactive nature of this clause has the potential to upset reasonable economic expectations, interfere with sound planning, result in anomalous outcomes breeding confusion and litigation, and could he illegal.  Eastern Environmental Law Clinic

So far the Governor has not signed the bill into law and that is a good thing, but he has not vetoed it either. If the bill is not vetoed than it becomes law by default.  It is a good thing because as I said in the press release:

“Sacrificing the environment for economics is a false choice that ends up hurting the economy, not improving it,” added Mike Pisauro of New Jersey Environmental Lobby. “The Permit Extension Act sacrifices the environment without providing any immediate economic help to those who need it. Government needs to protect our natural resources so that we have a healthy environment to live in and the economy has the natural resources it needs to develop and grow. The Permit Extension Act is not the answer.”

During all of the testimony that was presented in favor of the bill and all of the commentary that I have read about the bill, I have not seen once inch of explanation on how this bill will do anything to spur the economy in the short term. As I have said at the hearings on this bill, the problem is not that the permits expired but that the developers could not get funding for their projects before their permits expired. Extending those permits does not to provide funding for these projects now. If it does not to provide funding now, how does this bill help the economy now? How does this bill help men and women who are not working get back to work now? If the bill does not help the economy now is it worth the damage to the environment? I truly believe the answer is no.

Tags: environmental groups, governor, legislation, permit extension act, veto