Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla and Jersey City activist Katie Brennan, state Assembly candidates in the 32nd Legislative District, are urging the legislature to pass the New Jersey Climate Superfund Act.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“Under my leadership, Hoboken was the first city in New Jersey to file a lawsuit against Big Oil, seeking to make these large fossil fuel corporations financially accountable for the climate crisis they are responsible for creating,” Bhalla said in a statement.
“This same idea drives the NJ Climate Superfund Act. I call on state legislative leaders to rapidly move it to the floor of both houses for a vote. With President Trump taking funding away from climate action, securing the funding this legislation will provide must be a high priority. We must act now.”
Hoboken joined at least 19 other cities against ExxonMobil and other major oil companies in September 2020 and is still pending, despite a similar claim by the State of New Jersey being dismissed in February.
The NJ Climate Superfund Act (S3545/A4696) would enable the state to charge fossil fuel companies–who are responsible in large measure for the climate change that is resulting in expensive negative impacts to New Jersey communities–for their fair share of the costs.
These compensatory payments would be used to fund essential climate change adaptation and resiliency projects.
“Climate change is a major threat to coastal cities like Jersey City and Hoboken, and the costs are already hitting our communities hard,” added Brennan, a former director of New York’s statewide office of storm recovery.
“This legislation is about fairness and common sense: the same fossil fuel companies that caused this crisis should help pay to protect us from it. With the Trump administration turning its back on climate action, New Jersey has to step up. The Climate Superfund Act is our best shot to get ahead of the next superstorm instead of scrambling after it. We can’t afford to wait.”
The running mates pointed to an example of the local impacts of the Trump administration’s abandonment of the climate fight: the ending of the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, including the apparent refusal to fund grants previously awarded.
This program helped finance the development of Hoboken’s Northwest Resiliency Park.
To that end, its cancellation puts millions of dollars that were being counted on for funding the current construction of the second phase of the Southwest Resiliency Park and other climate resiliency projects in jeopardy.
The Climate Superfund Act has garnered widespread support across New Jersey, with 32 legislative cosponsors and endorsements from 12 municipalities statewide, including Hoboken and Jersey City.
Major advocacy organizations including Food & Water Watch, New Jersey Sierra Club, New Jersey Working Families Party, Environment New Jersey, Clean Water Action, and Climate Revolution Action Network have all rallied behind the legislation that would hold corporate polluters accountable and provide essential funding for climate resiliency projects.
Bhalla are running in a six-person Democratic primary on June 10th.
Assemblywoman Jessica Ramirez and Jersey City Ward D Councilman Yousef Saleh are running on Mayor Steven Fulop’s gubernatorial ticket, while Jennie Pu and Crystal Fonseca are backed by the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO).
How much Hoboken taxpayer money did Ravi waste with his self-promoting oil lawsuit? Here he brags about how he abused the public monies to promote the regressive religion of global warming. There is no actual science proving fossil fuels make global warming.
It wasn’t your turn with the brain cell today, was it?
On brain activity, did you get your 2025 clot shot boosters yet?
Ravi Bhalla is very good at trying to virtue signal and self promotion to advance his own political ambitions but not so good at actually getting things done.
The residents of Hoboken know the truth.