What happened to the "emergency? PACT rules? Maybe a paper tiger ate them.

In Jan 2020, Governor Murphy ordered the DEP to enact "emergency" PACT rules to stave off the most severe climate-related impacts that are already occurring across NJ. They were to be enacted on June 14 of 2022, and they would have protected NJ from irresponsible developments, designing for the past and causing avoidable, severe weather-related impacts, but that never happened. So what went wrong? Governor Murphy signed orders, had meetings, engaged the experts at the DEP... years of development went into the "emergency" PACT rules that were designed to live up to the Governor's commitment to respond to the climate crisis as a top priority.  Murphy tweeted “Climate change is the single greatest long-term threat currently facing humanity. " Apparently, it is also the single greatest threat to developer profits. The builder's lobby, with their lack of scientific evidence, declared that there is "no imminent peril," except for peril to their wallets.  Well, thanks for clearing THAT up builder  lobby... Who needs science? 

The developer lobby wrote a letter to the Governor that led him to kill the "emergency" PACT rules, and instead, create the "Inland flood rule," dropping the "emergency" part and whittling it down to let some big bad projects slip through the cracks.  It will no doubt take time to legislate, and is sure to encounter more developer opposition, leaving a big, long window of opportunity for them to wreak havoc by paving over acres of NJ without having to base stormwater management on current flood maps. Bridge Point 8 in West Windsor is based on storms of 1999 and earlier! Won't THAT be fun to navigate (by boat)? In climate class, The Governor has an A for effort on paper, but in practice, he gets an F... thus, he's just a paper tiger. 

Here's the letter that doomed NJ to incalculable loss (courtesy of NJ Spotlight News): (I can't believe that this is all it took!)

https://www.njspotlightnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/123/2022/06/Le…

Note to readers: Don't feel settled that NJ is a blue state and we don't have to worry about what goes on in political ranks. Never take for granted that your lawmakers are representing you. In other words, VOTE, every chance you get. Pay attention to what they are doing in every level of office, and raise your voice loud and often! Governor Murphy is all talk with aggressive climate-focused plans and no action. Signing on to long term goals is just a  story and he won't be here when it plays out. Subsequent administrations are free to rewrite his plan with the stroke of a pen. Looking good on paper alone is ineffectual and we must let him know that its not good enough. Write to the Governor asap (https://www.nj.gov/governor/contact/all/) and tell him to enact the inland flood rule now, without exceptions or loopholes, and to prevent any grandfathering of any plan designed for storms of the past. His legacy , his constituents' health and safety, the Garden State and the inhabitability of the planet are all on the line, and to date, developer profits have taken precedence. We need action now, not just dreams for the future. Tell him to fix 2023 instead of just talking about 2035!