Trenton, NJ (May 28) – Today the Assembly Telecommunications and Utilities Committee unanimously passed the New Jersey Gas Modernization Act. The bill, intended to “streamline” permitting of fracked gas infrastructure throughout the state, would allow for greater pollution from existing power plants, bring dirty old power plants back online, restrict transparency and public engagement on permitting decisions, prohibit legal challenges to permitting decisions, and undermine bedrock environmental protections – including New Jersey’s landmark environmental justice law. 
 

In response, Food & Water Watch’s New Jersey State Director Matt Smith issued the following statement:

“This so-called ‘modernization’ bill should be called what it really is: a Permission to Poison law. This bill would needlessly permit fracked gas-fired power plants to increase air pollution well beyond existing limits, further deepening the environmental injustice already being inflicted on front-line communities throughout the state. This bill would mean more air pollution, more preventable illness, and more reliance on filthy, antiquated fossil fuels. The legislature should reject this egregious handout to corporate polluters out of hand and instead advance real solutions that protect ratepayers and public health by investing in clean, renewable energy.

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