Environmental justice in New Jersey

Environmental justice starts with a simple question: who bears pollution and climate risk, who benefits from investment, and who has power in the decision? In the United States, residents and organizers in communities of color and low-income communities made those questions visible through decades of grassroots organizing. The Jemez Principles for Democratic Organizing, drafted by environmental justice organizers in 1996, remain a practical guide for building movements across difference.

New Jersey’s Environmental Justice Law, signed on September 18, 2020, is codified at N.J.S.A. 13:1D-157. Its implementing rules are in N.J.A.C. 7:1C. For covered permits, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection evaluates whether a proposed facility would add stress to an overburdened community, requires an environmental justice impact statement and public participation, and can deny or condition a permit when disproportionate impacts cannot be avoided or a compelling public interest is not shown.

NJDEP’s current overburdened-community criteria use census block groups with at least 35% low-income households, at least 40% minority or state-recognized tribal residents, or at least 40% limited-English-proficient households. Adjacent zero-population block groups may also be labeled adjacent. The criteria are a screening tool, not a complete description of lived experience; community knowledge, cumulative stressors, health, flooding, heat, housing, and historic discrimination still matter.

To participate, use the EJMAP and permit record, ask for interpretation or translated materials, attend the public hearing or submit written comments by the deadline, and bring local evidence and questions. The Jemez Principles add that organizing should be inclusive, emphasize self-transformation, let people speak for themselves, work together across difference, and build relationships that can last beyond one permit fight.

The law sits on top of a longer movement history. In the 1980s, organizers documented how waste, highways, refineries, ports, and other hazards were concentrated in Black, Latino, Indigenous, immigrant, and low-income communities. The 1987 United Church of Christ report on toxic waste and race helped make the pattern legible nationally, while local campaigns supplied the testimony, maps, and organizing practice that policy later borrowed. Environmental justice is therefore both an outcome to measure and a way of sharing power.

New Jersey's 2020 law created a permit process, not a universal guarantee that every harmful project will be stopped. It applies to covered permits and facilities named in the implementing rules. NJDEP's technical guidance explains how census block-group indicators are calculated and how adjacent areas can be included. A map can help identify where a legal screen applies, but it cannot measure every cumulative burden, health condition, flood exposure, housing pressure, or act of discrimination.

For a permit meeting, build a record in layers. Start with the application and the facility's existing permits. Add the EJMAP screen, local flooding or heat observations, language-access needs, traffic or diesel concerns, school and health-care locations, and questions about alternatives. Ask for the full environmental justice impact statement, a plain-language summary, interpretation, a hearing time that working residents can attend, and enough time to respond. Written comments are strongest when they identify the permit, cite the record, explain local consequences, and request a specific condition or alternative.

Research note: NJDEP's current thresholds are screening criteria, not a ranking of which neighborhood deserves care. The Jemez Principles add a movement practice: let people speak for themselves, work across difference, build solidarity and mutuality, and commit to self-transformation. A public process can meet a legal notice requirement and still fail those principles if the outcome is fixed, the language is inaccessible, or residents' knowledge is treated as anecdote.

After a decision, keep monitoring. Conditions, construction changes, emissions, truck routes, and promised community benefits can change over time. Create a shared calendar for reporting deadlines, store documents where residents can reach them, and decide who has capacity to follow up. Environmental justice is not finished when a permit is signed; accountability continues through operation, enforcement, cleanup, and investment.