Environmental groups throughout the state are calling on government officials to build stronger, more resilient, more sustainable New Jersey communities from the rubble of superstorm Sandy.
More than 20 organizations — including the New Jersey Sierra Club and the American Littoral Society — collaborated on a list of guiding principles for the rebuilding process. Among other priorities, the environmental groups ask state agencies and elected officials to consider a “strategic retreat” from flood-prone areas.
“Everyone wants to try to rebuild and bring the Shore back, but we also need to learn lessons from Sandy,” said Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, in an interview on Dec. 27.
“We need to develop a vibrant Shore economy and restore those homes and businesses, but we also need to ensure that they will still be there for future generations.”
The detailed list of 10 principles — which Tittel and others said had been in the works for weeks — focuses primarily on “smart rebuilding,” implementing collaborative new approaches to planning and construction that environmentalists say will decrease costs, safeguard the environment and better protect communities from future storms.
Tim Dillingham, executive director of the American Littoral Society, said each of those goals can be satisfied by many of the same suggested policy changes.
“The lessons we have learned from storms in other areas show us that a great way to make a community safer is to build back the natural elements that have been lost over the years,” he said.
“We’ve filled in wetlands, destroyed beaches, built on top of dune systems. Building those things back not only makes sense in terms of safety, protecting our towns, but it also makes financial sense as well.”
By rebuilding storm-ravaged homes in flood-prone areas, Dillingham said, towns and the state are perpetuating a costly cycle of destruction and reconstruction that effectively is borne by taxpayers throughout the state.
Things will only get worse, he said, as sea levels rise.
“Sandy was an exceptional storm, but it’s not going to be the last,” he said.
Dillingham and others recommend that federal aid and other forms of storm funding come with incentives for restoring wetlands and floodplains, sponsoring environmentally friendly development and facilitating focused buyouts of flood-prone properties.
“In some areas, meeting flood-mitigation requirements is going to be an extensive [process]. There are people that simply can’t afford to do that, to make their homes safe. By compensating them for their home, we are getting them out of harm’s way and that needs to be an option that’s on the table.” State Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon (R- 13th District) said he was aware of the environmental groups’ concerns and agreed that buyouts could provide communities with additional protection in the event of a future storm.
“You don’t buy them out from one group and then sell them to another,” he said in a Dec. 26 interview.
“You buy them out and then you treat those properties as a buffer. You would do some wetland enhancement and whatever it takes to give the greatest environmental benefit with those properties.”
The Assembly is working with municipalities and other officials to ascertain the most sustainable way to rebuild along the Jersey Shore, he said.
“In every meeting and in every discussion I have with state officials, there is always the caveat that we need to do it in a smarter way.”
Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) spokesman Lawrence Hajna, who said the department is aware of the list of recovery principles, acknowledged that the state’s rebuilding process must be a collaborative one.
“This is going to be one of the most critical periods the state has ever faced in terms of planning, and we want to make sure it is all done right,” he said. “We welcome the input of all our stakeholders, not only environmental advocates but also governing bodies and residents as well.”
But as many areas are still focused on recovery, Hajna said, it is still too early to consider many of the environmental groups’ proposals for long-term reconstruction.
“We want to do this carefully and thoughtfully,” he added, “but at the same time — as the governor has stated again and again — we will be rebuilding New Jersey’s shore.”
Just how that will be done, however, is still a matter for debate.
Many of the environmental groups involved in the drafting of the principles have criticized an administrative order — signed by DEP Chairman Bob Martin — which temporarily waived certain environmental permitting requirements for public infrastructure repairs and construction in the aftermath of Sandy.
The order, some said, was a sign that many local and state officials are more concerned with rebuilding quickly and restoring tax ratables than long-term consequences of climate change, more powerful storms and the increased costs of future damage.
“As bad as Sandy was, it has given us an opportunity to do things better and smarter, to ensure we’ll have a shore in the future,” Tittel said. “We don’t want to go backwards here.”
Hajna explained that the Nov. 6 administrative order was only designed to provide temporary relief and public safety in the weeks following the storm, and said the DEP is working with local, state and federal agencies to collate the latest scientific data to guide rebuilding plans. Other principles on the environmental groups’ list include more transparency and openness between the state and New Jersey residents as recovery and rebuilding discussions continue to evolve. The groups are also calling for the remediation of stormrelated water and air pollution and pre-existing issues such as inadequate stormwater management and sewage infrastructure.
Tittel said the list has been forwarded to the Governor’s Office, the state Legislature and the DEP. The Sierra Club and other environmental group will be involved in meetings, events and legislative hearings on the various recovery initiatives in the coming months, he said.
“There is going to be a lot of work going forward. This is just the beginning.”
Other groups involved in the drafting the principles are: The Alliance for a Living Ocean; Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions; Clean Ocean Action; Environment New Jersey; Hackensack Riverkeeper; New Jersey Audubon; New Jersey Conservation Foundation; and New Jersey Environmental Federation.
Also involved are the New Jersey Environmental Lobby; New Jersey League of Conservation Voters; NY/NJ Baykeeper; Pinelands Preservation Alliance; Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association; and the Surfers’ Environmental Alliance.
Staff writer Nicole Antonucci contributed to this story.