Russ Zimmer

@RussZimmer

Donald Trump is positioned to shape the future of America, including environmental policy.

The Press reached out to 10 leading environmentalists and advocates to hear their views on what's ahead.

Each one expressed major concern, for New Jersey and beyond.

As shocked as anyone by Donald Trump's victory, leading environmentalists in New Jersey are taking stock of what his presidency could mean and ticking off a host of question marks and worries, policy matters touching virtually every corner of the state.

With more Superfund sites than any other state, shrinking green spaces and rising seas, environmental issues in New Jersey take on many forms. None has a certain future or course with Trump setting environmental priorities and policy, environmentalists across the state told the Asbury Park Press,

“He is the biggest threat to the environment since before the first Earth Day," said Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. "We may see 45 years of progress rolled back, but we expect to continue the fight ... and the people are on our side. They want clean air and clean water. They don’t want drilling off our coast."

Trump so far has been short on specifics about how he'd protect the water and air, but on the campaign trail he often promoted expanding the capture and use of fossil fuels, such as coal and oil — carbon-based fuels that are driving climate change.

"There's very little to like in his environmental platform, as far as I’m concerned," former Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, a Republican who ran the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for two years under President George W. Bush, told USA TODAY.

Environmental advocates are waiting for any sign that President Trump might look at these matters differently than candidate Trump.

“We honestly don’t know yet," said Bob Kopp, climate scientist and associate director of Rutgers Energy Institute. "We are still waiting to see who he is going to appoint, and that will be telling.”

The first step in that direction is not likely to allay the angst of environmentalists.

Trump has appointed Myron Ebell, a noted climate change denier, to lead the handoff of the EPA — an agency Ebell has previously said should be abolished. The president-elect's transition team did not respond to a request for comment.

"If we take President-elect Trump at his word that he wants to dismantle the EPA and environmental rollbacks are going to be at the top of the (first) 100-day agenda," said Doug O'Malley, director of Environment New Jersey. "We need to be ready and work to get New Jerseyans of all political stripes to stand up against these rollbacks."

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Here are the top five reasons environmentalists in the Garden State are readying for a contentious next four years:

1. Climate change

Whether it was prosecuting his opponent after the race or tearing down Obamacare, Trump has mitigated some of the hardline positions he took during the campaign, but one look at his Twitter feed confirms his longstanding disbelief of climate change.

He once claimed — jokingly, he later said — that climate change was a hoax created by the Chinese.

"Another freezing day in the spring — what is going on with 'global warming'? Good move changing the name to 'climate change' — sad!" Trump tweeted in April 2013.

"The first step in solving a problem is recognizing that it exists," said Tony Broccoli, co-director of the Rutgers Climate Institute "If we can't get past debating whether climate change is real, we won't be able to move toward solutions."

The frequency of heat waves and intense storms that produce coastal and river flooding, all of which have bogged down New Jersey in recent years, are attributable to a warming planet, according to Broccoli. Eventually, rising sea levels will claim low-lying parts of the Jersey Shore.

Trump could eliminate the Clean Power Plan, a set of standards intended to move American power generation away from fossil fuels.

Gov. Chris Christie's administration has been pushing back against the CPP, saying that New Jersey has its own Energy Master Plan, which has resulted in the state importing barely any coal-fueled power and instead relying on natural gas — a contributor to climate change, but less so than coal.

Trump has also pledged to walk away from the Paris climate agreement, the broadest international deal ever made with an eye toward slowing global warming.

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Without the U.S. taking the lead, there will be a power vacuum that — worst case scenario — could result in the entire deal crumbling, Kopp said.

In the absence of meaningful action, sea level rise by 2100 could be 6.5 feet or more — enough to wipe out Ocean County's barrier islands, the Sandy Hook peninsula and other bayfront locations that are prone to flooding today.

“If China and Europe and India react to the U.S. withdrawing by throwing up their hands then that could make a huge difference to New Jersey,” he said.

2. Offshore drilling

In March, the federal government decided not sell leases for oil exploration off the Atlantic Coast near Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia and North Carolina.

Would a Trump administration, given his promises to lean more on fossil fuels to power American business, make the same choice?

Rep. Frank Pallone, D-New Jersey, doesn't think so, which is why he's asking President Barack Obama to take executive action to permanently restrict all drilling in the Atlantic.

Environmentalists fear that drilling could lead to a disaster akin to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion, in which 11 people died and 3.19 million barrels of oil stained 500 miles of coastline. A incident like that could be devastating to the Shore's all-important tourism sector.

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3. Superfund sites

There are a 114 Superfund sites in New Jersey, including 14 in Monmouth and Ocean counties. These are locations — often relics from a time when less was known about the dangers of, for instance, dry cleaning chemicals — where soil and groundwater have been contaminated with hazardous pollutants.

The EPA investigates and cleans up Superfund sites. Trump has said of the EPA that "what they do is a disgrace" and expressed a desire to eliminate or severely limit the agency's powers.

"President-elect Trump has been saying that he wants to 'shutdown' the (EPA)," said Debbie Mans, executive director of the NY/NJ Baykeeper. "For a state like New Jersey, that has the most federally designated Superfund sites, this would be bad news."

4. Pipelines

Pipeline are anathema to environmentalists on two levels.

First, pipelines are often intrusions on public forests and otherwise undeveloped lands. The Sierra Club, for example, has been leading the opposition to a proposed natural gas pipeline that would cut through the Pinelands.

Second, these conduits represent a new commitment — financially and ideologically — to oil and natural gas, the burning of which contribute to climate change and alleviate the demand on wind and solar power.

Observers expect President Trump to accelerate the construction timelines on pipeline projects, according to a report on EnergyWire.

"He wants to fast-track pipelines," Tittel said. "They want to take a system that is already broken and make it worse.”

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5. Renewable energy

As a source of electricity, renewable power nationwide grew by 62 percent from 2001 to 2015, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

New Jersey has set an ambitious goal of producing enough power from renewable sources by 2021 to satisfy nearly one-fourth of all the electricity demand in the state.

Trump's talk during the election season, calling wind and solar "very expensive" and dependent on government subsidies, would compromise the development of green energy if it becomes national policy.

"I hope that he will come to support the development of clean, renewable energy sources as a means of environmental protection, energy independence and growth in American businesses, " said Jennifer Coffey, executive director of the Association of N.J. Environmental Commissions.

A poll commissioned by ReThink Energy NJ, a green energy supporter, found that 87 percent of New Jerseyans believe that investing in clean energy is at least "somewhat" important to the health of the state.

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Russ Zimmer: 732-557-5748, razimmer@app.com