The official version of the adopted the Environmental Justice Rules was published in the New Jersey Register on April 17, 2023. On September 18, 2020, Governor Phil Murphy signed the New Jersey’s Environmental Justice Law, which requires the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to evaluate the environmental and public health impacts of certain facilities on overburdened communities when reviewing certain permit applications.

Although the CCSNJ is supportive of the intended goal of the Environmental Justice law, the CCSNJ opposed the measure throughout the legislative process as it is overly broad and will have an unintended consequence of making target communities less attractive for future economic growth.

The CCSNJ was extremely active in the rulemaking process for the new environmental justice law, providing comments and participating in stakeholder meetings. The CCSNJ remains concerned that the final rules will disproportionally impact New Jersey-based manufacturers and serve as a disincentive to expand facilities or attract out-of-state manufacturers to urban communities where the job growth is needed most.

The EJ Rules establish the specific requirements and procedures that applicants must follow when seeking permits for certain pollution generating facilities located, or proposed to be located, in overburdened communities.

First, the rules require enhanced upfront community engagement before such facilities are proposed in the state’s overburdened communities. Second, using community-level environmental and public health data available through NJDEP’s Environmental Justice Mapping, Assessment and Protection (EJMAP) tool, the EJ Rules direct permit applicants to avoid and minimize environmental and public health stressors and enable the NJDEP to establish permit conditions.

To help users locate overburdened communities, identify covered facilities within those communities, the DEP developed the Environmental Justice Mapping, Assessment and Protection (EJMAP) tool. To learn how EJMAP works, view this tutorial.

To learn more about the adopted Environmental Justice Rules, read the frequently asked questions and visit https://dep.nj.gov/ej/law/.