Jersey City, NJ — Hudson County elected officials, residents, and climate advocates rallied yesterday to call for the passage of the Polluters Pay to Make NJ More Affordable Act. The event highlighted Hudson County’s extreme vulnerability to flooding and extreme heat and the mounting financial toll of climate disasters on local families, businesses, and taxpayers. Participants called for swift passage of the Polluters Pay Act — legislation that would require major fossil fuel extractors to pay for their role in driving the climate crisis and fund infrastructure upgrades to protect New Jersey communities.

“Jersey City knows what it means to live with the consequences of pollution we didn’t cause and costs we shouldn’t have to bear. The Make Polluters Pay Act is about basic accountability. If you profit from fossil fuels while fueling the climate crisis, you should help pay to clean up the damage, not leave that bill for New Jersey families and municipalities,” said James Solomon, Jersey City Mayor. “I’m proud to stand with advocates at today’s rally, and I want to thank NJ Food & Water Watch for leading this fight and keeping the pressure on Trenton to get this done.”

Recent research from Rebuild By Design found that in Hudson County, 22.8% of property has a high flood risk, a number that’s expected to increase to 31.7% by 2050, impacting 184,000 residents living in high flood zones. Statewide, extreme heat reduced New Jersey’s GDP by $108 billion between 1991 and 2022.

“Our message from Hudson County is crystal clear: if you make the mess and reap the profits, you pay to clean it up,” said LD 31 Assemblyman Will Sampson. “We are standing united for the Polluters Pay Act to protect our waterfront, our neighborhoods, and our families.”

“What’s happening right now is not normal. Because of climate change, it rains for twenty minutes and it floods all over. Our infrastructure wasn’t built for this much water,” said LD 32 Assemblywoman Katie Brennan co-sponsor of the Polluters Pay Act. “We’re all stuck paying for the cleanup while the big polluters who created this mess pay nothing. It doesn’t have to be this way. We can make the system fairer with the Polluters Pay Act. I won’t stop fighting in Trenton until we get this over the finish line.”

The Polluters Pay Act would raise 50 billion dollars over 20 years by imposing a targeted “fair share” assessment on some of the world’s largest fossil fuel extractors who do business in NJ. This would help shift the growing cost burden off of taxpayers while making NJ safer and more affordable. The bill would also create an estimated 18,000 well-paying jobs in the process.

“For too long, New Jersey families have been forced to pay the price for pollution they didn’t create — through higher insurance, damaged homes, and the constant stress of climate impacts. In North Bergen, my neighbors and I stood up and stopped a massive fossil fuel power plant from being forced on our community,” said LD 33 Assemblyman Larry Wainstein. “The Polluters Pay to Make New Jersey More Affordable Act is the same fight on a statewide scale. It simply says that the companies who profited from creating this problem should help pay to protect our towns and make our state more resilient. I fully support this legislation and will continue fighting until it becomes law.” 

The Polluters Pay Act has strong support across Hudson County. Every legislator representing the county is a co-sponsor of the bill, and the Hudson County Commissioners and Hoboken, Jersey City, Guttenberg, West New York, Union City, Weehawken, and North Bergen have passed resolutions calling for the bill to be passed. In June, the bill cleared every committee and now awaits floor votes. Advocates are calling for the bill to be passed this fall.

“Almost every time it rains here in Jersey City, we see how climate change comes with real costs for our residents and our city. It’s not sustainable. Working families can’t be footing the bill for a crisis they didn’t create while big polluters pay nothing,” said Jersey City Ward E Councilwoman Eleana Little. “The Polluters Pay Act is about fairness and accountability. We need to hold big corporations responsible for their pollution and have them help pay for the new infrastructure our communities desperately need.”

“The climate crisis is already here, with historic snowstorms, floods, and heatwaves. Corporations that contribute to this crisis need to contribute to our way out of it. The Polluters Pay Act would bring billions of dollars from big business into climate resiliency, green infrastructure, and emergency preparedness,” said Jersey City Ward D Councilman Jake Ephros. “New Jersey’s working class has paid enough for expensive environmental disasters and skyrocketing utility bills. It’s time for polluters to pay up.

“New Jersey is warming faster than the rest of the Northeast region and the global average. This has extreme consequences in both dollars and in lives,” said Matt Smith, NJ Director of Food & Water Watch. “During the heatwave over the July 4th holiday, the NJ Department of Health recorded 29 deaths from heat related illness. The Polluters Pay Act can help lessen the impacts from extreme heat by funding modern HVAC systems in schools, cooling centers, grid hardening to prevent blackouts, and more. It’s time to make NJ safer by passing the Polluters Pay Act. We can’t afford to wait any longer.”

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