The Perth Amboy community is invited to a meeting with the NJ Department of Environmental Protection to discuss environmental justice issues on Tuesday June 13 from 6-8pm at the Jankowski Center at 1 Olive Street in Perth Amboy. Perth Amboy is invited to share its concerns for issues like air quality, water quality, climate change, and the impact of development, and upcoming environmental projects.
The NJDEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette and staff will be coming to Perth Amboy on June 13 to the Jankowski Community Center (1 Olive St) to meet with the community to listen to environmental justice concerns and answer community questions. Also a representative from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Lisa Garcia, Region 2 Regional Administrator, will be present.
Perth Amboy has been designated an environmental justice community under new environmental laws as we are predominately a community of color with a high poverty rate that is overburdened with its share of environmental problems that reduce the quality of life.
Perth Amboy has been overburdened with environmental problems, such as poor air quality (rated D), a past history of drinking water quality issues (a $85 million project has been proposed to maintain current water quality) and pollution of water from an old combined sewer system which overflows into Raritan Bay. We also have climate change issues, like extreme heat and flooding.
Perth Amboy can learn about if there is any financial help for our $330 million Combined Sewage Overflow project (CSO) which is currently going to be financed through a huge sewer rate increase.
Perth Amboy can ask questions about the proposed Woodbridge power plant and its impact on our already bad air quality and relay our continued concern about the permit for the power plant. Perth Amboy City Council has passed a resolution opposing the Woodbridge power plant.
We can find out if there is money to plant trees to help us combat climate change by cooling down our city and addressing heat island issues that our city experiences.
Also, we can ask about how Perth Amboy will be impacted by the storm surge gates project that is proposed for Raritan Bay, a $52 billion dollar barrier that the Army Corp of Engineers is proposing to build to protect the New York City metropolitan area from storm surges and coastal flooding.
