Activists want NJ to fight climate change without feds

Andrew J Goudsward | Asbury Park Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Climate Change Expert Makes Bold Prediction Dr. Harold Wanless, nicknamed Dr. Doom, believes the government has underestimated sea level rise.

ASBURY PARK - A day after President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris climate accord, state environmental leaders vowed to continue the fight against climate change without the federal government.

U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., flanked by climate activists at the Asbury Park Boardwalk Friday morning, denounced Trump's decision, saying that the move would hurt U.S. standing on the world stage and heighten the chances of severe environmental impacts like sea-level rise and extreme weather in New Jersey.

“What happened yesterday is sort of the culmination of an anti-environmental presidency," he said.

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Trump on Thursday withdrew the United States from the climate agreement, signed by nearly 200 countries around the world, arguing that meeting its emissions goals would burden businesses and kill jobs in the United States.

Standing on the boardwalk steps from the sand, Pallone said if the nation's leaders don't act to reduce emissions and halt climbing temperatures, seaside communities at the shore would be hit particularly hard.

"The fact of the matter is that a place like Asbury Park, most of it would be totally inundated in a few years if we don’t do something about this," he said.

But as the United States backs out of its commitment to reduce greenhouse gases that scientists say are driving a warming planet, Pallone and climate activists said they would focus attention on state and local actions that can soften the blow of withdrawing from the Paris agreement.

"We want whatever can be done by states, local governments, private industry and nonprofits to move in the direction of trying to address climate change regardless of the president’s actions," Pallone said.

Friday, a coalition of 30 mayors, three governors and more than 80 university presidents began negotiations with the United Nations, pledging to meet the emissions standards of the Paris agreement, despite Trump's decision, according to a New York Times report.

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Pallone said New Jersey could rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a regional cap-and-trade agreement between nine northeastern states designed to limit fossil fuel emissions.

Gov. Chris Christie pulled New Jersey out of the program in 2011.

With a new governor slated to take over next year, Pallone said the state could take more bold measures to reduce its own contribution to climate change.

Both front runners in the governor's race, Democrat Phil Murphy and Republican Kim Guadagno have pledged to recommit to RGGI if elected. Democrats Jim Johnson and John Wisniewski have made the same commitment.

All three Democratic candidates in the race have called for the state to be completely reliant on renewable energy sources by 2050.

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Jeff Tittel, the director of the New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club, said many local governments are already taking action to combat climate change because they are on the "front lines" of the impact of warming temperatures.

At the state level, New Jersey could build more offshore wind turbines and grow its use of solar energy to reduce use of fossil fuels and create jobs, Tittel said.

He said individual cities and towns should plant more grass and trees and install more solar panels to roofs.

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Ed Potosnak, the executive director of the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters, said the state should increase its use of solar and wind to replace an aging nuclear energy system, which powers more than half of the state.

"We've got leaders, tomorrow’s presidents, in local and state elected offices who are going to turn this around and they are going to be more energized given the president’s ridiculous withdrawal," he said.

But Tittel said all the action that can be taken by states, towns and activist organizations would not be enough to erase the damage that leaving the Paris agreement will cause.

"Even though we can do a lot of good things, we still need to lead and we still need to show the world," he said. "And on top of that, for all the good states and all the good cites and all the good people, there are going to be other places in this country where they don’t care."

Andrew Goudsward: 732-643-4035, agoudsward@gannettnj.com