Elected officials and environmental activists from across New Jersey came to Hoboken for a “Climate Superfund Strike” this morning calling on polluters such as Big Oil to pay reparations for the damage they have caused.
By Daniel Ulloa/Hudson County View
Assemblyman John Allen (D-32) spearheaded the protest and also sponsored Bill A-4696, better known as the Climate Superfund Act, to make fossil fuel companies pay for clean up.
Environmental Climate Revolution Network (CRAN) Executive Director Ben Dziobek called climate change the largest crisis humanity has ever seen.
“It is time to pass the Climate Superfund Act!” he exclaimed.
Dziobek didn’t want residents to go bankrupt due to rebuilding from a storm, adding that municipalities should not have to pay to applause. He argued that working people have been tricked into suffering the costs of natural disasters.
To that end, Dziobek asserted that President Donald Trump (R) has threatened to withhold disaster relief to blue states.
“This is an infrastructure bill that would provide thousands of jobs … We must pass the Climate Superfund Act!” he repeated.
“They’re the utilities that jacked prices through the roof because they don’t care about you!” Dziobek exclaimed regarding fossil fuel companies.
“Make them pay!” the crowd of around 200 people chanted.
Allen said this bill is not much more than common sense and something like it should have happened a long time ago.
“This is not radical. I am not radical. But I am mad as hell! …The time to act is now,” he began, blaming fossil fuel companies for misleading the public on climate change over the years.
“They cashed the checks while the rest of us paid the bill … The era of corporations’ free rides must end!” he exclaimed to cheers. “If you profited from the harm, you must pay for the repair. Justice means refusing to let power and wealth shield the guilty while the poor pay the price,” Allen again said to the delight of the crowd.
State Senator John McKeon (D-27), who sponsored the upper chamber version of the bill, explained that yesterday there was a significant flood in Juneau, Alaska while flooding took the lives of people in Chattanooga, Tennessee as examples of climate change-related disasters.
“You think Donald Trump gives a damn about the safety in DC? It’s his first step to militarize the military against the people,” he said.
“All of us have to stand up for our rights as Americans!” McKeon exclaimed to cheers.
He also called Trump “a clown wannabe dictator game show host” who is indifferent to the issue, while approximately 70,000 New Jersey homes are in danger.
“The Meadowlands will be swamped!” he exclaimed.
McKeon noted that without improved infrastructure in Hoboken, like resilience parks, there would have been great flooding the night before due to a storm.
“We need to get this done in the next two months!” he concluded to applause.
“It’s a step forward to finally hold the largest polluters accountable,” Hoboken Mayor and Democratic 32nd Legislative District state Assembly nominee Ravi Bhalla asserted, noting that climate change has come with great costs to residents and governments.
“We’ve witnessed the consequences of climate change to Superstorm Sandy to repeated destructive flooding. Hoboken has always been on the front line. We cannot keep asking local communities and taxpayers to pay for the burden of a crisis we didn’t create …You should not have to spend your adult lives paying for the mistakes of the past,” he said to the large number of Gen Z members in the audience.
He also urged them to call their state representatives and demand change immediately.
Hoboken resident Liz Cohen noted there was a good amount of water in her basement, and her son’s room was flooded and ruined during Superstorm Sandy – which also knocked out utilities.
“It was literally like living in a war zone,” she declared.
Cohen noted that while she got insurance and Federal Emergency Management Assistance (FEMA) money, others were denied due to what they called “an act of God.”
“I have panic attacks every time it rains heavily in Hoboken: The time to hold them accountable is now!” Cohen shouted.
State Senator Raj Mukherji (D-32) said that the Hudson River will be two feet higher by 2050 and over five feet higher by 2100 and those who contributed to these problems should have to pay.
“It’s time for us … to enact our Climate Superfund Act and ensure polluters are paying … for the havoc they have wreaked upon our communities.”
Additionally, Hudson County Executive Craig Guy recalled a quote from former President Barack Obama (D) along the lines of “climate change is no longer some off problem, it’s happening and it’s happening now.”
“I might be out of the Gen Z universe. I’d like to know the parameters,” he joked before praising the value of a broad coalition crossing demographics pushing for the bill’s passage.
Hudson County Board of Commissioners Chair Anthony Romano (D-5) said the Hudson River used to be more polluted before action was taken and now it’s time to take thing a step further.
“It is your duty to see this gets passed,” he stated.
Among the groups in support of the cause were 32BJ SEIU, the New Jersey Working Families Party, and NJ Peace Action.
Furthermore, other dignitaries in attendance included Assemblywoman Barbara McCann Stamato (D-31), Assemblyman Michael Venezia (D-34), Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill, state Senator Benjie Wimberly (D-35), and Democratic state Assembly nominee for the 32nd Legislative District Katie Brennan – among many others.
A good chunk of Hoboken sits on a swamp. Look at the old maps. Look at the current flood maps. Hey, look at a map and learn. Btw, doesn’t this Jonny Cat have some shady deal with bars going on with his pal upstairs at City Hall? Maybe stick to that instead of trying to shake down energy companies.
Look at your electric bill. It’s people like this who are the EXACT reason it’s skyrocketing. New Jersey was an exporter of energy until recently. Now due to the “green” energy scam, New Jersey energy production was shut down and the state is an importer. The piper has come calling!
If you want to save someone from global warming and climate, go protest at one of Obama’s beachfront properties.
Obama is in danger.
Look at your electric bill. Then look at these loons. The same people who insist on national economic suicide then have their front people like Ravi and Allen tell you, “Vote for us. We’ll fix the problem.”
They ARE the problem.
You know what’s worse than economic suicide? Ecological suicide.
Look in the mirror, your ignorance and that of the millions of people whose collective intelligence adds up to less than a single brain cell will doom us all.
No one cares about your religious beliefs. Just leave us alone. C02 is no threat. Go as someone correctly pointed out and save Obama with his beachfront properties. Fool!
Your orange messiah is a pedophile, that’s a fact. Climate change is also a fact. The fact that you choose to ignore both says everything we need to know about you and what people like you stand for.
Global Warming Climate Change is a fact like every rigged government scientist who said take the jab and be a guinea pig who lied to you. “Safe and effective.”
Now we have children and young people getting cancers clearly linked to that Mengele experiment. That’s not counting so many people maimed and dead.
You people are stupid. President Trump never went to Pedo Island. Epstein subpoenas have gone out for Bill & Hillary Clinton. More Democrats like Bill Gates may be next. You asked for it. Enjoy!
I support the idea of creating a fund to finance much needed resiliency projects in New Jersey, and I have no problem with financing that fund with a surtax on producers of fossil fuels. But make no mistake, this will really be a tax on users of fossil fuels since, like Trump’s tariffs, this will ultimately be passed through to the consumer.
Mischaracterizing this tax as “fine” imposed as punishment” for the “misdeed” of having provided the energy source that powered (and is still needed) not just our economy but our lives, is politically motivated hyperbolic nonsense.
Should we fine people who for years have driven gas guzzling vehicles instead of walking, biking or taking public transportation and still do despite being well aware that climate change results in severe weather events? Pretty much every one of those grandstanding elected officials would be subject to that fine.
Absolutely no one quoted in this story knows what they’re talking about. The story is just a bunch of pols scare-mongering. The science and the official U.N. climate reports show no evidence that climate change is causing more flooding or other extreme weather events. Feel free to look that up to confirm it. Just because Dem pols and the press keep blaming bad weather on climate change doesn’t make it true. Which raises the question: Where is the other side in the story? It’s hard to imagine a more one-sided story, and it’s the side that’s not supported by any facts.