NJ Spotlight News reported this week that a state Department of Environmental Protection official said New Jersey municipalities will need to take a bigger role in climate planning.
In a story by Jon Hurdle, Dave Rosenblatt, the NJDEP’s chief resilience officer and assistant commissioner, told an audience at a Pew Charitable Trusts event that local governments would need to take most of the responsibility for adaptation and mitigation measures for flood resiliency.
“Municipalities have to understand that the state and federal government aren’t going to be able to fund all their projects, all their solutions to climate-change impacts,” Rosenblatt said.
“Municipalities need to start planning their budgets to include set-aside stores for future climate-change needs.”
That premise was rejected by the New Jersey League of Municipalities.
NJBIA Vice President of Government Affairs Ray Cantor also said municipalities should not be made responsible for dealing with climate effects that he said are legitimately the responsibility of the state.
“You cannot put these major decisions about the future of, basically, living in New Jersey down to municipalities who don’t have the funding,” Cantor said. “It makes no sense to say ‘Hoboken, Newark, Jersey City, you’re going to flood in future, we think, therefore you’re on your own’.”
To see the full NJ Spotlight report, click here.
